The Trans-Pacific Squid Boomerang

It's totally a thing! The vast majority of squid caught off the west coast of the Americas, both North and South, is shipped to the other side of the Pacific Ocean to be processed in Asia. Much of it, of course, is consumed there as well, but a non-trivial amount is then shipped east again, to be eaten just a few miles from where it was caught.

This is true for all squid species, but perhaps most notable for the California market squid:

Only four local processing plants remain as part of Monterey Bay's 150-year-old market squid fishery (first harvested, ironically, by Chinese fishermen in the 1860s). Due to labor costs and automation, it's cheaper now to ship the product halfway across the world and back. Which begs the question: Has Monterey (often called the "Calamari Capital of the World") lost its identity with the cephalopod, the 10-armed, elongated creature first described by Aristotle in his "Historia Animalium" around 322 B.C.?

There used to be an annual Squid Festival in Monterey,  but it had already disappeared into the annals of history by the time I moved there, and has never returned. Sad!

(Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't decry the Herald's incorrect use of begging the question.)

Old NID
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