WA/OR Sardine Purse Seine Fishery - MMPA List of Fisheries

Current Classification on the List of Fisheries

^ Number of participants estimates are based on state and federal fisheries permit data.  The estimated number of participants is expressed in terms of the number of active participants in the fishery, when possible.  If this information is not available, the estimated number of vessels or persons licensed for a particular fishery is provided. If no recent information is available on the number of participants, then the number from the most recent LOF is used.  NOAA Fisheries acknowledges that, in some cases, these estimations may be inflating actual effort.

*Observer coverage levels include the latest information reported in the most current final Stock Assessment Report (SAR).

¹ Indicates the stock or species is driving the classification of the fishery.

Basis for Current Classification

Classified as Category given the lack of observed marine mammal incidental mortality and serious injury.

Distribution

The Category III WA/OR sardine purse seine fishery targets Pacific sardines, a coastal pelagic species (CPS), in the water column above the continental shelf off the coast of Oregon and Washington. Federal harvest guidelines for directed fisheries may be allocated across different seasonal periods throughout the year, although effort is generally constrained to time periods of favorable weather during the late spring and summer.

Gear Description

Purse seine gear is the main gear used to harvest CPS. A purse seine is a large wall of netting deployed around an entire school of fish. It consists of floats adhered to the “float line” of the seine with a lead line threaded through rings at the bottom. When a school of target species is located, a skiff will encircle the school with one end of the seine attached to the skiff while the other end is attached to the fishing vessel itself, and circle back to the fishing vessel. Once the skiff reaches the vessel, the lead line at the bottom of the seine is pulled in, “pursing” the net closed on the bottom, thus preventing the fish from escaping when swimming downward.

In Oregon, vessels using purse seine gear to take any CPS except market squid must place a grate over the intake of the hold of the vessel to sort out larger species of fish. None of the openings between the bars in the grate may exceed 2⅜ inches (6.0 cm).

Management

CPS fisheries, including Pacific sardine, are jointly managed by the PFMC and the states of Oregon and Washington. This is an open access fishery, although State permits are required. Pacific sardines (and Pacific mackerel) are actively managed stocks under the Federal CPS FMP with catch limits based on regular stock assessments. For sardine, PFMC establishes harvest guidelines that are allocated by seasonal periods, with releases on July 1st, September 15th and January 1st. If the period allocation is not attained, it and any remaining incidental fishery set aside is rolled to the next period. However, it cannot be rolled into the next fishing year. 

The primary directed Pacific sardine fishery has been closed since 2015 because the estimated biomass has been below the harvest cutoff value of 150,000 metric tons. Incidental allowances for sardine are still allowed, along with live bait fishing. Starting in 2018, the CPS FMP has also allowed for “minor” directed fishing for sardines and other CPS when the primary directed fishery has closed. The allowance for minor directed fishing is that no vessel or person may land more than one metric ton per day, and vessels may not make more than one trip per day. Directed purse fishing for Pacific mackerel in Washington requires a State permit that cannot be transferred or stacked (i.e., having more than one permit associated with a single vessel).

Historical Information

Timeline of Changes