April 10, 2018 — A regulatory body heeded to “common sense” called for by the US’ top fishing regulator to be considered along with science allowing for an incidental fishery for West Coast sardines despite fears that there wouldn’t be one this year.
The April 8 decision by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, one of eight regional bodies that set quotas and fishing rules for federal waters, will allow West Coast commercial harvesters — and other users such as a Native American tribe, bait fishers and researchers — to catch up to 7,000 metric tons of sardines this year as “incidental take” or bycatch.
The health of the West Coast sardine biomass is hotly contested and has been since 2015 when the directed fishery was shuttered in an emergency closure after stocks fell below the 150,000t level. With current National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates putting the biomass at around 52,065t, not far above the minimize size stock threshold of 50,000t, harvesters were concerned that the incidental fishery wouldn’t be allowed.
Read the full story at Undercurrent News