California Wetfish Producers Association

THE MAJOR GOALS ARE TO PROTECT AND MAINTAIN ACCESS TO WETFISH RESOURCES IN CALIFORNIA, PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF WETFISH RESOURCES IN CALIFORNIA, AND FACILITATE COMMUNICATION WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE WETFISH INDUSTRY.

IN FY 2020-21, CWPA CONTINUED TO DEDICATE SIGNIFICANT TIME AND RESOURCES TO MARKET SQUID RESEARCH. CWPAS SQUID SCIENTIST JOEL VAN NOORD SUPERVISED AT-SEA CRUISES IN BOTH SOUTHERN CA AND MONTEREY; HIS SURVEYS DOCUMENTED THE TRANSITION TO LA NIA OCEAN CONDITIONS AND INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY, BEGINNING IN MONTEREY IN SUMMER 2020 AND CONTINUING IN SOUTHERN CA IN 2021. CWPA RECEIVED A $41,824 GRANT FROM THE SOUTH BAY CABLE/FISHERIES LIAISON COMMITTEE TO CONTINUE BUILDING OUR 10-PLUS YEAR TIME SERIES OF PARALARVAE DATA, AND COMPARING DATA WITH ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS THAT INFLUENCE SQUID ABUNDANCE.IN 2020, CWPA RECEIVED A CONTRACT FROM THE PACIFIC STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION (PSMFC), TO ADMINISTER SPECIFIED FIELD RESEARCH PROJECTS FUNDED THROUGH THE 2015-16 SARDINE DISASTER RELIEF FUNDING AWARDED BY NOAA. PSMFC WAS CONTRACTED THROUGH NOAA TO ADMINISTER THE PRIME AWARD, TITLED COASTAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT, SCIENCE, ADMINISTRATION AND LOGISTICAL SUPPORT. OF THE TOTAL FEDERAL AWARD OF $18.9 MILLION, $1.68 MILLION WAS AWARDED TO CALIFORNIAS SARDINE FISHERY AS FISHERY DISASTER RELIEF FOR THE YEARS 2015-16. OF THE $1.68 MILLION AWARDED, $327,672 WAS EARMARKED FOR FISHERY RESEARCH, AND LATER INCREASED TO $387,147. WITH APPROVAL OF CDFW, PSMFC CONTRACTED WITH CWPA TO ADMINISTER AND CONDUCT THE RESEARCH ELEMENTS. FIELD RESEARCH INCLUDED CHARTERING A PURSE SEINE VESSEL TO CONDUCT AN ACOUSTIC SURVEY TO DOCUMENT THE ABUNDANCE OF CPS IN NEARSHORE WATERS AND COLLECT BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES. IN 2021, CWPA COORDINATED TWO NEARSHORE ACOUSTIC SURVEYS, SPRING AND SUMMER. THE SUMMER SURVEY WAS ALSO PARTIALLY FUNDED BY A CONTRACT FROM THE SW FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER. THE SUMMER SURVEY DATA WERE USED IN THE 2021 SARDINE STOCK ASSESSMENT.ALSO FUNDED VIA THE SARDINE DISASTER RELIEF CONTRACT, CWPA MAINTAINED ITS COLLABORATION AS A RESEARCH PARTNER WITH CDFW, PARTICIPATING IN ANOTHER YEAR OF AERIAL SURVEYS TO ASSESS NEAR-SHORE ABUNDANCE OF SARDINE AND OTHER CPS. CWPA CHARTERED A SPOTTER PILOT TO SERVE AS OBSERVER IN THE DEPARTMENTS AERIAL SURVEYS AND ESTIMATE CPS SCHOOL BIOMASS. THIS INFORMATION ALSO WAS USED AS A NEARSHORE CORRECTION FACTOR IN THE 2021 SARDINE STOCK ASSESSMENT.CWPA AGAIN APPLIED FOR AND RECEIVED TWO EXEMPTED FISHING PERMITS (EFP). THE POINT SET EFP AUTHORIZED DIRECTED SARDINE FISHING TO VALIDATE AERIAL SURVEY SPOTTER PILOT BIOMASS ESTIMATES, AND THE SECOND EFP AUTHORIZED TARGETED SARDINE FISHING TO PROVIDE BIOLOGICAL DATA TO UPDATE THE MODEL USED IN THE SARDINE STOCK ASSESSMENT. CWPA ADMINISTERS THE RESEARCH PROJECTS AND