UC San Diego Library – Scripps Digital Collection

This paper deals with the sizes of California sardines (Sardinops caerulea) caught in the different areas of the Monterey and San Pedro regions off the coast of California. The present report is a sequel to Fish Bulletin 43, "The sizes of California sardines caught by the different fishing gear and in the different localities of the Monterey and San Pedro regions," except that in the present report no further work dealing with the sizes of sardines caught by different fishing gear was found necessary. The data of five more seasons have been added, allowing more definite conclusions, particularly for the Monterey region, where the data for only two seasons were available for the previous work. Also, a new fishing area has been added to the Monterey region.

This report is concerned only with the fishery as carried on in connection with the canning and reduction of sardines and does not include the fishery for the fresh fish and bait industry. The former phase is the more important and the one for which we have continuous sampling data.

The results of this investigation are of importance to cannery and reduction plant operators and to us, in showing the sizes of fish that can be expected in the different areas during an average season. Also additional evidence is furnished that indicates a southward movement of sardines along the California coast during the winter months.

The findings for the Monterey region tend to have more bearing on the sampling of sardines than do the findings for the San Pedro region. During the fall months there are significant size differences between sardines in the southern and northern areas of the Monterey region, whereas in the San Pedro region consistent size differences between sardines in the different areas are not present. Therefore, during a season when the fishery might be carried on for the most part in the northern areas of the Monterey region, we will have larger size-groups represented than during a season in which the fishery might be carried on for the most part in the southern areas.