The Pacific Sardine (Sardinops sagax), influenced by the Humboldt Current, inhabits Chilean and Peruvian waters and can be found from shore to 150 nautical miles at depths up to 250 meters (McFarlane et al. 2002)(SUBPESCA 2002). When high abundances occur, the latitudinal distribution extends from southern Ecuador (1°S) to central Chile (42°S), while longitudinal distributions go 1900 kilometers westwards out (97.5°W) (Serra 1991)(Schwartzlose et al. 1999). There are no studies on the population structure of this species through the Chilean coast. This species has traditionally been geographically segregated using fisheries information in three or four stocks: Ecuador and Northern Peru, Central-Southern Peru and Northern-Central Chile (Arica and Parinacota to Antofagasta Regions), Atacama-Coquimbo in Chile (McFarlane et al. 2002), and, finally, the Talcahuano fishery in Chile (Alheit and Niquen 2004). Stocks are differentiated by evaluation and management units. Further, the Chilean Management Committee officially requested SUBPESCA in 2019 to create a report to sustain the unification of the Pacific sardine Fisheries Unit from Arica y Parinacota to the Coquimbo regions (CMASE III-IV 2019).

In these regions, only the artisanal fleet has operated since 2005, even when the industrial sector receives a quota, as well. Thus TACs from the industrial sector have been transferred to the artisanal fleet (Vega Muñoz et al. 2020) (SERNAPESCA 2024).