OUR SQUID
Wild caught from pristine Alaskan waters, the Magister Squid is a sweet and tender squid that is the perfect addition to your seafood offerings. According to NOAA Fisheries (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration), it is the most abundant of the squid species found in Alaska’s waters. Plans are in progress to open Alaska’s first squid fishery for Magister Squid in 2025 at which time Alaska will be the sole source of Magister Squid in North America.
Automated Squid Jigging Machines
Small Vessel Squid Jigging Machine
Hamade, Inc. is largest Japan manufacturer of squid jigging machines. A factory look at the smallest of their jigging machines proved very helpful. The model shown would be equipped with two line drums per machine and can be electronically set to any depth, jigging frequency, and retrieval speed by the operator. Four machines can be operated from the captain's helm with a remote control panel.
New Fishery Will Use Jigging Machines
Magister Squid will be a new species of squid caught in North America. The only other country commercially fishing and exporting this species is Russia. There are other squid species harvested in US waters, but all currently use nets to harvest squid in their fisheries. This new squid fishery in Alaska will use automated squid jigging machines which have little or no bycatch of other non-directed species.
See The Jigging Machine In Action
We tagged along with Mr. Sato in Hakodate, Japan to explore the use of the squid jigging machines on his 60 ft squid fishing boat. Mr. Sato has been fishing since he was 15 years old and now operates his vessel alone.
A Day with the Fish Monger
Testing the Hamade DR-Z Jigging Machine
The Alaska Squid Company acquired two DR-Z squid jigging machines from Hamade Inc. in the summer of 2024. Due to extenuating circumstances, only one of these machines was setup with limited field testing. More testing is planned for next summer. All functions were tested and seemed to work as described by the manufacturer. Here is the machine in action. The squid were killed immediately after harvested to stop production of lactic acid that would have begun deteriorating the quality of the squid.