Sardine study assisted by local scientists, pilots, fishermen

Comprehensive count will help determine fishing season

By TODD GUILD, Watsonville Register-Pajaronian
Aug. 24, 2010

In an effort to give scientists and the fishing industry a comprehensive picture of sardine populations along the West Coast, two fishing boats from Moss Landing and one small plane from Watsonville are taking part in a large-scale study of the small fish that once powered the Monterey Bay’s economy.

Since July, a team of scientists has been plying the waters along the West Coast to study the sardine schools, a project intended to give researchers a better picture of the populations of sardines and allow the fisheries industry to better regulate sardine fishing seasons.

The sardine season, which is loosely scheduled from January through August but is largely determined by tonnage caught, has closed for the year, however. The West Coast sardine survey will include fishermen with special permits and spotter planes that will fly and photograph transects at 15-mile intervals from Cape Flattery in Washington to San Diego.

The study was launched when government reports of sharply-declining populations over the past three years contrasted with sardine harvesters’ reports of huge schools.

According to Dr. Doyle Hanan, a retired senior marine biologist from the California Department of Fish and Game who is heading up the California portion of the study, the sardine fishery is considered one of the more sustainable ones. Few other species are accidentally caught and the population of sardines is so high that there is little chance of overfishing, he said.

Still, the study, which is estimated to cost more than $5 million and is funded by the California Wetfish Producers Association and the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, is an important one that will give scientists and the sardine industry the most detailed picture to date of the populations extending from Canada to Southern California, Hanan said.

“We want to ensure that we know how many fish are out there, and that we’re harvesting them at a sustainable level,” Hanan said.

During the study, a fleet of small planes mounted with high-resolution cameras will fly over the ocean along the length of the West Coast and as far out as 76 miles to look for telltale signs of large schools of sardines.

Researchers will then estimate the total surface areas of the schools, then boats to take samples of the fish, which will be measured and weighed.

Allen Hewett of Aptos is the pilot helping with the Central Coast portion of the study. As he flies 4,000 feet above the water, he said he looks for signs of the sardines, such as huge flocks of birds and pods of whales feasting on the little fish.

“When you see 80 tons of sardines from the air, it’s something to see,” he said.

The two boats participating in the study have been given special permission to catch and sell the sardines, but profits from the sales will help fund the study, Hanan said.

Another team of boats and planes are helping with the Southern California study, while an additional team works the area north of the Oregon border.

“The scientific goal of our groundbreaking project is to photo-document and measure the schools of sardines extending the length of the Pacific coast, and ultimately to understand their migration patterns to ensure sustainability,” said Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of CWPA. “This aerial survey will dramatically increase our knowledge of the Pacific Coast sardine population and could also improve future fishing opportunities, which have suffered greatly in recent years.”

Results will be compiled and presented at a sardine stock assessment review panel in September and may be used to help determine the estimated abundance of the Pacific sardine resource and help fisheries management officials determine the 2011 harvest guideline.

Sardine Research Update

Boats, planes and our stalwart research team have been standing at the ready since the close of the directed fishery in July, waiting for Mother Nature to cooperate. And so far the weather gods have been less then helpful in the Northwest and Northern California down to Point Conception.

But the southland has seen clear skies, and we’ve taken advantage of that, as Jeff Luboff and Devin Reed – our southern pilot team – have spotted fish, set boats and photographed 10 successful point sets so far with our southern Experimental Fishing Permit (EFP) vessels: Nick Jurlin on the FV Eileen, Robert Terzoli on the FV Maria T, and Neil Guglielmo on the FV Trionfo.

Schools ranged from five to about 45 tons and represented a nice range of sizes and maturities as well, for a total of nearly 200 mt sardines captured of the approximately 1,050 mt allocated to the Southern CA survey area.

Good job guys!

Grateful thanks also to our southern research team — including Dr. Doyle Hanan, field coordinator for the entire CA project, his son Zach who is overseeing southern operations and the San Pedro markets processing the fish, Tri-Marine and State Fish Co. and their sampling crews.

Monterey EFP vessels King Philip, Sea Wave and El Dorado and their captains, Anthony and Andy Russo and Frank Aliotti, as well as Monterey Fish Company – which will process the northern CA fish – are standing by patiently, waiting for the high sign to conduct point sets. We’re hoping and praying for a weather break soon!

