thanks angus, here are some extracts from the article referred to above:
Quote:Hard-hit crews could be squids in
Tue 26 Aug 2003
FRANK URQUHART FISHERMEN in the Moray Firth, facing rapidly dwindling white-fish quotas, are enjoying an unexpected catching boom - thanks to an "explosion" of squid in their waters.
Skippers of up to 30 vessels, which normally catch cod, haddock and prawns, have been given a brief respite from the pursuit of pressured stocks in a lucrative "calamari" fishery - with virtually every box destined for the tables of seafood restaurants in Spain.
Some boats have reported landing 50 boxes of squid in a single haul, working close to the shore between Troup Head and Portknockie Head on the Moray Firth coast, near Banff and Macduff.
The discovery of the major squid fishery in the Moray Firth follows the recent revelations by the governmentâs Fisheries Research Services in Aberdeen that anchovies and sardines, which normally form important commercial fisheries in southern Europe, are being found in increasing numbers in Scottish waters.
Fishermen say the increasing appearance of these - and now squid - in Scottish waters backs their claims that rising sea temperatures may be the key to the fragile state of the cod stocks in the North Sea.
George MacRae, the secretary of the Scottish White Fish Producersâ Association, said the amount of squid being caught was unprecedented.
"In the past four weeks or so in the Moray Firth, there has been an explosion of a squid fishery," he said.
"The squid fishery is normally relatively small and confined to a few small boats, under ten metres, but this year it has been a very, very profitable fishery and some of our biggest white-fish boats have been trawling up and down the Moray Firth - sometimes only a few hundred yards off the shore - picking up squid in huge numbers. It is a non-pressure stock species, so there is no formal quota for it."
This article: [url="http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1341&id=938162003"]http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=13...mp;id=938162003[/url]