The previous full assessment of the SA sardine resource, used to develop OMP-08, was tuned to data up to and including November 2006 (Cunningham and Butterworth 2007, with further undocumented updates). Since then 2 further years of below average recruitment have been observed in the May recruitment surveys, together with a low November 2007 survey biomass estimate. This document presents an update of the sardine assessment (posterior modes only), now taking data up to October 2008 into account. This is to obtain a better understanding of the current status of the population and assist in 2009 directed sardine fishery planning.