CWPA WINS SALTENSTALL-KENNEDY GRANT TO INVESTIGATE SEASONAL NEARSHORE DYNAMICS OF PACIFIC SARDINE (Sardinops sagax) IN CALIFORNIA

Pacific sardine has been one of the top ten highest valued commercial fisheries in California. But declining stock assessments precipitated closure of the directed sardine fishery in 2015. In 2019, “northern” sardines were declared “overfished,” sharply reducing the allowed incidental catch rate. This also curtailed fishing for species that school with sardines, such as mackerel, anchovy and even market squid, inflicting serious impacts on California’s wetfish industry.

Stock assessment scientists hypothesize two sardine stocks on the West Coast: northern (NSP) and southern (SSP), which they have separated by a 16.7°C sea temperature (SST) threshold: only sardines found in waters below 16.7° C (about 62° F) are classified as northern sardines (NSP). The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) manages only the ‘cold water’ NSP, but counts all sardines landed in California as NSP regardless of the SST.

Stock assessments for NSP are based on annual NOAA Acoustic Trawl (AT) surveys, which now omit sardines estimated to be in water temperatures above 16.7° C SST. A report also noted that assessments excluding the nearshore area, an area inshore of about 40 meters depth that is typically not surveyed in NOAA AT surveys, would be negatively biased.

To address this, NOAA and industry initiated a collaborative nearshore acoustic survey using fishing boats to expand acoustic and biological sampling. (See https://californiawetfish.org/sardine-research-update-acoustic-survey for more.)

However, aerial surveys and California fishermen have reported thousands of tons of sardines yearlong inshore of NOAA’s summer surveys, (see more at https://californiawetfish.org/sardine-research-update-aerial-survey). These observations pose questions about NMFS’s declaration of NSP sardines as overfished and the use of 16.7°C to separate NSP from SSP.

In 2022, CWPA applied for and received an SK grant to investigate the nearshore dynamics of sardines in California throughout a full year, with specific focus on the Southern California Bight, where sardines are observed yearlong in a range of water temperatures.

The goal of this project is to collect and analyze historical and current biological and landings data yearlong, including bi-monthly observations and monthly samples from purse seine fishing and live bait catches, to test the hypothesis that NSP and SSP sardines, particularly sardines inshore of NOAA surveys, can be accurately separated by their association with 16.7°C SST using morphological (e.g. length, weight, age, vertebral count) and biological metrics. The outcome will enhance understanding of sardine stock structure and may lead to increased fishing opportunities.

Please visit the CWPA SK Grant webpage for more information about our findings and fishermen’s observations throughout this important research study.

SARDINES IN CALIFORNIA

California Wetfish Producers Association Press Release:

Pacific Fishery Management Council Approves Pacific Sardine Fishing Levels for 2020 [PDF]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-Sardine Spex

SARDINES IN CALIFORNIA ~ FISHERY IN CRISIS

This conflict is between what fishermen say is out there, based on what they see, and what biologists say, based on insufficient science. Fishermen who lived through the return of sardines in the early 1990s are experiencing déjà vu these days. Since 2015, many have testified to the growing abundance of sardines in California. Nick Jurlin is one of those fishermen. A third-generation fisherman, Nick remembers how things were when sardines returned. Nick and his son-in-law Corbin, the next generation, see the ironic parallels: schools of sardines like giant lily pads on the ocean everywhere now, but the fishery is closed and they have little else to fish.

Scientific surveys that are conducted primarily offshore have seen no evidence of sardine recruitment, and stock assessments continue to predict decline. So, conflict has spiraled into crisis: the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) closed the sardine fishery in 2015 because NOAA acoustic trawl surveys did not see sardines and the stock assessment fell below the cutoff for directed fishing. But the large research ships can’t survey near shore; more than 70 percent of California’s sardine catch is made in shallow water inshore of NOAA’s acoustic surveys. In 2019, conditions turned from bad to worse, as the stock assessment fell even further, and NMFS declared sardines ‘overfished.’

Since the turn of the 20th century, sardines have been the foundation of California’s wetfish industry. Nick and Corbin, who used to rely on sardines yearlong, now are dedicated to research, helping to document the abundance of sardines inshore of the federal surveys, hoping to improve sardine stock assessments and reopen the fishery. Fishermen like Corbin are pleading with the Pacific Fishery Management Council for help to save their jobs.
This video is the story of one fishing family and their efforts to survive.

Direct: https://youtu.be/uaps0Vz5XOA

California Sardine Numbers are Low – Why is Oceana Blaming Fishing?

Last week Dr. Geoff Shester, California campaign director for the nonprofit advocacy group Oceana criticized the Pacific Fishery Management Council for the persistence of low numbers of California Sardines. The lack of a population recovery may cause the commercial moratorium to last until 2017.

The author explained this sardine population decline as being 93 percent less than it was in 2007. Dr. Shester does not believe this is because of environmental causes like climate change, El Nino, or natural fluctuations in forage fish species however – instead he blames the management body. “They warned of a population collapse and the fishery management body basically turned a blind eye and continued moving forward with business as usual.”

Shester also cited recent sea lion deaths, specifically 3,000 that washed ashore in California in 2015.

“When fishing pressure occurs during a decline, which is exactly what happened here,” said Dr. Shester. “It puts the stock at such dramatically low levels it impedes any recovery potentially for decades.”

Comment by Ray Hilborn, University of Washington, @hilbornr

Dr. Shester’s comments are some of the most dishonest commentary I have seen in the fisheries world.

He knows that the NOAA Scientists and Prof Tim Essington, in work funded by the Pew Foundation, have stated clearly that the decline in sardine abundance is due to natural causes. He also knows that sea lions are not dependent upon sardines; the die off of sea lions is caused by the oceanographic conditions – not the result of fishing. In fact, reproductive failures of sea lions have occurred repeatedly in the past at times of high sardine abundance.

If he has read Dr. Essington’s paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences he would also know that there is no relationship between fishing and the duration of periods of low abundance of sardines and other forage fish.

The harvest rule for sardines is highly precautionary, even when sardines are at high abundance the harvest rate is low. Indeed the harvest control rule for sardines matches very well the recommended harvest rule for forage fish that emerged from the LENFEST report – that is a low target harvest rate at high abundance with the fishery closed when the stock reaches low abundance.

Members of the Science and Statistics Committee of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council have explained all this to Dr. Shester before – he simply continues to ignore science and pursue his own agenda.

Ray Hilborn is a Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. Find him on twitter here: @hilbornr

Read the original post: http://cfooduw.org/