July 21, 2022 — A scientific report by Morocco’s National Institute for Fisheries Research (INRH, per its French acronym) indicates the nation’s cephalopod catch is down by 60 percent, most significantly in the southern part of the country, according to Morocco-based news site Le Reporter.
According Le Reporter, word in the industry is that the current decline is due to poaching by an “octopus mafia.” There has been lax enforcement of the ban on fishing during the biological rest period, and the longstanding issue of smuggling of illegally caught octopus continues unabated.