USA - West Coast sardine crash could radiate throughout ecosystem

[sharon sanders]

West Coast sardine crash could radiate throughout ecosystem
If sardine populations don't recover soon, experts warn, the West Coast's marine mammals, seabirds and fishermen could suffer for years.


By Tony Barboza
January 5, 2014, 4:50 p.m.

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To blame is the biggest sardine crash in generations, which has made schools of the small, silvery fish a rarity on the West Coast. The decline has prompted steep cuts in the amount fishermen are allowed to catch, and scientists say the effects are probably radiating throughout the ecosystem, starving brown pelicans, sea lions and other predators that rely on the oily, energy-rich fish for food.

If sardines don't recover soon, experts warn, the West Coast's marine mammals, seabirds and fishermen could suffer for years.


http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-sardine-crash-20140106,0,3689464.story#ixzz2pfqb1pbM

 

[Emily]

Re: USA - West Coast sardine crash could radiate throughout ecosystem

http://www.allgov.com/usa/ca/news/california-and-the-nation/sea-lion-deaths-blamed-on-sardine-shortage-but-nothing-done-about-overfishing-140513?news=853136

Sea Lion Deaths Blamed on Sardine Shortage, but Nothing Done about Overfishing

Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Another 650 sea lion pups have washed up on the shores of California between San Diego and Ventura County in the last two months, emaciated and dehydrated, continuing a pattern of devastation from early last year.

A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) all but eliminates disease as a cause of the problem that saw another 1,600 pups stranded on beaches between January and April last year. While it does not settle on a single culprit, the report points a long finger at the decline of sardines in the region, a primary source of nourishment for sea lions...