With the rapid decline of the sardine fishery beginning in 1946–47, California fishermen and processors turned to substitute species. One of these was the northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax). Until 1947, anchovies had been used for bait almost exclusively and the annual catch had seldom exceeded 5,000 tons. Between 1947 and 1951 these fish were canned in moderate amounts and the landings varied from 5,000 to 12,000 tons. In 1952 the tonnage increased to 34,000 and in 1953 to 49,000.

The major part of the anchovy canning has been done by the processors at Monterey. In this Central California area anchovies are also used in small quantities for dead bait. Along the Southern California coast for many years there has been a thriving live bait anchovy fishery. This bait is used chiefly by sport fishermen and in more limited amounts by the commercial men. The live bait anchovy catch of Southern California increased from about 2,000 tons in the early forties to more than 6,000 tons in 1953.

Because of the use of these fish for live bait and because anchovies are an important forage fish for the larger species fished extensively in California waters by both sport and commercial fishermen, much concern has been expressed over the rapid expansion of the anchovy canning industry. Several plans for control of this expanding fishery have been proposed and the California Fish and Game Commission has refused permits to use anchovies for reduction into meal and oil and has established case pack requirements. Continued public pressure for more stringent regulations made evident the need for basic biological information about this species. To supply this need the Department of Fish and Game increased its investigations on the anchovy and the Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation added this species to its program of studies. Only by such methods will a solution to the problems of population dynamics be reached and made applicable to management.

Clark and Phillips (1952) published results of the anchovy studies from 1946 through 1951. This introductory work indicated the need for intensive research on certain aspects of the anchovy life history. The most important and difficult was the development of a reliable method for age determination. The responsibility for this fell to the biologists conducting the routine sardine age analysis, two from the California Department of Fish and Game and two from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The program of anchovy sampling was expanded to include all California ports of landing. Since northern anchovy and Pacific sardine scales are similar in type and structure, the anchovy commercial catch sampling and age analysis was conducted in a manner similar to that adopted for the Pacific sardine and the anchovy age determinations were made as soon as the collections were completed for the season.

The usual procedure in conducting a routine age analysis of a newly studied species is to first complete preliminary studies relative to the reliability of the method as applied to that species. For the anchovy these special studies were conducted simultaneously with the collection and analysis of the first two seasons' catch. If the results of these special studies indicated that anchovy scales could not be read with a sufficient degree of reliability then the routine age analysis would be discontinued. This bulletin presents the results of these special studies and the age and length composition of the 1952–53 and the 1953–54 catch.

Here are given the reasons for considering valid the method used to interpret the age from the scales of the anchovy. The errors inherent in the method are pointed out and the reliability that can be placed on the findings is indicated. Given also are the tonnages and numbers of anchovies taken in the canning catch in the 1952–53 and 1953–54 seasons. No fish older than six years was found. In 1952–53 more than half of the catch came from the 1950, 1951 and 1952 year classes, anchovies less than three years old. In 1953–54 fish under three years (the 1951, 1952 and 1953 year classes) comprised more than 80 percent of the catch. These data suggest that the anchovy is a relatively short lived fish and that the population is subject to comparatively rapid turnover.

Although live-attenuated human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV) vaccines may never be used clinically, these vaccines have provided the most durable protection from intravenous (IV) challenge in the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)/rhesus macaque model. Systemic infection with virulence attenuated-simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) 89.6 provides protection against vaginal SIV challenge. This paper reviews the findings related to the innate and adaptive immune responses and the role of inflammation associated with protection in the SHIV 89.6/SIVmac239 model. By an as yet undefined mechanism, most monkeys vaccinated with live-attenuated SHIV 89.6 mounted effective anti-viral CD8+ T cell responses while avoiding the self-destructive inflammatory cycle found in the lymphoid tissues of unprotected and unvaccinated monkeys.

The delta smelt is a small, endemic fish that resides in the upper San Francisco Estuary. They are listed under state and federal Endangered Species Acts. Since 2002, their abundance has been at record low levels. Delta smelt are entrained at state (Banks) and federal (Jones) pumping plants that export water to much of California. Export cutbacks to limit entrainment have been controversial, making delta smelt arguably the most important fish in California. Kimmerer (2008) published the first estimates of proportional entrainment (mortality relative to population size) of delta smelt at the water export pumping plants, improving on previous estimates of absolute numbers entrained. This paper comments on Kimmerer’s estimates, which ranged from 0% to 40% annually with considerable uncertainty reflecting the challenge in estimating the distribution and numbers of this scarce fish. Kimmerer’s high estimates in some recent years and his conclusion that entrainment effects could be episodically important are counter to a lack of statistically significant correlation between entrainment and subsequent abundance. Analysis herein justifies estimates of lower proportional entrainment than suggested by Kimmerer. Based on alternative assumptions, his highest annual estimates of adult proportional entrainment would have been no more than 13% and could even be in the range of 5% to 10%. Most adjustments resulting from alternative assumptions underlying high estimates of larval-juvenile proportional entrainment cannot be quantified. However, it is argued here that eight of ten key assumptions underlying those estimates resulted in upward bias. Lower estimates of proportional entrainment would be consistent with the lack of statistically significant relationships between entrainment and subsequent abundance in previous studies and suggest that assessment of the importance of entrainment awaits additional analyses that narrow uncertainty. Findings of detection problems with adult and larval-juvenile surveys suggest adding more stations and other adjustments to resolve these problems.

A new prototype coupled ocean-atmosphere Ensemble Kalman Filter reanalysis product, the Community Earth System Model using the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (CESM-DART), is studied by comparing its tropical climate variability to other reanalysis products, available observations, and a free-running version of the model. The results reveal that CESM-DART produces fields that are comparable in overall performance with those of four other uncoupled and coupled reanalyses. The clearest signature of improvements in CESM-DART is in the analysis of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and other tropical atmospheric waves. MJO energy is enhanced over the free running CESM as well as compared to the other products, suggesting the importance of the surface flux coupling at the ocean-atmosphere interface in organizing convective activity. In addition, high-frequency Kelvin waves in CESM-DART are reduced in amplitude compared to the free-running CESM run and the other products, again supportive of the oceanic coupling playing a role in this improvement. CESM-DART also exhibits a relatively low bias in the mean tropical precipitation field and mean sensible heat flux field. Conclusive evidence of the importance of coupling on data assimilation performance will require additional detailed direct comparisons with identically formulated, uncoupled data assimilation runs.

A reliability budget is used to diagnose potential sources of error (departure from observations) in the CESM-DART product. In areas with sufficient observations, the mean bias in zonal wind was generally very low compared to the spread due to ensemble variance, which did not exhibit patterns associated with Northern Hemisphere jet streams but did have regional enhancement over the Maritime Continent. However, the Residual term was often the largest contributor to the budget, which is problematic, suggesting improper observational error statistics and inadequately represented ensemble variance statistics. The departure and residual exhibit significant seasonal variability, with a strong peak in boreal winter months, indicating the model’s deficiencies during the energetic Northern Hemisphere winter. Ocean temperature contained large error in areas with eddy production indicating inadequate ensemble variance due to poor model resolution. Periods when the the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) was active exhibited lower error, especially in the western equatorial Pacific during MJO phases with reduced convection. In contrast, during MJO phases with enhanced convection in that region, the ensemble variance is increased yet the error is comparable to non-MJO conditions, suggesting a controlling effect of the convection parameterization. Further studies evaluating the impact of the coupled assimilation procedure on the reliability budget will be illuminating.