CHARTERS VESSELS TO PARTICIPATE IN DATA COLLECTION.IN ADDITION TO RECEIVING 2015-16 SARDINE DISASTER RELIEF, CWPA ALSO APPLIED FOR AND WAS APPROVED FOR ANOTHER AWARD OF $2.2 MILLION SARDINE DISASTER RELIEF FOR THE YEARS 2017-19. CWPA FINALIZED THE SPEND PLAN WITH SUPPORT FROM CDFW. A MAJORITY OF INDUSTRY SUPPORTED INCREASING THE RESEARCH ALLOCATION TO 34 PERCENT. THE PSMFC WAS AGAIN TASKED TO ADMINISTER THE 2017-19 SARDINE DISASTER RELIEF GRANT, AND CWPA RECEIVED THE CONTRACT TO CONTINUE OUR WORK IN APRIL 2022, SHORTLY AFTER THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2021-22.IN COLLABORATION WITH SWFSC, CWPA APPLIED FOR A GRANT FROM THE FY22 SALTONSTALL-KENNEDY COMPETITION.TITLED INVESTIGATING SEASONAL NEARSHORE DYNAMICS OF PACIFIC SARDINE (SARDINOPS SAGAX) IN CALIFORNIA THE RESEARCH PROJECT AIMED TO COLLECT AND ANALYZE HISTORICAL AND CURRENT BIOLOGICAL AND LANDINGS DATA YEARLONG, BI-MONTHLY OBSERVATIONS AND MONTHLY SAMPLES FROM PURSE SEINE FISHING AND LIVE BAIT CATCHES, TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT NSP AND SSP SARDINES, PARTICULARLY SARDINES INSHORE OFNOAA SURVEYS, CAN BE ACCURATELY SEPARATED BY THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH 16.7C SST USINGMORPHOLOGICAL (E.G. LENGTH, WEIGHT, AGE, VERTEBRAL COUNT) AND BIOLOGICAL METRICS. THE OUTCOME WILL ENHANCE UNDERSTANDING OF STOCK STRUCTURE AND MAY LEAD TO INCREASED FISHING OPPORTUNITIES".THE REVIEWERS OF CWPAS PRE-PROPOSAL ENCOURAGED SUBMISSION OF THE FULL PROPOSAL, AND WE SUBMITTED THE FULL PROPOSAL IN FALL 2021. IN MAY 2022, AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE FY 2021 FISCAL YEAR, WE LEARNED THAT OUR GRANT HAD BEEN APPROVED FOR FUNDING. WORK IS SLATED TO COMMENCE IN SEPTEMBER 2022.CWPA PARTICIPATED ACTIVELY IN MATTERS AFFECTING THE FEDERAL MANAGEMENT OF ANCHOVY AND SARDINE FISHERIES IN FY 2021-22. CWPAS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SERVED AS A MEMBER OF THE CPS ADVISORY SUBPANEL AND MADE RECOMMENDATIONS TO FEDERAL FISHERY MANAGERS REGARDING ANNUAL CATCH LIMITS AND MANAGEMENT MEASURES FOR CPS. CWPA COMMUNICATED WITH FISHERY DECISION MAKERS, INCLUDING THE FEDERAL PACIFIC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL (PFMC), NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE (NMFS) AND SOUTHWEST FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER (SWFSC), STATE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE (CDFW) AND THE FISH & GAME COMMISSION (CFGC), ON ISSUES OF CONCERN TO THE WETFISH INDUSTRY IN 2021-22. CWPA CONTINUED ITS WEBSITE TO ENCOURAGE MORE DIRECT AND OPEN COMMUNICATION TO MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC. CWPA ALSO MAINTAINED A PUBLIC INFORMATION BLOG FISHING NEWS TO PROMOTE GOOD NEWS ABOUT CALIFORNIA WETFISH AND COVER TOPICS OF GENERAL INTEREST ABOUT FISHERY MANAGEMENT ISSUES. IN ADDITION, CWPA RESPONDED TO MEDIA INQUIRIES AND PUBLISHED INFORMATIVE ARTICLES PERTAINING TO CPS MANAGEMENT AND FORAGE FISH ISSUES THAT WERE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED IN LOCAL AND NATIONAL MEDIA OUTLETS.