China’s leading port for unloading and processing squid is reporting a surge in throughput this year, at a time of heightened concern in Latin America over management of squid stocks.
Volume into Zhoushan increased by 61 percent year on year in the first half of 2021, according to the management bureau of Zhoushan Distant Water Fishery Port which manages the port and adjacent industrial park.
190,000 metric tons (MT) of squid and 100,000 MT of tuna were sent back to the port from 214 vessels operating in the Southwest Atlantic and East Pacific in the first six months of the year, according to a statement from port management.
The statement included a quote from Lou Hong, the portside manager of a major local fishery firm – Zhoushan Hui Qun Distant Water Fishery Development Co – who said his firm had been able to prevent COVID-19 from infecting its workers and was fully operational again this spring.
Zhoushan vessels are this month ceasing operations in the Southwest Atlantic as part of a fishing moratorium organized by the Chinese government. OPRAS, an Argentine campaign group, told SeafoodSource this week that the moratorium is meaningless because it starts after the squid stocks are already exhausted following a season that typically runs from January to the end of June.
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