Red Lobster, a nationwide chain of 

 370 seafood restaurants, is already 

 promoting squid. Restaurant man- 

 agers think squid, listed on the menu 

 as calamari, may go the way of the 

 snow crab and popcorn shrimp, two 

 other seafoods made famous by Red 

 Lobster. 



In 1983, the chain imported less 

 than half a million pounds of squid for 

 processing into squid rings, says 

 Debby Coudert, Red Lobster public 

 relations representative. The company 

 purchased the squid already cleaned 

 and cut it into rings. 



Coudert says the restaurant chain 

 has a panel of researchers who found 

 squid was being offered in other 

 seafood restaurants throughout the 

 country. "And, we're continually look- 

 ing for new seafood products and ways 

 of tapping other resources in the 

 ocean," Coudert says. 



As more and more restaurants begin 

 serving squid, grocery stores will begin 

 to carry it — a key in improving its 

 public perception. Gilbert Bullock, 

 assistant manager of the seafood 

 department of a Big Star store in 

 Raleigh, says squid sells well in his 

 store. The squid is caught in North 

 Carolina waters and shipped to his 

 store daily. Bullock says he sells about 

 20 pounds each day. 



While most of his customers are 

 Oriental or European, some Americans 

 are willing to give squid a try, says 

 Bullock. "The ones who don't know 

 how to cook it are the ones who don't 

 come back," he adds. 



Bullock says he has been selling 

 squid for 99 cents per pound for two 

 years — a good buy when compared 

 with other more popular items. Con- 

 sider the cost of fresh salmon at $5.99 

 per pound and flounder fillets at $2.98 

 per pound. 



As the market for squid grows, the 

 fishery will have to grow with it, says 

 Warren Rathjen, of the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service in 

 Gloucester, Massachusetts. Rathjen 

 says the Japanese squid fishery repre- 

 sents the state of the art. Since World 

 War II, the fishery there has 

 automated to the extent that physical 

 manpower is no longer required, says 

 Rathjen. "We're literally light years 

 behind in our ability to understand 

 how to fish for and use squid," he says. 



Even with a healthy domestic 

 market for squid, the United States 

 fishery will ultimately be competing 



"Squid is one of the 

 major fisheries of the 

 world, and there are 

 areas in which squid 

 has been eaten since 

 classical times." 



— Gilbert Voss 



with other squid-producing nations. 

 This is where the squid will face a foe 

 more formidable than its image, says 

 Voss. "The primary problem in the 

 squid market today is international 

 politics. It's not a lack of demand." 



For example, Spain uses a variety of 

 ploys to exclude other countries from 

 becoming their competitors in the 

 squid fishery. They have a large, 

 government-subsidized, high seas fleet. 

 Some of the ships fish within the 200- 

 mile limit off the U.S. coast. By sailing 

 some of those vessels under flags of 

 other countries, they can catch more 

 than the quota they are allowed under 

 their own flag. 



At the same time, the Spanish refuse 

 to buy American-caught squid be- 

 cause it would hurt their fishery, says 

 Voss. By placing high taxes on impor- 

 ted squid, they make it too expensive 

 for Spanish companies to buy impor- 

 ted squid. And, they demand sea- 

 frozen squid, virtually excluding all 

 U.S. vessels because few are equipped 

 for such ocean processing. 



Japan is equally interested in 

 protecting its fishery from American 

 intrusion. They don't like to buy U.S.- 

 caught squid because they say the 

 squid are not of top quality since 

 they're not jig-caught. While this is 

 partly true, says Voss, the trawl- 

 caught squid could be processed into 

 products that don't require the finest 

 quality. "The idea is to keep the 

 American fishery at a low level so that 

 they can say, 'Well, you can't utilize it, 

 therefore we get the major part of the 

 catch,' " says Voss. 



Gilbert Bullock 



"The market has become very 

 political. To get away from this, we're 

 going to have to have two kinds of 

 markets — a local U.S. market and a 

 foreign market," says Voss. 



One possibility for American fisher- 

 men trying to break into the foreign 

 market is the joint venture. Under 

 such an arrangement, a U.S. vessel 

 catches the squid and sells it to a 

 foreign vessel, waiting nearby, where 

 the catch is processed at sea. Voss says 

 that fishermen may make some money 

 off of joint ventures, but they may be 

 hurting themselves in the long run. He 

 advises U.S. fishermen to concentrate 

 on developing their fishery to the point 

 where they can catch, process and 

 market their own catches. 



— Nancy Davis 



