4 days ago
Squid shortage halts Hokkaido auction for 1st time as season opens
HAKODATE, Hokkaido -- The fishing season for Japanese flying squid in southern Hokkaido opened on June 1, but the first auction scheduled for early in the morning the next day was not held since there was virtually no catch.
According to the Hakodate fish market, this is the first time ever that the auction was canceled due to the lack of a catch in the first squid fishing of the season. Eleven small squid fishing boats departed from Hakodate fishing port on June 1, but there were almost no catches.
The Hakodate Fisheries Research Institute of the Hokkaido Research Organization surveyed the distribution density of Japanese flying squid from around the Tsugaru Strait area to the Sea of Japan off the coast of Akita Prefecture between May 20 and 25. The distribution was about the same as last year but remained well below the average of the past five years, and a poor catch was expected at the beginning of this fishing season.
(Japanese original by Kunihiko Misawa, Hakodate Bureau)
