Pacific Sardine (Sardinops sagax caerulea)

• Pacific sardine population levels are high, and no overfishing is occurring.
• The Pacific Fishery Management Council sets an annual quota for the harvest of Pacific sardine based on scientific assessments of the species.
• Sardines are very high in selenium and vitamin B12 and high in calcium, niacin, and phosphorus, but they are also high in cholesterol. For more information, see Nutrition Facts. (USDA)
• The Pacific sardine has experienced a remarkable comeback after populations dropped drastically in the 1950s. Today, this species and fishery are thriving once again.

Sustainability Status

Biomass: Pacific sardine biomass is high.
Overfishing: No
Overfished: No
Fishing and habitat: Pacific sardine are caught with roundhaul gear (purse seine or lampara nets), which likely have little effect on habitat.
Bycatch: Roundhaul fishing results in little unintentionally caught fish, primarily because fishermen target a specific school, which usually consists of one species. The most common incidental catch in coastal pelagic species (CPS) fisheries is other coastal pelagic species. However, bycatch of Pacific salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act has been a concern for the sardine fishery off Oregon and Washington. In 2006, NMFS issued an opinion that determined that fishing for CPS is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species, specifically chinook and coho salmon.
Aquaculture: There is currently no commercial aquaculture of Pacific sardine in the U.S.

Science and Management

The Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) was implemented in 1999 to manage Pacific sardines along with other coastal pelagic species. Pacific sardine is assessed annually to provide a scientific basis for the annual harvest guideline (quota) that is established by the Pacific Fishery Management Council for the U.S. fishery. The FMP also includes a limited entry program, provisions to reduce bycatch and bycatch mortality, and monitoring through logbook and observer programs. In 2003, Amendment 10 established a maximum fleet capacity for the CPS fishery, allowed the transfer of limited entry permits, and established criteria for issuing new permits. Amendment 11 was implemented in 2005, establishing the current framework for allocating the coastwide harvest.

Pacific sardine is a transboundary resource, meaning that these fish migrate across international boundaries. As such, sardine are also targeted by Mexican and Canadian fisheries. Currently no international management agreement exists for Pacific sardine; however scientists and members of industry from the U.S, Mexico, and Canada informally meet at the annual Trinational Sardine Forum where research results and ideas are exchanged.

Life History and Habitat

Life history, including information on the habitat, growth, feeding, and reproduction of a species, is important because it affects how a fishery is managed. Environmental conditions are thought to greatly affect the abundance of coastal pelagic species like sardine. In fact, some people have proposed that the sardine recovery resulted from a shift to a warm-water regime that began in the late 1970s. Because of this relationship, managers have made the sardine harvest control rule flexible to adapt to changing water temperatures.

• Geographic range: Sardines are found in coastal subtropical and temperate waters. When the Pacific sardine population is large, it is abundant from the tip of Baja California to southeastern Alaska and throughout the Gulf of California, but when abundance is low, commercial quantities of sardine do not occur north of Point Conception (near Santa Barbara, California). Pacific sardine is only found seasonally in the northern portion of its range.
• Habitat: Pacific sardines live in pelagic waters at all life stages. They occur in estuaries but are most common in the near shore and offshore areas along the coast.
• Life span: Sardines may live as long as 14 years, but 90% of the population consists of fish younger than six years of age.
• Food: Sardines eat plankton (tiny floating plants and animals).
• Growth rate: Fast - males and females grow at equal rates, and attain half of their maximum expected length by their first birthday. They reach 90% of their maximum length by age 4.
• Maximum size: Up to 1.3 feet, but seldom longer than 9 inches.
• Reaches reproductive maturity: The size and age of sardine when they mature are dependent on location, temperature, and the size of the population. For example, at relatively low population levels, sardine appear to be fully mature at age 1, but at high levels, only some of the two-year-olds are mature.
• Reproduction: Pacific sardine spawn in loosely assembled schools. They spawn multiple times per season - a two-year-old sardine may spawn an average of six times per year whereas the oldest sardine may spawn up to 40 times per year. Sardines lay eggs which are fertilized externally. Eggs hatch in about 3 days.
• Spawning season: The southern stock spawns year round, peaking April through August between San Francisco and Magdalena Bay, Mexico, and January through April in the Gulf of California. Off Oregon and Washington, sardine spawn from May to July.
• Spawning grounds: Pacific sardine spawn in the upper 160 feet of the water column. The location and timing of spawning is strongly influenced by water temperature.
• Migrations: Pacific sardine are highly mobile and move seasonally along the coast. Older adults may move from spawning grounds in southern California and northern Baja California to feeding/spawning grounds off the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Younger adults appear to migrate to feeding grounds primarily in central and northern California.
• Predators: Pacific sardine are eaten by a variety of predators throughout their lives. Sardine eggs and larvae are consumed by an assortment of invertebrate and vertebrate planktivores. Juveniles and adults are eaten by commercially important fish (yellowtail, barracuda, bonito, tuna, marlin, mackerel, hake, salmon, and sharks), seabirds (pelicans, gulls, and cormorants), and marine mammals (sea lions, seals, porpoises, and whales). Sardine are likely consumed by the same predators that eat anchovy.
• Commercial or recreational interest: Commercial
• Distinguishing characteristics: Sardines are a small pelagic schooling fish. They are blue-green on the back and have white flanks with 1 to 3 series of dark spots along the middle.

