Photo/Illutration Firefly squid caught off Namerikawa fishing port on March 1 and transported to Namerikawa, Toyama Prefecture (Michiyo Sato)

For fishermen operating in Toyama Bay, the firefly squid catches this March will still be talked about for years to come.

The total haul, 1,153 tons, may not sound like a lot, but it was triple the average for the past 10 years and the largest in 70 years since 1953, according to Toyama Prefecture’s Fisheries Research Institute in Namerikawa.

The yield shows that many young squid born a year ago reached adulthood in coastal waters of the Sea of Japan.

By marketplace, the catch for Toyama city came to 496 tons. Figures of 479 tons and 106 tons were confirmed in the ports of Shinminato and Namerikawa, respectively.

The research institute said the firefly squid season is from late March to early May. Given the hauls to date, officials predicted that catches will continue to remain stable.

Firefly squid are born in spring and grow in coastal waters of the Sea of Japan. They return to Toyama Bay in Toyama Prefecture the following spring to spawn, finishing their one-year life cycle.

Officials attributed the strong harvest this spring to the fact that water conditions, current and temperature, were favorable which allowed hordes of firefly squid to return to the bay safely.

The annual catch last year hit a record low with a total of 418 tons, or 28 percent of the usual level. Good harvests were not reported in other producing areas on the Sea of Japan side, either.

BIG CATCH, DROP IN PRICE

Toshiyuki Shiotani, chairman of the Shinminato fishery association in Imizu city, admitted to having fretted about a possible poor haul before learning of the record catch.

“I felt relieved to hear that firefly squid have recovered significantly as a resource,” said Shiotani, 66. “But catching too much results in a cheaper price, which gives us trouble, too. We simply want the market value to return to normal.”

Shiotani was referring to the fact that firefly squid from Toyama Bay are now available at a more affordable price tag than the last season at supermarkets in Toyama city. A 200-gram package sells for as little as 200 yen ($1.20), excluding tax, on occasion.

POOR RED SNOW CRAB YIELD

However, the fishery association said the red snow crab’s catch more than halved from the usual level following the powerful offshore Noto Peninsula earthquake in January.

The crab haul was down to 30 percent to 40 percent of the figure for normal years after the magnitude-7.6 temblor in Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year's Day. The haul for March was a paltry 19 tons, the lowest ever for that time of year.

“There’s a feeling that many crabs were buried due to seabed landslides or relocated elsewhere,” explained an official of the Fisheries Research Institute. “The number of fishing operations also plummeted because crab trap cages and other fishing tools were lost or damaged in the disaster.”

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