INVASION OF SQUIDS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29772, 15 March 1962, Page 14

INVASION OF SQUIDS

Millions Found In Cook Strait

( N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 14. Wellington fishermen say there are millions of squids invading Cook Strait. The octopus-like fish are in the strait in unprecedented numbers.

Although a Dominion Museum officer today said the squids do not harm the catches of commercial fishermen, trawlermen, on the whole, are not so sure.

“We just do not know what effect large numbers of squids have on our catches,” one said.

“If the squids stay a few more weeks we expect to find out.”

A fisherman of 47 years’ experience of trawling in the strait could not remember squids in similar numbers. Although the squids picked up by trawlermen are relatively small, they are considered a potential danger. If small squids eat small fish, the trawlermen argue, surely the bigger specimens eat larger fish. The museum officer said that while squids could grow to more than 50 feet long, the larger ones tended to inhabit deeper and more rugged seabed areas not fished by commercial fishermen.

The squids taken recently by Wellington fishermen vary from about six inches to three feet in length.