article on octopus overfishing concerns in Europe

[monty]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsA...01_WRI245269_RTRUKOC_0_US-FOOD-EU-OCTOPUS.xml

I had no idea this was a problem... I'm glad action is being taken, at least.

 

[Vampyroteuthis]

"Leading to a depletion in stocks"!?! Or maybe extinction?


Where's that Kraken when you need it...

 

[Fujisawas Sake]

Wow... Is there any ideas what species could be at risk?

Its amazing that the US hasn't started overexploiting cephalopod fisheries here as well.

John

 

[um...]

Shouldn't there also be a maximum size restriction involved in combating overfishing in cases like this? These critters are semelparous, right? Thus, any animal you catch is pretty much guaranteed to have not yet reproduced. Larger animals would, I presume, have a higher expected fecundity. Is it a good idea to select against those with the aim of preserving a population?

 

[Euprymna]

For sure it is O.vulgaris.
I'm very surprised to hear that. I have always thought that octopus fishing was small scale and artisanal. I did not know it was applying so much pressure that it could threaten the population! Especially considering the semelparous life history of octos which is the opposite of something like cod!
I guess the spannish dont really care since they are allready culturing them on a commercial scale!

 

[main_board]

Its amazing that the US hasn't started overexploiting cephalopod fisheries here as well.

John

I kind of think that this might be due largely to the fact that not too many North Americans eat cephs. We have the whole preception that they are icky and slimy and chewy and gross. Certainly a far cry from the delicacy status awarded to them by other countries. Of course we do have populations of people from cultures who do eat them, but I don't think there's enough of them yet. And my bet would be that there are currently still enough wild ceph populations in most places that its' more economically feasible to still catch cephs in their own waters, as opposed to us North Americans exporting them out. I know that the Mexicans do export Humbolts, but I'm not too sure about any other mass exports. Living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, I'm aware that there are ceph (mainly squid) fisheries in exsistence, but thankfully they're not large enough to significantly damage wild stocks. Though I think we more than make up for it in the damage to fish stocks and just the environment in general. After all, we do use the most water per person of anyone in the world!

Cheers!