Council adopts interim preferred stock definition for Pacific sardine, directs coastwide assessment work
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Summary
The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to adopt an Interim Final Preferred Alternative redefining Pacific sardine in U.S. waters as a single coastwide stock, and asked staff and NOAA Fisheries to prioritize a coastwide assessment, review harvest control rules, and plan management analyses and advisory-body work this summer and into 2027–2028.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council on April 10 adopted an interim final preferred alternative to revise the Pacific sardine stock definition in the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan, redefining sardine in the U.S. exclusive economic zone as a single coastwide management stock.
Council staff opened the discussion describing newly published genetic and population-structure research that indicates Pacific sardine across the Northeast Pacific show little genetic differentiation. Katrina Bernaus, council staff, said the action’s purpose is to align the Fishery Management Plan’s management unit with the scientific evidence and to set the IFPA so work can begin on a comprehensive amendment package. She listed the management parameters that will need review, including reference points, the harvest guideline/control-rule formula, the distribution term, the cutoff (150,000 metric tons), MaxCat (200,000 metric tons), MSST (50,000 metric tons), EMSY and other inputs to OFL/ABC/ACL calculations.
Advisory bodies and NOAA Fisheries staff told the council that adopting the IFPA will require substantial follow-up work. Bill Satterthwaite of the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) said a coastwide benchmark or research assessment will be necessary to derive new biological parameters and that a management strategy evaluation may be required to test harvest-control alternatives. Josh Lindsey of NOAA Fisheries said the agency expects to provide a coastwide biomass estimate in 2027 that would support the IFPA, and a more comprehensive assessment by February 2028. The SSC and CPS Management Team cautioned the council that the timeline presented by staff is aggressive and that revision of reference points and harvest-control inputs will be a major analytical task.
Environmental and conservation groups urged caution during public comment. Ben Echniknap of Oceana told the council the Pacific sardine population has “collapsed 95% since its most recent peak in 2006” and asked for an independent expert review and clear evidence that management would preserve the ecological role of sardine; Jesse Beck of Wild Oceans urged regionally informed measures to protect predators and ecosystem function in areas where sardine are prey.
After council discussion, Jamie Diamond moved adoption of Alternative 1 (define the managed sardine stock as the extent of the population in U.S. waters) as the IFPA and to provide guidance on next steps. The motion was seconded, and the council carried it. The council instructed staff and NOAA Fisheries to prioritize work this summer—including SSC and advisory-body review of management parameters, consideration of a coastwide benchmark assessment, development of potential management options, and sequencing so a holistic amendment package could be presented in 2026–2028.