Role in the Ecosystem

In general, pelagic schooling fish are key components of marine food webs and are primary prey for many fish, marine mammals, and seabirds. Sardine will become more important as prey as their numbers increase. For example, while sardine were abundant during the 1930s, they were a major prey item for both coho and Chinook salmon off Oregon and Washington. When sardine populations are large, sardine may also consume a significant proportion of total organic production in the California Current system (from southern British Columbia to southern Baja California).

Additional Information

Market names: Pilchard or Sardine
Vernacular names: California Sardine, California Pilchard, Sardina, South American Sardine, Chilean Pilchard

Biomass

Biomass refers to the amount of sardines in the ocean. Scientists cannot collect and weigh every single fish to determine biomass, so they use models to estimate it instead. These biomass estimates can help determine if a stock is being fished too heavily or if it may be able to tolerate more fishing pressure. Managers can then make appropriate changes in the regulations of the fishery.

Clupeid stocks like Pacific sardine are naturally variable in size and susceptible to recruitment overfishing. Recruitment overfishing occurs when more fish are removed than can be replaced. Populations tend to vary over periods of roughly 60 years - population declines last an average of 36 years and recoveries last an average of 30 years.

Pacific sardine biomass peaked in 1936 at 3,600,000 metric tons, but steeply declined to less than 10,000 metric tons by 1965. Fisheries collapsed, and the stock did not increase noticeably for about 15 years. Stock biomass increased from low levels in the early 1980s to a peak of 1.56 million metric tons in 1996-1997. The stock has subsequently declined to lower levels and was estimated to be approximately 1.32 million metric tons as of July 1, 2006.

Note: The biomass shown in the graph only includes sardines older than 1 year. Age 1+ biomass serves as the basis for setting a harvest guideline for the U.S. fishery for the next year. For example, 2006 biomass is the basis for the 2007 harvest guideline.

Landings

Landings refer to the amount of catch that is brought to land. The West Coast fishery for sardines began in the early 20th century and was once the largest fishery in North America, with peak landings of 664,000 metric tons during 1936. The fishery began to collapse in the 1940s. The fishery operated at moderate levels up to 1967 when limits were placed on harvest. Directed fishing was halted in 1974, and from 1974 to 1981, annual landings were less than 50 tons. As stock biomass began to increase, a directed fishery was allowed with an annual landings limit of 1,000 tons. The landings limit was raised to 8,150 tons in 1991 as the sardine population further increased. Overall, during the 1990s, annual landings averaged 42,000 tons. By 1999, landings increased to 62,000 tons and were 134,000 tons in 2006.

Note: U.S. commercial landings are shown in the graph.

Biomass and Landings

Are landings and biomass related? Landings are dependent on biomass, management measures in the fishery, and fishing effort.

Data sources:
Biomass and landings from the 2007 Pacific Sardine Stock Assessment

Important Dates

1916 – West Coast fishery for Pacific sardine begins in response to a national demand for new food sources during World War I
1920s – Fishery expands rapidly
1936 – Fishery peaked at over 700,000 metric tons
1930s-1940s – Pacific sardine supports the largest fishery in the western hemisphere, with approximately 200 vessels participating; sardines account for almost 25% of the all fish landed in the U.S.
1940s – Fishery declines due to overfishing and environmental conditions
1950s – Fishery collapses following dramatic declines in stock biomass and remains at low levels for nearly 40 years
1967 – California legislature places limits on sardine harvest
1970s – Fishery reaches extremely low levels
1974 – Directed fishing for sardine is halted
1974-1981 – Landings are less than 50 tons per year
1986 – California lifts its 18-year moratorium on sardine harvest in response to increases in spawning biomass; allows directed fishery with an annual limit of 1,000 tons
Late 1980s – Sardine stock begins to recover; a directed purse-seine fishery is reestablished
1991 – Evidence of a continued increase in sardine population prompts state managers to raise yearly limit to 8,150 tons
Mid-1990s – Stock rapidly recovers and expands range northward through British Columbia, Canada
1999 – Landings increase to 62,000 tons
1999 – Management authority for the U.S. Pacific sardine fishery is transferred to the Pacific Fishery Management Council; sardine included in the Coastal Pelagic Species FMP; a maximum sustainable yield control rule is established to prevent Pacific sardine from being overfished and maintain relatively high and consistent catch levels over the long-term; approximately 70,000 metric tons are landed coastwide
2001 – Landings in the coastwide fishery total 74,957 metric tons, worth just over $9 million
2002 – Landings exceed 100,000 metric tons
2006 – Amendment 11 establishes coastwide harvest allocation

Notes and Links

General Information:
Pacific Fishery Management Council Backgrounder on Coastal Pelagic Species

NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) - Pacific Sardine Research

SWFSC videos from the coastwide sardine survey

Fishery Management:
Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan

Stock Assessments:
2007 Pacific Sardine Stock Assessment