The Sardines Are All GONE – This Is About The Entire Pacific Coast … Canada, Mexico, U.S.

“They’re All Gone”: Shock as sardines vanish off California — Fishermen didn’t find a single one all summer — Scientist: This is about the entire Pacific coast… Canada, Mexico, U.S. — NOAA: We don’t know why; The young aren’t surviving (ENENews, Jan 14, 2014):

Long Beach Press Telegram, Jan. 13, 2014: Sardine vanish off the coast; squid and anchovy fill the void for fishermen — [Larry Derr] has pulled up [Pacific sardines] by the ton since the 1980s […] it was a shock when he couldn’t find one of the shiny silver-blue coastal fish all summer […] anchovies have proven a poor replacement since sardines became scarce. Fortunately, a boom in market squid has propelled Derr and other coastal pelagic fishers. […] Some have attributed recent rashes of sea lion pup and pelican deaths to the sardine population decline, which began a few years ago and was officially recognized in December […] “Everybody’s calling me every day for sardines,” Derr said. “They’re all gone. Even Monterey Bay Aquarium is still waiting for some to restock one of their exhibits.” […]

Kerry Griffin, NOAA: “Is it El Nino? Pacific Decadal Oscillation? El Nina? Long-term climate change? More marine mammals eating sardines? Did they all go to Mexico or farther offshore? We don’t know.”

Russ Vetter, NOAA: “They haven’t had a good recruitment […] You have to have adults that produce the eggs and then environmental conditions that would allow them to grow and then to not have them eaten by pelicans and terns, etc. It’s always complicated about why a fish egg doesn’t make it through the problems but we do know that, when the ocean is on the cooler side, conditions aren’t right.”

Geoff Shester, scientist with Oceana: “This is about the entire Pacific coast including the U.S. and Mexico, not just British Columbia […] If fishermen have stopped fishing because they’ve hit their quota, that’s one thing. But they’re stopping because they can’t find any fish. That means fishery management is failing. […] We’re in an emergency situation right now. Any fishing is overfishing when the stock is in this condition.”

See also: L.A. Times: Alarming West Coast sardine crash likely radiating through ecosystem — Experts warn marine mammals and seabirds are starving, may suffer for years to come — Boats return without a single fish — Monterey Bay: Hard to resist idea that humpback whales are trying to tell us something

1 thought on “The Sardines Are All GONE – This Is About The Entire Pacific Coast … Canada, Mexico, U.S.”

  1. The food chain has been irrevocably destroyed. This is only the beginning.
    About 5-6 weeks ago, hundreds of dead sea turtles washed up on the Pacific coast in Costa Rica. Dogs raced to the shore to eat them. Dogs that ate the turtles died instantly, there was no doubt of the toxicity of sea life from the Pacific Ocean.
    I have stopped eating any form of fish, and urge everyone else to do the same. Radioactive death is very painful, it is like being cooked inside…….dreadful.
    Plutonium was found in our milk in Berkeley in April of 2011. This has been going on for three years, and nothing is being done to address the growing problem. I hear the government is starting to buy up potassium capsules to feed the people…….as if they will help…
    We have fools in power who serve corporations not the people. If you want the perfect example, look at Japan. TEPCO controls 96% of their entire power grid…..the government is married to these big, greedy, global corporations.
    I read that TEPCO is planning to change its name…..that is supposed to help? Idiots.
    Truth is too terrible for many to face, we may well be looking into our extinction. At this point, I see nothing that can save us.

    Reply

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