The season's landings of Pacific sardines at Northern California ports totaled 82,715 tons by Sept. 16, or about 22 per cent below last year's catch

              t OZTICE OF IWZ COOIWWLTOR OF F’ISIiERIES

For Immediate Felease To A& THUILSW, OCTWEZ 5, 1944

The season’s landings of Pacific sardines at northern California ports

totaled 82,715 tons by September 16, or about 22 percent below landings for the

same period last year, the Office of the Coordinator of Fisheries reported to&y.

The landings reported were mede duriw a period of approximately six weeks

since the season opened in northern California August 1. The sardine fishing

seascn from the southern ports of San Pedro and San Diego legally opened October 1.

Some decline in the catch tZ.s year had been expected, officials of the

Coordinetor~s Office said, on the basis of predictions 3 federal biologists that

the fish would be relatively scarce. The sardine population has recently experi-enced

a series of poor spawning seasons, with no important numbers of young fish

added to the stock since 1939.

c

a Sard.ines spawn during the late winter and spring over a 1nfid.e coastal area

extending from near shore out to 200 miles or more offshore. As the young fish

gXW, they must compete with each other for food. Since tine available supply of

marine food organisms varies greatly from year to year, the death ra.tc? of young

sardines also shorR% tremendous vo.ria.tions.

The feet that the past summer yN.as an unusuallg cold. one on the California

coast also has 2. bearing on ti=e >;oor catches made by sardine fishermen, according

to the Coordinetor’s Office. For some reason not entirely understood, the fish

are harder to find when the bs70.tei*is cold.

The Pacific sardine, ~1s~ czlled the pilchard, is the n2Sti’cnrs most important

fish in txms of the tonn,age Lx-&d, normKl.ly risking up -about on-f ourth.hf the total

U. S. catch of fish a.nd shellfish,

r\ecause of the great Importance of the sardine catch as a source of canned

fish, aieal and oil for ~..nimal Zeedirg, arid pi.1 for industrial purposes, this

fisi:zYy is operatins under a c.0z di.n:~t:;~d rrodY; ,:i-,i on -&an adminT-stered by the

Cf’f-:.,-e af C,fie Co~rfimtcr of I;..‘.!;fi.erj 2; f’c;Y th:: seccrk? consecu.t?.Ve yeax, The pUr-

P :‘ EL, 31’ ‘;:13 p1a.n is to obtei;l tha :TL,~.~~xJp.zro~& lotion noshible -:Mer current ccn -

ti 7 :iozs: to insxe a smootL I”1 3~ of risk into th? varfoxs cannirg and processing pa ;;l!u $ , ~+,?:xto! obtain a prqxx division Setween cann.ed. fish, meel, and c-1.

is of September 16 this year, LX), X7 cases of canned sardines h& been

b

packe.5, cc.mpared with 561,819 cases packed from the larger catch by the same date

las I; year,