FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72. NO. 2 



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PACIFIC 5ARDItv£. SANTA BARBARA BASIN 



19B0 1370 19B0 1350 1940 1930 13S0 1910 1300 1S30 ISBO 1B70 IflEO 1B50 1&40 iflSO IBEO IBIO IBOO 



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NORTHERN ANCHOVr. SANTA BARBARA BASIN 



1980 1970 19E0 19SO 1940 1930 13g0 1910 130O 1B90 laBO 1870 1860 ISSO 1840 1830 1850 1810 



PACIFIC HAKE. SANTA BARBARA BASIN 



1980 1970 1380 1950 1940 1930 1350 1910 1900 1B30 IflBO 1870 1880 1H50 1B40 1B30 1850 1810 



Figure 5a. — Histogram plot of the scale-deposition rate of the Pacific sardine, the northern anchovy, and the Pacific hake in sediment 



of Santa Barbara Basin, 1810 to 1969. 



considered an unnatural circumstance. The levels 

 of year-class success between 1865 and 1880 were 

 likely as low as those estimated after 1940. It may 

 be argued that in the previous period the sardine 

 had moved offshore or migrated southward, 

 thereby causing a decline in scale deposition. 

 However, abandonment by a substantial popula- 

 tion of a major spawning ground would seem prob- 

 lematic, and in regard to a southern immigration 

 it can be said that during the apparent year-class 

 failures from 1865 to 1880 no substantial sardine 

 population occupied the southern waters near the 

 Soledad Basin, Baja California. Indeed, the only 

 time the sardine appears even moderately in- 



fluential in these waters is the period 1920 to 

 1935, coincidental with the development of the 

 fishery to the north. While the evidence from pre- 

 vious decades makes it impossible to accuse the 

 sardine of avoidance, the coincidence may 

 nevertheless underline the naturally intermittent 

 occurrences of abundant sardine populations in 

 California waters. 



As in the case of the sardine, one's view of the 

 distribution of the anchovy through time is col- 

 ored by perspective. The sediments in both the 

 Santa Barbara and Soledad Basins have re- 

 sponded to the recent increase in the anchovy 

 population. This response appears as part of a 



264 



