On Dec. 17, 2010, the California market squid-fishing season was closed for the first time in history. The statewide catch hit the harvest limit of 118,000 tons, with 20,000 tons caught in Monterey Bay and 98,000 tons in Southern California, bringing in a total of $59 million.

The squid bonanza comes as a relief after the last three years, when virtually no squid were caught in Monterey Bay, although fishing continued in Southern California. “We were concerned about what was going on,” says Dale Sweetnam, a senior marine biologist at the California Department of Fish and Game.

But Sweetnam knows that boom-and-bust cycles are typical for market squid. The lowest catch on record, in 1998, was followed in 1999 with the highest.

This year-to-year variability has frustrated fishery management, which is typically based on biomass estimates. Calculating the available tonnage of market squid is an elusive goal. The species has a lifespan of only six months, and its abundance depends heavily on environmental conditions. “There’s virtually no way you’re going to get a biomass estimate,” says Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association.

Instead, the harvest limit was adopted in 2004 as the average of the three highest catch years on record. Years with low catches were excluded, Sweetnam explains, because during those years squid are thought to be naturally unavailable to the fishery, staying in deep water.

“It’s not the normal way you would manage a fish. That’s one of the interesting things about squid – it’s not a fish,” Sweetnam says. But he thinks the management plan has assured a sustainable fishery. Pleschner-Steele agrees: “The Department’s done a great job in managing the resource.”

Everyone admits the harvest limit isn’t based on science. “It’s not a biological limit, it’s just precautionary,” says Pleschner-Steele. However, scientists argue that a harvest limit based on years of maximum catch is the opposite of precautionary.

“Setting the limit is a technical absurdity,” says William Gilly, a Stanford University professor at Hopkins Marine Station who has been studying squid in Monterey Bay for 30 years. He is particularly concerned that management makes no distinction between Monterey Bay and Southern California. The statewide harvest limit is five times higher than the highest Monterey Bay landings, and Gilly worries that it could encourage local overfishing.

Julie Stewart, another Stanford scientist, says there is no evidence of a deep-water refuge from the fishery. Stewart and Gilly don’t find it reassuring that the squid reappeared after years of absence. They see this year’s haul as evidence of how little is known of the species’ biology. “How could it be zero for three years, and then we hit the catch limit?” says Stewart. “We just have no idea.”

The lack of scientific knowledge about squid also concerns Lou Zeidberg, a staff researcher at UCLA. “I’m on a grant right now to work on sardines and squid,” he says. “There’s eight guys on sardines and me on squid.” Zeidberg suggests the level of research on market squid should be commensurate with its economic importance as the largest fishery in California.

Tommy Noto, a long-time Monterey fisherman and captain of the Lady Jane, will be taking care of repairs and upgrades until the squid season re-opens on April 1, 2011. “It’s good having the time off,” he says.

On the unpredictability of the fishery, at least, everyone agrees. Asked whether next year will be another good year, Noto says, “The way the currents are, and Mother Nature, you never know. I hope so.”