The West Coast summer sardine population is expected to fall 93 percent from to its 2007 peak, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. If the prediction comes true, this could be the second year in a row that the Pacific Fishery Management Council votes to cancel the season’s catch, reports The Seattle Times.
While sardine populations naturally have dramatic fluctuations, scientists say that over-fishing has made conditions worse.
Sardines are a vital forage fish for marine animals like sea lions and salmon, as well as a valuable catch for fishermen. In past years, the annual harvest has been worth anywhere from $10 million to more than $20 million.
“Pacific sardines are an incredibly important economic and ecological ocean resource,” Geoff Shester, a fishery scientist with Oceana, a marine conservation group, told the Times. “Fishermen with lost income will suffer financially, and marine animals like California sea lion pups will face another year of fighting starvation.”
For more on the Pacific sardine fishery, check out Elizabeth Grossman’s piece for FERN, in partnership with Yale Environment 360, from last summer.