Pacific council recomends first increase in sardine catch in 15 years
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Reuters] By Diana Beth Solomon - November 19, 2014 -
West Coast fishery managers have recommended easing federal limits on commercial catches of Pacific sardine for the first time in 15 years.
Under the plan approved over the weekend, the maximum harvest level allowed in U.S. Pacific waters would be raised from 15 percent to 20 percent of the sardine's estimated total biomass - less 150,000 metric tons to provide a margin of error.
The proposal was based on warming ocean temperatures that should help boost sardine populations and data cited by council members showing that sardine stocks, while in decline, are more productive than previously thought.
Oceana objected to the recommendation citing stock declines over the past 20 years.
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