A modeling approach to identify optimal habitat and suitable fishing grounds for neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

Two predominant currents, the warm Kuroshio Current and the cold Oyashio Current, meet in the Northwest Pacif ic Ocean. The interaction of these two currents between the subtropical and subarctic fronts forms a transition region (Roden, 1991). The dynamic of the physical oceanographic structures in this region, including meandering eddies and frontal zones, results in a highly productive habitat, which serves as a favorable feeding ground for various commercially important species, such as neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii), Pacific saury (Cololabis saira), anchovy (Engraulis japonicus), and albacore (Thunnus alalunga) (Pearcy, 1991; Zainuddin et al., 2006). The neon flying squid (O. bartramii) is an important oceanic squid, which has been commercially harvested by the Japanese since 1974, and later by South Koreans and the Chinese (including Taiwanese) (Wang and Chen, 2005). There are four stocks of A modeling approach to identify optimal habitat and suitable fishing grounds for neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean