The distribution industry has been discontinuing the handling of’bullet squid’ one after another. This is in response to concerns about depletion of fish stocks. Bullet squid refers to a baby squid whose body length is less than 20 cm.
According to the industry on the 3rd, Lotte Mart decided not to use terms such as’bullet’,’bite’ and’mini’ in the seafood sale process. To prevent the sale of baby squid, a 15cm long cut will be placed in the store, and squids that do not meet the standards will be disposed of.
An official at Lotte Mart said, “As the catch volume has decreased recently, there are increasing cases in which squid that has not grown fully is distributed under the name of bullet squid. said.
Bullet squid is named because of the shape of a small, sleek body like a machine gun bullet. As the catch of new squid has plummeted in recent years, the commercial distribution of baby squid has increased significantly. An official in the distribution industry explained, “It was named’bullet’ for marketing, but it is actually a baby squid.” .
Concerns that the’second nogari’ crisis should be prevented led to the suspension of sales of baby squid. Nogari (male pollock) is considered to be a representative fish species that has been overfished since the 1970s, and the catch has declined sharply. As concerns about the catch of young squids and other young fishes grew, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries changed the standard for banning squid from 12 cm to 15 cm starting this year.
An official in the distribution industry said, “The amount of baby squid sold by individual sellers, centering on online open markets, is also significant.”
Reporter Kiman Kim [email protected]
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