November 17, 2014 — West Coast fishery managers have recommended easing federal limits on commercial catches of Pacific sardine for the first time in 15 years, despite evidence of sharp declines of the tiny fish, a key food source of sea birds and marine mammals.
Under the plan approved over the weekend, the maximum harvest level allowed in U.S. Pacific waters would be raised from 15 percent to 20 percent of the sardine's estimated total biomass – less 150,000 metric tons to provide a margin of error.
The higher limits were proposed unanimously by the 14-member Pacific Fishery Management Council, one of eight advisory panels around the country that oversee commercial and recreational fishing for U.S. waters in their regions.
The recommendations are subject to approval of the National Marine Fisheries Service, a U.S. Commerce Department agency. If adopted, they would go into effect as early as next July, the start of the new sardine season.
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