For over 100 years, the Santa Rosalia harbor has been sheltered by two immense jetties, leaving it with about a quarter of a mile opening at its entrance. The harbor is a small, closed body of water, and fish cannot be cleaned inside it. So, pescadores gather in a small, open bay just south of the harbor to clean their catch, including squid. The Humboldt squid (or Diablo rojo [red devil]) can be big, up to 40 kilos in weight, 4 to 5 feet in length. We were told that each panga returns with up to a ton of squid aboard; watching one come in with about eight inches of freeboard, we can believe it.
On the night we were out, the pescadores were fishing close to Santa Rosalia. To the northeast, beyond the breakwater, hundreds of lights, a veritable city of lights, bobbed on the horizon. They began returning about 11:00 PM, pulling into the open bay to clean the squid by the light of a single bulb in the stern of the boat. With the squid cleaned, they motored into the harbor and came aground at the wharf where fish are weighed and prepared for transport to one of three local processing plants (two Korean, one Chinese). Fisherman tossed squid into large crates, about 2-by-3-by-4 feet in size, emptying their boats quickly to make room for others. Each panga filled 7-10 crates, which were stacked, weighed, and loaded into waiting trucks. A “buyer” kept track in a notebook of the weight to be credited each fisherman.
We were fortunate to be there the night two biologists from La Paz were in town. They told us they came to Santa Rosalia every 15 days to collect specimens for study at the laboratory in La Paz…how large are the squid, what do they eat, are they males or females, what are the trends from one collection period to another? Samples are collected from other sites as well, giving a snapshot of fish life in the Sea.
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