How does the Department obtain data to generate an estimate of sardine biomass?
A. The Department collects data by sampling the commercial fisheries catch to estimate information such as catch-at-age, sardine size, and maturity. We work with the National Marine Fisheries Service to produce estimates on larval density and egg production by participating in annual CalCOFI (California Cooperative Fisheries Investigations) sea-surveys. The egg production and larval density estimates are used, in turn, to estimate the number of adults it would take to produce those eggs, or spawning biomass. All the data are used in a stock assessment model that predicts next year’s abundance through statistical forecasting. For detailed information on this process, please see the Stock Assessment and Fisheries Evaluation (SAFE) report on the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s webpage (www.pcouncil.org).
