The gear used to catch this fish include purse seines, drift gillnets, ring nets, beach seines and pelagic trawling.
In Malta, the most common methods are lampara, trammel nets, and gill nets.
It is available all year round but might not be fished for all year round.
This fish is commonly known as sardine or pilchard depending on its size. It is called a sardine when it’s under 15cm in length and named pilchard from 15cm onwards. It can grow up to 27cm.
Sardines are said to derive their name from the island of Sardinia where plentiful stocks were once found.
fish for tomorrow recommends the Sardine as the methods used to catch it in Malta aren’t damaging to the stocks or the surrounding environment. This species has a high reproductive rate and mature early which helps this species to cope with fishing pressures.
