Research Document - 2001/126

Stock assessment and recommended harvest for Pacific sardine in 2002

By Schweigert, J., McFarlane, G.

Abstract

The Canadian commercial fishery for Pacific sardine ended in the late 1940s as a result of declining abundance off California. After an absence of almost 50 years, sardine reappeared in British Columbia in the early 1990s and an experimental fishery commenced in 1995. As interest in re-establishing a commercial fishery has grown, small increments in the experimental fishery have occurred to present with 10 licensees (7 seine, 2 trap, 1 gillnet) harvesting a quota of 1600 tons in 2001. Ongoing summer trawl surveys provide an index of relative abundance in the offshore waters and indications for 2001 are that sardines were distributed further south and were less abundant than in 1997 and 1999 surveys. These results are consistent with the U.S. assessment which indicates a slight decline in sardine abundance in 2001. The Canadian stock assessment is based on the U.S. abundance forecast and assumes that on average about 10% of the stock migrates into BC waters based on historical catch rates and biomass estimates from the trawl survey. Given developing expertise in catching and handling sardines in the Canadian industry it was recommended that the U.S. harvest rate based on temperature conditions near the spawning grounds be adopted for the B.C. fishery. Indications from the U.S. assessment for 2002 are that sardine biomass are declining slightly, but at the recommended harvest rate of 15%, a potential surplus of 15, 864 tonnes is forecast for 2002 in Canadian waters. It should be noted that this represents a harvest ceiling and if July and August 2002 temperatures off the lower west coast of Vancouver Island are near, or below, the 12C migration threshold, the biomass of sardines migrating to BC could be lower than forecast.

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