The Iberian sardine (Sardina pilchardus) constitutes a traditional target species in western Iberia that
remains to be economically important in Portugal and, to a lesser extent, in Galicia (NW Spain). The
time series of recruitment shows ups and downs in the last decades. According to the ICES Advice
2013 for regions VIII and IXa,
the biomass of age 1 sardine and older has decreased since 2006 and
recruitment has been below the long term average since 2005. In order to understand these
fluctuations, a Lagrangian model to simulate sardine Early Life Stages (ELS), this is, egg and larvae
stages, has been set up. The results of a high resolution hydrodynamic model for North and Northwest
Iberia have been used as an input of the Lagrangian model Ichthyop (Lett et al., (2008)) to simulate ELS
advection and dispersion. Ichthyop has been adapted to sardine by including some biological
behavior. A biogeochemical model coupled to the hydrodynamic model was also used to get some
insight on recruitment for years 2006 2007
