Image of Californian anchoveta

Description:

Extraordinary congregation of hundreds of pelicans, cormorants, murres, and gulls foraging for hours on these fish near shore. Dozens being washed into the beach by the waves and quickly being snatched up by gulls. Notes by Julie Thayer (Farallon Institute Scientist) in response to news of the congregation of anchovies: This is a conundrum that has been surfacing again and again lately - while such an event may seem like an abundance, it could be only a concentration actually signaling decreasing anchovy abundance. Farallon Institute has been working with the Pew Charitable Trusts to find out more. It is currently unknown whether anchovy is increasing or decreasing; no stock assessments have been conducted since 1995. Furthermore, schooling behavior and spatial distribution of anchovy stocks at small versus large sizes is not well understood. It is thought that small stocks contract to the core range nearshore (off central California for central stock). Indeed, 2014 records of dense concentrations of anchovy in Monterey Bay and die-offs in Santa Cruz raise the question if the anchovy population is increasing or this concentration behavior is a result of unfavorable climate conditions, leaving a stressed population even more vulnerable to fishing and predators. While there was a slight uptick in the central California NMFS midwater trawl index in 2013, last year was again lower, extending a streak of extremely low survey catches (2008-2014). Egg surveys in southern California spawning grounds have also declined to next to nothing for recent years.