Washington Review of Commercial Fisheries 2014-2015 Sardine and Mackerel and 2014 Anchovy

Pacific sardine, Pacific mackerel, and Northern anchovy belong to a group of fish commonly referred to as forage fish or coastal pelagic species (CPS). Neither term - forage or CPS - denote a distinct list of species in ordinary or scientific usage. Washington uses the term "forage fish" and defines these as anchovy, herring, sand lance, sardine, and smelt for regulatory and management purposes. The federal fishery management plan to which sardine, mackerel, and anchovy are subject, the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan (CPS FMP), also includes squid, herring, and jack mackerel and jack smelt. Elsewhere, or in other contexts, forage fish or CPS may include as many as two dozen other species.

Fish in this group includes species that are distributed in the neritic zone, or coastal nearshore waters, and that live in the water column as opposed to living near or at the seafloor. Populations of these fish are typically highly variable with ranges that can expand and contract dramatically, with abundance and distribution tightly linked to ocean conditions, such as water temperature. These fishes serve as vital sources of food for other fish species, birds, and marine mammals.

Generally harvested with a variety of "round haul" gears elsewhere, only purse seines, lampara nets, and dip nets are authorized for targeted commercial harvest of sardine, mackerel, and anchovy in Washington. Incidental catch does occur with other gears, e.g., trawl nets. Recreational gears include jig, dip net, and cast net but the latter gear is only legal for sardine and anchovy in Washington.

Sardines were first harvested in Washington in 1936 and through the heyday of the "cannery row" era, up to 1950 (PFMC 1948). Then, due to a combination of less favorable environmental conditions (sardine prefer warmer water temperatures) and over-exploitation, the population began to collapse and contracted to its range in southern California. The California fishery closed in 1968. A population rebound was evident by the 1990s and sardine were again observed as far north as British Columbia (McFarlane 2005). The latter part of the 1990s saw continued expansion of sardine into waters off Oregon and Washington in sufficient enough numbers to spur interest in commercial fishing once again. In contrast, mackerel did not garner similar attention and have been harvested only incidentally by fishers targeting sardine.

Northern anchovy have long supported a small-scale, but important fishery on the Washington coast. Aside from some experimental attempts at canning and preservation in the 1940's, this fishery has and continues to primarily provide bait for other high-value fisheries such as commercial albacore tuna and recreational fisheries (PMFC 1948).

Recreational fisheries for sardine, herring, and anchovy exist in Washington, and although harvest data are not collected, catches are presumed to be very small. Sport interest in these fish, similar to the anchovy commercial fishery, is as bait to use in targeting other fish.