February 19th, 2018 - In this week's episode we will talk about the global squid markets. Japanese pacific flying squid (Todarodes) is a popular item in North America. The todarodes catch in 2017 was 47 thousand metric tonnes of a nearly 140 thousand metric tonne quota, down about 20 percent from 2016 and actually the lowest on record.

--- Loligo squid from California has an annual catch limit of 236 million pounds, with an annual harvest season of April 1st to March 31st. One of the main advantages of having squid on restaurant menus is it's continual availability throughout the year. The 2016/2017 california fishery landed only 84.4 million pounds of market squid, but this year's 2017/2018 fishery is currently around 146 million pounds harvested, according to catch data last week from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

With almost 2 months left of the fishery there has already been 60 million pounds more harvested year-to-year. It's no surprise that lower catches in 2016 caused prices to rise over a dollar a pound. 3-5oz Loligo tubes and tentacles pricing was steady throughout 2017 and currently is around $3.50 - $3.60 per pound. Despite the increased catch, we have only seen a 5 cent decrease in tubes and tentacles pricing this year - but we do believe a better harvest this season might provide some price relief in 2018.