West Coast sardine fishery shutdown continues for 2nd year
West coast sardine fishermen for a second straight season will have to keep their boats moored or find something else to catch. The Pacific Fishery Management Council on Sunday closed the sardine fishery off Oregon, California and Washington following the second straight year of sardine population estimates that fall below the minimum abundance required to allow fishing. There are fewer than 65,000 metric tons adult sardines in the ocean this year, federal scientists estimated. West coast fishery rules require sardine fishing to cease once the adult stock drops below 150,000 metric tons. Read the article here 11:58
That’s OK, they’re still fishing them south of the border. Just like when they banned gill nets in California. All of our newly illegal gear got sold to Mexicans so they could catch the same fish and export them to us. Notice a trend here?
Please read an account of the sardine population ups and downs here from a renown fisheries scientist or two.
http://cfooduw.org/california-sardine-numbers-are-low-why-is-oceana-blaming-fishing/