"From Fishing to Farmers Markets" ....news & events, issues & ideas

Sunday, August 08, 2004

 
Loading Up and Demo Sardines

Loaded in one set! Steve and crew finally had their day. They loaded the Papa George in one set. That means they brought in 65-70 tons of sardines to market! It is Sunday morning, 5:30 am., and they are supposedly on their way out the Columbia River for another day of fishing. Unless there is a glitch......

Sardines on display. Many Saturday marketers were surprised to see how big a Pacific Sardine really is. Our display of three medium sized sardines on ice on our farmers market table was an attempt to educate about the abundant resource which is swimming off our coast.
Many folks were unaware of Pacific sardines in general, and most thought of depleting the resource as a possible consequence of sardine fishing. When I explained that NOAA & NMFS split up the biomass of sardines so that commercial fishing shares the resource with marine mammals and birds as well as leaving 50% for reproduction, their fears were somewhat allayed.
There seems to be a level of mistrust that anyone is truly watching out for the sardines.

- posted by Holly @ 5:31 AM