Hi Jon. The squid typically live around five to six hundred feet down,
but they're catching them as shallow as 100 ft. I haven't heard of any
attacks near here, but several have been recorded south of here, where the
squid originally came from. The squid can run 8 feet long, and are really
fast. They aren't afraid of anything, and the only natural predator is whales.
The divers down south really don't like them. You gotta be careful when you
haul them up, because they grab with those suction cups, which have rows of
teeth in them, and the beak is very strong if they can get near enough to
bite.
The local salmon season has recently been canceled and in general the
fish stocks of most species are down drastically. The local fishermen are
blaming the squid, that will eat anything, and are very aggressive.
Salmon are down by 70%, rock fish by 50%, and most other fish getting
hard to find. It's not like we have a huge fishing fleet here, so something
must be getting all the fish. That's one of the things I plan on checking out
when the sub is done.
The visibility here is usually around 50 feet close to shore,
and can get to 100 feet farther out or down by the trench where the water
comes up from the bottom clear and cold. The water is nutrient rich
and usually the fishing here is fantastic, but in recent years has been
mysteriously dropping off. Average temperature year round is about 55-F or
less, although it's warmer down south, maybe 60-65 F.
I'll need some type of heater in the sub.
Thanks for the convention up date, see you there, Frank
D.