The oceanic Ommastrephidae is an important cephalopod resource. The main species which have been exploited at the large scale commercial development included 〖WTBX〗Todarodes pacificus, Illex argentinus, Dosidicus gigas, Nototodarus sloani and Symplectoteuthis oualaniensis. According to the data statistics during 1992 to 2010, the Ommastrephidae production accounted for 51.15%-62.19% of cephalopods in the world, with an average of 55.40%. In this paper, the current exploitation and resources conditions of Todarodes pacificus, Illex argentinus, Dosidicus gigas and other squids are described in details. Meanwhile, according to the biological characteristics of short life cycle and fast growth, four major scientific issues which are to be resolved have been put forward. The four scientific issues are: (1) a completely comprehensive understanding of the ecological status and role of Ommastrephidae; (2) fully mastering the effect of environment including global climate change on the recruitment of Ommastrephidae; (3) further study of assessment model for Ommastrephidae based on the short life cycle; and (4) developing the ecosystem based resource management approaches for Ommastrephidae.