I love the weird articles that show up on my "squid" news alert. Here's one about the Australia Census called Portrait of a nation, squid jiggers and all:

The last official ''snapshot of the nation'', taken in 2006, turned up 58,053 Jedi Knights. At least one person, when asked their religion, stated ''Moroccan Chicken'', the Bureau of Statistics revealed recently. Of the more than 400 languages spoken at home by Australians, 133 people in the 1996 census nominated an ''invented language''. Twelve people nominated ''squid jigging'' as their profession in the 2001 census, which, to be fair, could be true - the expression meaning simply squid farming.

Well, first of all, squid jigging doesn't mean squid farming--it means squid fishing. (Interesting side note: there are no squid farms in the world (yet) because squid are so darned difficult to raise in captivity. All the squid eaten by humans is currently wild-caught.)

Secondly and far more importantly, it is really fair to put squid jigging alongside such obvious fabrications as Jedi Knights, Moroccan Chicken, and invented languages? At least the author concedes that the squid jiggers "could" be telling the truth. But the real question is, why are so few Australian squid jiggers owning up to their profession? 


The commercial fishery for one species (Nototodarus gouldi) in one state (Victoria) alone comprises 21 fishing vessels--so I know there are more than twelve squid jiggers in Australia. 


'Fess up, guys.