We’ve learned that the coast cleared in the Northwest and pilots resumed transects in WA and OR on Thursday Aug. 18. Our pilot Geno Zandona also completed about 4.5 transects in far Northern CA. And if even part of the northern coast clears, our pilots will continue transects on down the coast over the weekend.

Additionally, we can continue this research project right up to September 15 – the beginning of the fall directed fishery – which allows another three full weeks plus a few days. The weather is typically better and fish are more abundant in Monterey in September; so we still have hope!!

We’ll be filing weekly updates on this blog, along with video and photos to illustrate the action.

Please stay tuned.

Sardine Season Closed, but Fishing for Scientific Research Begins

The California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA), a non-profit organization representing the state’s Wetfish industry, announced today it will launch its innovative sardine research project for the second year during the current closed fishing season.

This unique project, developed by independent scientific advisors and co-sponsored by the CWPA and the Northwest Sardine Survey LLC (NWSS), will document the volume of sardines extending from Canada to Southern California and provide a coast-wide, minimum estimate of sardine abundance.

“The scientific goal of our groundbreaking project is to photo-document and measure the schools of sardines extending the length of the Pacific coast, and ultimately to understand their migration patterns to ensure sustainability,” said Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of CWPA.  “This aerial survey will dramatically increase our knowledge of the Pacific coast sardine population and could also improve future fishing opportunities, which have suffered greatly in recent years.”

Sardine Research Crew

The west coast sardine survey will include select fishermen with special “experimental fishing permits” and spotter planes that will fly and photograph transects at 15-mile intervals from Cape Flattery in Washington to Southern California.  The survey will be conducted in two stages: an aerial survey that encompasses 66 transects and a second

stage where after identifying individual sardine schools of various sizes, pilots will direct fishing vessels to encircle and wrap the schools with purse seine nets.  Pilots have aerial cameras mounted in the planes to document the process.  Each school will be weighed at the dock, biological samples will be taken, and the tonnage will be linked to the photographs.  Scientists will then use mathematical formulas to determine variance between and among schools, and then estimate sardine abundance.

Why the need for the survey?

According to government statistics, sardine stock assessments for the past three years have declined sharply, but many fishermen – especially in the Pacific Northwest – report massive schools of sardines, which they believe aren’t being accurately counted.  And since the estimated abundance of sardines determines the harvest quota set by fishery managers, those numbers must be as scientifically accurate as possible.

“We want to ensure a sustainable fishery, so we’re working with scientists and other organizations to develop more accurate information on sardine resources.  This new information will lead to improved fishery management decisions – good for the resource, and good for the fishermen,” continued Pleschner-Steele.  “It’s no accident that California sardines are considered a sustainable fishery, and have been given a ‘best choice’ green rating on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch list.”

“This is cutting edge fishery science and I’m very hopeful that this innovative program will continue into the future and will lead to a new way to assess the abundance of sardines,” said Dr. Doyle Hanan, a retired senior marine biologist supervisor from Department of Fish and Game, who will oversee the California portion of the project.

The fish caught during the research program will be harvested and packed at cost and sold, with proceeds going to offset the cost of the research program.  Results will be compiled and presented at a sardine stock assessment review panel in September and may be used to help determine the estimated abundance of the Pacific sardine resource and harvest guideline for 2011.

Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro Asks for Six-Month Delay in MLPA Implementation

“Citing concerns about how the Marine Life Protection Act is being implemented on the North Coast, Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) has asked California Resources Secretary Lester Snow to delay the process for at least six months to ensure that environmental protection is balanced with traditional access rights. Chesbro made the request in a recent meeting with Snow.”

Read the rest of Assemblymember Chesbro’s press release here.

The Wall Street Journal Reports on Marine Life Protection Act

In today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, reporter Jean Guerrero reports on the Marine Life Protection Act.

Fishermen sort sea urchins at the Port of Los Angeles last week. Photo Credit: David McNew, The Wall Street Journal

Among other things, she notes that, “Many fishermen say they don’t understand the need for more marine protected areas in waters off California, where the ocean is already highly regulated.”

You can read the entire story here.