I've been tracking the Illex argentinus fishery for a while now--remember 2009 was the worst year ever, and while 2010 was better it was still far from a complete recovery. How's 2011 shaping up?

In Argentina:

The owners of 32 jiggers operating in the region say they are pleased with the current level of catches and are optimistic about the abundance of the cephalopod for the rest of the season which begun February first. . . . However in spite of the current optimism the biological status of the squid fishery is unknown.

And in the Falklands, where the season hasn't opened yet:

Predictions for the coming Illex season have not been optimistic so far; the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department scientists told Mercopress recently that analysis of the oceanographic situation on the High Sea shows that the Falkland Current is less intensified and has shifted offshore and thus not creating strong hydrological frontal zones between warm shelf waters and cold Sub-Antarctic waters of the current. Illex tends to concentrate near these frontal zones in common years, which is not the case this year so far.

Well then. Argentina's optimistic, Falklands not so much. As for me, I'm no expert on this particular species, but the human history of overfishing every species we can get our hands on is not encouraging . . . sure would be nice to know more about the "biological status of the squid fishery."