Saving Seafood

Controversy descends on Pacific sardine fishery over stock surveys

April 23, 2020 — The Pacific sardine fishery on the U.S. West Coast appears to be headed for another year of being shut down after a recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) assessment showed a low biomass.

The NOAA assessment estimated the Pacific sardine biomass will be at 27,547 metric tons by the summer – significantly less than the 150,000 metric tons needed to reopen the fishery to commercial fishing. Any fishery at less than 50,000 metric tons is considered to be overfished. The assessment estimates the sardine biomass was around 1.8 million metric tons in 2006.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Pacific council recommends keeping California sardine catch at 4,000t in 2020

April 13, 2020 — Sardine landings off the coast of the US state of California will stay the same in 2020 if harvesters catch all they are permitted under the limits recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), the California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA) reports.

Despite concerns expressed by environmental groups, the PFMC this week approved repeating the 4,000 metric ton catch target of 2019 in the new season, which begins on July 1, 2020 and ends June 30, 2021, according to a press release from CWPA. A meeting and vote on the matter was held via webinar as a result of COVID-19 concerns.

The decision still requires approval and publication in the Federal Register by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Pacific Fishery Management Council Approves Pacific Sardine Fishing Levels for 2020

April 8, 2020 — The following was released by the California Wetfish Producers Association:

“One thing everyone agrees on is the need to improve the sardine stock assessment,” stated Marc Gorelnik, vice chair of the Pacific Fishery Management Council. Conducting the meeting via webinar due to COVID-19 concerns, the Council approved management measures for Pacific sardines for the season July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, after considering reports from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), CPS Management Team and Advisory Subpanel and the public. Environmental groups pleaded for more precaution and much lower harvest limits, arguing that the stock assessment indicates that the stock is at low and declining levels, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) declared the northern sardine subpopulation as ‘overfished’ in 2019, so the Council must develop a rebuilding plan. However, the Council supported the recommendations of the SSC, management team and advisory subpanel, in light of the fact that the biomass estimate remained essentially the same as last year. So, they approved an Annual Catch Target of 4,000 metric tons for all uses, as in 2019.

“We greatly appreciate the expressions of concern from the management team and advisory subpanel, and the Council’s action based on those concerns,” said Diane Pleschner-Steele, Executive Director of the California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA). “We thank the Council for hearing us,” she continued, adding, “This conflict is between what fishermen say is out there, based on what they see, and what biologists say, based on insufficient science.” Both fishermen and independent scientific surveys have documented sardine recruitment and growing abundance since 2015. The problem is that NOAA’s sardine acoustic trawl surveys have not seen it, and those surveys have largely driven the stock assessments in recent years.

The 2020 stock assessment reported no evidence of recruitment, but the model used to predict biomass has not updated the age data from the fishery since 2015, because the directed fishery has been closed since that time. To resolve this Catch-22, CWPA submitted an application for an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The Council unanimously supported this effort, along with the 2020 management measures.

If approved by NMFS, this EFP will allow CWPA to coordinate a closely controlled directed fishing effort to capture sardine schools throughout the year. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has agreed to sample and age all the landings and provide that data for the next stock assessment.

Another thorny problem that California fishermen are facing is the current scientific assumption that all sardines found in water temperatures above about 62 degrees F are deemed to be ‘southern’ stock sardines that have migrated up from Mexico. Thus, these fish are subtracted from the ‘northern’ sardine stock assessment. This assumption and current management policy have frustrated fishermen, especially in Southern California, because all catches are deducted from the ‘northern’ sardine harvest limit.

This issue, and many more, arose during the Council’s sardine discussion. Environmental groups are now asking the Council to revise the entire management structure to provide more forage for other species. These groups discount the mounting evidence of recruitment and abundance, and ignore the fact that the fishery for the entire CPS complex, including sardine, amounts to less than two percent of the key forage pool, which also includes other forage species. Moreover, scientists widely acknowledge that environmental forcing drives the abundance of sardines and other CPS; these stocks rise and fall based on Mother Nature’s whims, with negligible impact from fishing.

This discussion will likely continue at future Council meetings, as environmental groups campaign to further reduce fishery catches for sardines and other CPS. Meanwhile, CWPA and California sardine fishermen, as well as sardine fishermen in the Pacific Northwest, are committed to conduct the research necessary to improve the sardine stock assessment. If the ‘northern’ sardine stock assessment accurately reflected the abundance of sardines reported by fishermen virtually yearlong (in water temperatures below 62 degrees F), northern sardines would not be considered ‘overfished.’

California fishermen and processors are grateful that the Council considered the issues and uncertainties raised and combined scientific underpinning with practicality and common sense. Balance is a key mandate of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The Council and NMFS are required to consider the needs of fishing communities, not just biology, in developing rebuilding plans. The future of California’s historic wetfish industry hangs in the balance.

Watch a video on the California sardine fishery here

Pacific Council Approves Sardine Harvest Including More Data From Special Fishery for 2020

April 8, 2020 — In its first fully-virtual meeting to avoid spreading COVID-19, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council approved catch specifications for Pacific sardines, allowing for a special fishery that will inform future stock assessments. Pacific sardines have not had a commercial fishery for six years, based on a stock assessment showing low biomass and no recruitment that has been at the center of a years-long controversy.

“One thing everyone agrees on is the need to improve the sardine stock assessment,” stated Marc Gorelnik, vice chair of the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Read the full story at Seafood News

CALIFORNIA: San Pedro Fishermen Help Add to Sardine Stock Assessments

April 9, 2019 — Based out of San Pedro harbor, Nick Juril got his first fishing boat in 1982 and has been making a living ever since with a variety of catches including squid, mackerel, and sardines.

