Assessment of the Pacific sardine resource in 2012 for U.S. management in 2013

"The Pacific sardine resource is assessed each year in support of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) process of recommending annual harvest specifications for the U.S. fishery. The following assessment update for 2013 management is based on data and methods described by Hill et al. (2011) and reviewed by a Stock Assessment Review (STAR) Panel during September 2011 (STAR 2011). The update was conducted using Stock Synthesis (SS), and includes the most recent data available from fishery-dependent and fishery-independent sources. A draft assessment update was reviewed by two members of the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Subcommittee during October 2-3, 2012. The CPS Subcommittee reviewed one minor change to model parameterization and one change to input data. The following report reflects changes agreed during that review and subsequently presented to the PFMC's advisory bodies at meetings held in November 2012, in Costa Mesa, CA. Reports of the PFMC's advisory bodies are provided in Appendix C"--Preface. Kevin T. Hill, Paul R. Crone, Nancy C.H. Lo, David A. Demer, Juan P. Zwolinski, and Beverly J. Macewicz. "December 2012." System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Includes bibliographical references.