After conducting a comprehensive study on global “forage fish” populations recommends implementing more conservative catch limits for these crucial prey species. The Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force has strongly recommends to harvest reducing sardines, anchovies and other forage fish so that they can continue to serve as critical prey for larger species, including salmon, cod and tuna, as well as for dolphins, whales, penguins and seabirds.
According to the report the fish are “twice as valuable in the water as in a net.” Selina Heppell, an Oregon State University fisheries ecologist and one of the authors on the report, said that forage fish are essential components of marine ecosystems, and it is very difficult to evaluate the status and importance of each species.
Heppell said that the West Coast sardine fishery, for example, is carefully monitored. She added that they have a ‘harvest control rule’ that sets the harvest at about 10 percent of the overall stock, and when the population gets below a certain level, they stop fishing. She told that these regulation should be adopted globally to fight the decline of forage fish population.
