Washington Pacific Sardine Fishery Review 2013

Pacific sardines are the primary coastal pelagic species harvested in Washington waters. From 2000 through 2009, participation in the sardine fishery was managed under Washington's Emerging Commercial Fishery Act (ECFA), which provides for the harvest of a newly classified species or harvest of a classified species in a new area or by new means. The ECFA offers two choices for fishery-permit designations: trial, which does not limit the number of participants or experimental, which does limit participation and prohibits the transfer or sale of the permit. From 2000 through 2002, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) managed the purse seine fishery for sardine under the trial designation. Absent limited participation, the Washington fishery was managed to a state harvest guideline (HG) of 15,000 metric tons (mt).

The Pacific Northwest sardine fishery saw a rapid expansion of catch between the years 1999 to 2002 when landings increased from 771 mt to 15,820 mt. In response, WDFW engaged in an extensive public process to address management needs in the fishery. In 2003, following this public process, a formal Sardine Advisory Board (Board) was created, and the WDFW Director, in collaboration with the Board, advanced the sardine fishery designation from trial to experimental as provided for under the ECFA. The number of experimental fishery permits was capped at 25. The experimental fishery program continued through June 2009. Besides limiting participation, WDFW also restricted the amount of sardines sold for reduction to a 15 percent season cumulative total by weight by individual vessel.

Effective July 2009, legislation to establish a commercial license limitation program specifically for the harvest and delivery of Pacific sardines into the state was passed into law. The new law established 16 permanent licenses which can be transferred or sold. In addition, the law provided criteria for the issuance of temporary annual permits at the discretion of the WDFW Director. The total number of permanent and temporary annual licenses cannot exceed 25.

Since 2012, the Quinault Indian Nation has conducted a sardine purse-seine fishery. The process for tribal allocation (set-aside) requests is managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service as described by the Pacific Fishery Management Council's Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan (CPS FMP Amendment 9) and National Marine Fisheries Service regulations (50 CFR 660.518). The Quinault fishery operates within their usual and accustomed fishing area (U & A), directly off Westport/Grays Harbor, Washington, or that portion of the Marine Fish/Shellfish Fishery Management Area between 47°40.10' N. lat. (Destruction Island) and 46°53.30' N. lat. (Point Chehalis). Catches from the Quinault sardine fishery are not reported here, but are included in the CPS SAFE report (SAFE 2014).