Management
The "harvest guideline" for setting the annual U.S. catch limit is derived from a formula based in part on
prevailing ocean temperatures and a minimum stock size threshold or cutoff point arbitrarily set at 150,000 mt,
below which all fishing must cease. While this formula results in a recommended catch level that is considered
conservative compared to standards for many forage fish fisheries in other parts of the world, the level is not
based on any analysis of the needs of predators which rely on sardines.
In terms of spatial and seasonal management, the fishery has been heavily concentrated off southern California
with little consideration of the effects on the sardine population in that region and only a rudimentary
understanding of stock structure across the extent of the species range. In 2005, the Pacific Fishery Management
Council adopted a framework to allocate the sardine "harvest guideline" (recommended catch quota) coastwide in
three seasonal installments beginning January 1 (35%), July 1 (40%), September 15 (25%).
Recent developments in the scientific assessment of sardine populations off the California coast show that
numbers are much lower than previously thought, and have been in decline since 2000. As a result, the Pacific
Fishery Management Council followed scientific recommendations to protect the stock by lowering 2008 harvest
levels. Harvest limits for 2008 are 42% lower than the 2007 limits and the total 2007 catch. Some sardine
processors and fishermen are resisting this change to the harvest guidelines.
The National Coalition for Marine Conservation has highlighted several concerns with the sardine management scheme:
- The 150,000 ton "cutoff" (i.e., a minimum stock size threshold below which fishing must stop) is too low
and does not account for predators' needs. An explicit set-aside for predators needs to be factored into the
minimum stock size threshold.
- More research into predator consumption of sardines is needed so that the council can begin to quantify
an amount of sardines to allocate to predators
- Allocation of catch within areas is needed to ensure that shorebirds and other predators whose foraging
areas are geographically limited are not out-competed by the fisheries
