RECOVERY OF THE PACIFIC SARDINE AND THE CALIFORNIA SARDINE FISHERY

The Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax) supported the largest fishery in North America in the 1930s and 1940s, but was severely depleted by the 1970s. A moratorium on fishing sardines was enacted in 1974 and remained in effect until 1986, when a small directed fishery was allowed. As the population increased, small quotas for live and dead bait were established, and the directed quota was increased in 1991 and 1992. Management efforts were designed to ensure the continued recovery of the sardine while providing a small catch and minimizing the impact of the incidental catch of sardines in the mackerel fishery. A series of management workshops in recent years generated estimates of sardine abundance, and strategies for managing the recovering resource. With the traditional fleet in economic difficulty and offshore fishing by factory trawlers a possibility, the future of the sardine fishery is uncertain.