Shock as sardines vanish off California - the entire Pacific coast - NOAA: We don’t know why

[bananas]

http://enenews.com/theyre-all-gone-shock-as-sardines-vanish-off-california-fishermen-didnt-find-a-single-one-all-summer-scientist-this-is-about-the-entire-pacific-coast-noaa-the-young

“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

Published: January 14th, 2014 at 8:16 pm ET

• 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


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• Sardine population plummets along U.S. West Coast — AP: Collapse of species feared — “Canadian Pacific fishermen catch no sardines in 2013″ November 4, 2013
  
  
• ‘Troubling Mystery’: Complete collapse of sardine population on West Coast of Canada around Vancouver — Official: It’s ‘unexpected’ — Expert: Humpback whales rarely seen, they’re telling us something changed… nobody knows what’s going on October 15, 2013
  
  
• Study: High concentrations of Fukushima radioactive material will reach west coast of North America — “Entire coast” to be affected from Alaska to Mexico — “Can negatively affect human life for decades… should raise concern” (MODEL) September 23, 2013
  
  
• 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 January 5, 2014
  
  
• Experts: “Really an off year” — Pelicans starving in Pacific Northwest since 2011, killing baby birds for food — Breeding success “really poor” since 2011 — “I believe pelicans are responding to large scale changes” — “Sardine crash” persists in Pacific since decline in 2011 December 22, 2013