June 26, 2014 — An ugly, slimy Rhode Island secret has surfaced: Rhode Island is the East Coast capital of squid.
Squid is to Rhode Island what lobster is to Maine; cod is to Massachusetts.
"It was surprising to me, and I work in the fishing industry," said Peg Parker, executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation. "We're the squid capital of the world. The guys in Point Judith knew that, but not the rest of us."
Cornell University researchers completed a study last month, commissioned by Saunderstown-based Commercial Fisheries.
They concluded that more pounds of squid are brought to shore in Rhode Island than any other seafood. And Rhode Island accounts for 54 percent of squid landings in the Northeast.
Who knew?
"It's not a surprise to anyone in the fishing industry," said John Scotti, senior researcher for Cornell's Cooperative Extension Marine Program, located on Long Island.
In early November, Scotti visited Rhode Island to discuss his findings with fishing industry members and some other people, too. The fishermen nodded. The other people gasped: Squid?
Yes, squid. Rhode Island had 7 million pounds of it last year.
"There was giggling," Scotti said. "The fishermen found it surprising no one knew."
"I knew," said Chris Roebuck. "I'm one of the fishermen."
Roebuck is owner of Salt Pond Fisheries in Point Judith, a second-generation squid fisherman.
Read the full story from The Providence Journal