There were about ten bright boats anchored just outside of the marine preserve, about a mile from where we were. They are there for the same reason we were – the squid run. Lisa, Mani, and I went for a night dive at La Jolla shores last night in hopes of seeing some. We didn’t have any luck. I’m not sure if they run was just smaller this year, or if the fishing boats were nabbing them all before they made it in to mate at the shores.
One thing was for sure, diving within a mile of squid fishing boats isn’t much fun. They toss small explosives off the boats to try to keep seals out of their nets. Sound travels very far under water, so even a mile away we hear and even feel the bombs in our chests. I’m not sure how much of it will transfer over, but I took a video to give a small idea of what that is like:
In short, annoying. As someone on a dive list said, it makes you wonder why you can’t go near a seal on a beach, but you can throw explosives near them from a boat.