SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [BANR JAPAN REPORTS] Hokkaido – Nov 23, 2009 – Hokkaido cod fishermen troubled with massive occurrence of spiny dogfish in longlining.
Cod fishermen have been unable to catch the targeted cod as many spiny dogfish are hooked in longline fishing in areas off Esan, Hakodate, western Hokkaido, since late in October.
Fishermen are truly troubled as the prices of dogfish are less than one tenth of those of Pacific cod.
Spiny dogfish, a species of Squalidae, has a body length of 50cm to 1.5 m. It is distributed in the area of 50-200 meter sea depth near Hokkaido and Tohoku, northern region of the main island.
According to the fisheries cooperative at Esan, dogfish started migrating to the fishing ground since around spring this year, showing sharp increase around late October.
The catch of dogfish in October soared 2.5 times from a year ago to 74.6 tons while cod catch plunged 66% to 12.4 tons.
Local fishermen say that cod do not come to longlines because dogfish eat up the baits before longlines reach the sea depth of about 200 meters. ‘All we find in the fishing grounds are dogfish,’ complains a 67-year-old fisherman.
As for the reason of the sudden increase in spiny dogfish, the Hokkaido fishery laboratory at Hakodate analyzes that the changes in warm sea currents at the Tsugaru Strait (separating Hokkaido and the main island) affected the state of the stock.
Pacific cod are priced at Y 500-800 per kilo at the Hakodate wholesale fish market, while dogfish is traded at Y10-30 per kilo after removing skins and viscera.
(Summarized from the Hokkaido Shimbun)
John Sackton, Editor And Publisher
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