Federal fishery managers have banned nearly all sardine fishing off the U.S. West Coast for the second straight year.
Pacific sardine populations have plunged by 90 percent since 2007, prompting the Pacific Fishery Management Council to vote to extend its prohibition on virtually all fishing of the small oily fish within 200 miles of the California, Oregon and Washington coasts.
The sardine collapse has rippled up the food chain and has been linked to deaths of sea lions and brown pelicans across the U.S. West Coast.
The El Nino phenomenon, climate change and normal multi-decade ocean cycles have been cited as factors contributing to the decline of the sardine population.
Most sardines caught off the U.S. West Coast are mostly sold into global commodity markets, either canned for human consumption or sold as feed for ranched tuna.
The moratorium on sardine catching includes exceptions for limited fishing by the Quinault Indian Nation, and for small numbers of sardines accidentally caught alongside other fish.
