881 



Occurrence of Pacific sardine^ Sardinops sagax, 

 off southeastern Alaska 



Bruce L. Wing 



James M. Murphy 



Thomas L. Rutecki 



Auke Bay Laboratory 



Alaska Fisheries Science Center 



11305 Glacier Highway 



Juneau, Alaska 99801-8626 



E-mail address (for B, Wing): Bruce Wing anoaa gov 



Pacific sardines, Sa?'dinops sagax ( Jen- 

 yns, 1842), are an important forage 

 and commercial species off central and 

 southern California. From the late 

 1920s through the early 1940s, sar- 

 dines were a major resource of the oil 

 and meal fisheries of British Colum- 

 bia, Washington, and Oregon (Hart, 

 1973). In 1931, sardines were unusu- 

 ally abundant on southern and central 

 British Columbia fishing grounds and 

 more numerous than usual in northern 

 British Columbia (Shultz et al., 1932). 

 In the early 1940s, however, yield of 

 these fisheries declined radically and 

 the species range was restricted to 

 waters off central and southern Cal- 

 ifornia. After the decline. Pacific sar- 

 dines were rarely reported north of the 

 California-Oregon border iReid, 1960: 

 Mearns, 1988). Since 1992, Pacific sar- 

 dines have again been observed off 

 southern and central British Colum- 

 bia (Hargreaves et al., 1994; McFar- 

 lane and Beamish, 1999). 



Although the occuiTence and changes 

 in abundance of Pacific sardines in 

 British Columbia waters are well docu- 

 mented, the presence of this species off 

 Alaska is poorly documented. Schultz et 

 al. ( 1932) reported Pacific sardines from 

 Alaska on the basis of 24 adult speci- 

 mens collected 8 August 1931 from the 

 Cape Omnianey herring fishery < Clark, 

 1936; 1947). No additional specimen 

 was documented from Alaska until 

 1992, when lai-val Pacific sardines were 

 collected southwest of the Shumagin 

 Islands, southwestern Alaska (Busby 

 etalM. 



Specimen collection 



Eight adult sardines were captured in 

 a surface trawl at 57°31'N, 136°34'W, 

 28 km west of PGiaz Point, northern 

 southeastern Alaska, on 20 August 

 1998. The fish were captured during 

 a National Marine Fisheries Service 

 research cruise to compare rope trawl 

 and gill-net sampling methods for juve- 

 nile sahlefish, Anoploporna fimbria, and 

 juvenile salmon, Oncorhynchus spp., 

 in coastal Alaska. We used a Nordic 

 264-rope trawl (24-m horizontal open- 

 ing, 30-ni vertical opening) equipped 

 with 3-m foam-filled doors and extra 

 trawl floats to hold it at the surface. 



Two additional specimens from 

 Garnet Point (54°43'N, 130°41'W), 

 near Nakat Bay, southern southeast- 

 ern Alaska, were taken in a commer- 

 cial salmon gill net on 1 September 

 1998. Fishermen reported that sar- 

 dines were common but not numerous 

 in eastern Dixon Entrance near Nakat 

 Bay through August and early Sep- 

 tember 1998. 



Both collections were frozen before 

 being transported to the Auke Bay 

 Laboratory, where lengths and weights 



Busby, M. S., W. W. Watson, and W. Shaw. 

 2000. Identification of lan'al and juvenile 

 Pacific herringiClupea pallasi i and Pacific 

 sardnie ( Sardinops sagax ( and their distri- 

 bution in waters off British Columbia and 

 in the Gulf of Alaska. In prep. [Avail- 

 able from M. S. Busby, RACE, Alaska Fish- 

 eries Science Center, 7600 Sand Point Way 

 NE, Bin 15700, Seattle WA 9811.5-0070.l" 



of thawed fish were recorded. The fish 

 were fixed in 4% formaldehyde, trans- 

 ferred to isopropyl alcohol, and then 

 dissected to determine sex, maturity, 

 and stomach contents. The fish were 

 then deposited in the Auke Bay Labo- 

 ratory reference collections. 



Results 



The 10 Pacific sardines averaged 233.3 

 ±11.30 mm standard length and 183 

 ±38.02 g wet weight (Table 1). On 

 the basis of scale annuli, the collec- 

 tions were divided equally between 7- 

 and 8-year-old fish. They were equally 

 divided between males and females, 

 and all gonads were in the resting 

 stage. The fish had been feeding and 

 had mesenteric fat deposits. Identifi- 

 able foods consisted of diatoms and 

 euphausiids iEiiphausia pacifica and 

 Thysanoessa spp.) at Garnet Point and 

 euphausiids (E. pacifica and Thysa- 

 noessa spp.) and small calanoid cope- 

 pods iAcartia spp. and Pseudocalaniis 

 spp. ) at Khaz Point. 



Discussion 



The occurrence of adult Pacific sar- 

 dines in Alaska coastal waters is prob- 

 ably due to a northward extension 

 of their summer feeding migration. 

 Pacific sardines have a complex migi'a- 

 tion and spawning cycle, moving north- 

 ward from California spawning areas 

 during summer. The largest, oldest fish 

 reach central Vancouver Island or far- 

 ther north (Hart 1973). Historically, 

 few Pacific sardines have overwin- 

 tered in southern British Columbia 

 (Schultz et al., 1932; Hart, 1943; Har- 

 greaves et al., 1994), but during Feb- 

 ruary-April 1998, juvenile sardines 

 were obsei-ved off the western coast of 

 Vancouver (McFarlane and Beamish, 

 1999). Sardines overwintering in Brit- 

 ish Columbia could migrate north into 

 Alaska waters the following summer. In 

 summer 1931, sardines were observed 

 at many northern British Columbia 

 locations near the Alaska border and 

 were common in the fall and winter 



Manusci-ipt accepted 26 June 2000. 

 Fish. Bull. 98:881-883 (20001. 



