For suppliers of Peruvian giant squid, a species also known as jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas), it’s a good news/bad news kind of situation.
The good news is the species’ export value is expected to increase by 20% during 2019, up from $622 million last year. The bad news is landing of giant squid in Peru, once the world’s largest harvester, have been declining in recent years.
That’s a concern, according to Alfonso Miranda Eyzaguirre, the president of the Committee for the Sustainable Management of the South Pacific Giant Squid, a trade group known as Calamasur.
About 3.77 million metric tons of squid are caught annually in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),
Peru supplies approximately 14% of all squid worldwide compared to 4% for Chile and 22% for China. Miranda added that Chinese vessels catch a good percentage of it in the South Pacific off Peruvian, Chilean and Ecuadorian territorial waters.
2019 Undercurrent News