“I grew up with the fishery,” said Juril on the deck of his current boat, Eileen. “[It] goes back to my dad’s childhood. There’s still a handful of us left and we’re still, you know, hanging on. It would be a shame to see it go away.”

Sardine stock assessments are based primarily on acoustic trawl surveys conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. According to the administration, the sardine biomass has fallen short of the 150,000 metric ton threshold needed for commercial fishing to commence. Therefore, the Fisheries Management Council has prohibited a directed sardine fishery since 2015 to allow for stocks to bounce back.

“In 2014/2015 we weren’t seeing a lot. But since the water kind of changed, the water warmed up a little bit, there’s a lot of sardines around right now,” explained Juril. “So, we’re hanging on, but not having the sardines has been really, really tough.”

Joe Ferrigno, one of Juril’s neighboring fishermen, says the loss of the sardine catch has taken as much as half of his business away.

“There was some years we fish sardines all year long,” said Ferrigno. “Now, we go farther, and we work a lot harder to try to catch a little bit of squid to make up for it.”

Read the full story at Spectrum News

Pacific sardines likely to face another shuttered season

April 3, 2019 — Sardine fishermen on the West Coast are preparing for another year of severe restrictions after a new draft assessment from NMFS shows the the population is continuing its collapse.

The new report, released on March 26, indicates a sardine population of 27,547 metric tons. Any tonnage below 50,000 metric tons is considered “overfished” by NMFS.

These numbers indicate a 98.5 percent collapse since 2006, when the population reached an estimated 1.77 million metric tons, according to NMFS data.

The California Wetfish Producers Association has repeatedly taken issue with NMFS’ assessment strategy. Executive Director Diane Pleschner-Steele has called Oceana-driven claims of overfishing to be “fake news.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Eating fish can help fight childhood asthma, finds new study

November 19, 2018 — A clinical trial led by researchers from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia has found that eating seafood species high in good fats such as salmon, trout, and sardines as part of a healthy diet can reduce the symptoms of asthma in children.

National body Seafood Industry Australia (SIA) has welcomed the new study, calling it a potential easy and effective treatment for asthma sufferers.

“Childhood asthma is the most common respiratory disorder worldwide. We know these species of fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids which have anti-inflammatory properties and have been shown to help in the reduction of symptoms for other inflammatory conditions like arthritis,” SIA CEO Jane Lovell said.“This new research shows that following a diet which is high in oily fish could be an easy, safe, and effective way to reduce the symptoms of asthma in children which is fantastic news.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Omega 3 fatty acids found in seafood tied to healthy aging

October 24, 2018 — People may be more likely to age without health problems when they have more omega 3 fatty acids in their blood, a recent study suggests.

The study authors focused on so-called healthy aging, or the number of years people live without developing disabilities or physical or mental health problems. They examined data on 2,622 adults who were 74 years old on average, following them from 1992 to 2015. Only 11 percent of participants experienced healthy aging throughout the entire study period.

“We found that older adults who had higher levels of omega 3 from seafood were more likely to live longer and healthier lives,” said lead study author Heidi Lai of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston.

“These findings support current national dietary guidelines to consume more seafood,” Lai said by email.

Adults should get about eight ounces a week of seafood, ideally by eating it twice a week in place of meats, poultry or eggs, according to U.S. dietary guidelines. Some options that are high in omega 3s include salmon, anchovies, herring, shad, sardines, oysters, trout and Atlantic or Pacific mackerel.

Read the full story at Reuters

 

Aniello Guglielmo: Fishermen know the truth about sardines

May 29, 2018 — Listen to what fishermen know about sardines

Reporter Anne Roth quoted me in her article “When will sardines return? Not any time soon say scientists.” But she misunderstood what I said.

I’m one of the fishermen Diane Pleschner-Steele quoted in her comment, “Fishermen are seeing more sardines, not less.” I’ve been fishing for 60 years, and I’ve seen sardines come, go and come back again. But the government surveys that assess the biomass don’t come into coastal waters where the fish are now. In fact, we began seeing an abundance of small sardines right before the 2015 El Niño.

The government now admits they’re missing fish in their stock assessments. We know they’re missing a lot of fish, and we’ve offered to help document the abundance inshore of their surveys. But that’s going to take time, and the bureaucracy moves slowly. When I said, “Unless something drastic happens, I don’t think, I’ll ever fish sardines again,” I also explained that it may take years for government surveys to account for sardines in the nearshore area where sardines are, and I only have a few years of fishing left. But I hope I do fish sardines again in my lifetime.

Fishermen know better than scientists how many fish are in the ocean. It’s time they start listening to us.

Read the full letter to the editor at the Monterey Herald

 

With Support from Chris Oliver, Pacific Council Approves Sardine Set Aside of 7000 Tons

April 12, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — On Sunday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the management measures for the West Coast sardine fishery that were recommended by the California Pacific Sardine management team. The decision provides for 7,000 Mt for all uses, allowing fishermen a reasonable set aside for incidental take.

Diane Pleschner-Steele, Executive Director California Wetfish Producers Association said “We are very thankful to the Council for applying the best available common sense in making its decision, especially in light of the concerns expressed during the recent methods review and the earlier problems voiced about last year’s sardine panel review.”

“And we are especially grateful to NOAA Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver, who took the time to address the Council in support of sustainable fishing communities, as well as resources, saying in part, ‘We have to combine that scientific underpinning with practicality and common sense.’

“This is especially topical given the ongoing forage fish discussion and its relationship to California’s historic wetfish industry, which has been the foundation of our fishing economy for more than a century. All too often, that importance is largely ignored or dismissed with pleas to ‘leave most of the fish in the water for other predators.’ Our precautionary catch rules already do that.

“In sum, a big thank you to the Council for doing the right thing for sardine fishery management and for fishing families and communities up and down the West Coast.”

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished with permission.