Table 4. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72, NO. 2 



-Comparison of the northern anchovy population (Smith, 1972) and the scale-deposition rate in the Santa Barbara and 



Soledad Basin sediment.' 



'As defined (Vrooman and Smith, 1971) the central subpopulation area includes southern Alta California inshore, offshore, and seaward and Baja 

 California inshore, offshore, and seaward. The southern subpopulation area includes southern Baja California inshore, offshore, and seaward. Inshore 

 includes 0-80 miles: offshore includes 80-160 miles, and seaward includes 160-280 miles. 

 2|ncomplete data. 



Table 5. — Comparison of Pacific hake larval abundance ( Ahlstrom, 1969; Smith, in prep.) and scale-deposition rate in Santa Barbara 



and Soledad Basin sediment. 



'Incomplete data. 



Consideration of the relationships of the three 

 major species provides further insight into the 

 distribution of pelagic fish through time. Most if 

 not all investigators have found the hypothesis 

 that the Pacific sardine and the northern anchovy 

 are direct competitors unavoidable. This 

 hypothesis is not supported by the less-than- 

 significant positive correlation between the scale 

 deposition of the two species in the Santa Barbara 

 sediment (Table 8). However, fluctuations in rela- 

 tive abundance of even closely competitive species 

 in the marine environment may follow quite dif- 

 ferent rules than mere abundance or autecologic 

 correlation. The abundance of species may be di- 

 rectly related to advantageous conditions. How- 

 ever, whenever an advantageous or disadvan- 

 tageous series of years is of critical duration (de- 

 termined by specific differences in life history) the 

 abundances may be inversely related. In this con- 

 text the apparent decline and subsequent recovery 

 of the sardine population between 1865 and 1890 

 from levels which appear substantially above his- 

 torical experience, in the presence of what also 

 appears to be substantial anchovy populations, 

 may not be entirely enigmatic. 



The associations of the anchovy, hake, and sar- 

 dine in the Santa Barbara sediment (Table 8) is 

 further suggestive of periods favorable or unfavor- 



able to these three species. This is in contrast 

 to the Soledad sediment from which it may be 

 inferred the anchovy alone is able to maintain 

 high population levels. Some idea of the total 

 pelagic-fish productivity off the Californias may 

 be gained by combining the inferred populations 

 of the anchovy, hake, and sardine into a total 

 spawning biomass estimate (Figure 9). This 

 biomass estimate suggests that the central 

 California and presumably the northern Baja 

 California regions can become a dominant center 

 of pelagic fish productivity. Even though signifi- 

 cant densities of northern anchovy have been pre- 

 sent in the water above Soledad Basin, available 

 information (Table 4) suggests these represent a 

 relatively smaller southern subpopulation. The 



Table 6. — Comparison of the Pacific saury population (Smith et 

 al., 1970) and the scale-deposition rate in the Santa Barbara and 

 Soledad Basin sediments. 



'Incomplete data. 



266 



