California Fish and Game Code states that the annual sardine quota can be set at a level greater than 1,000 tons, providing that the level of take allows for continued increase in the spawning population. The primary goal of management as directed by the Code is rehabilitation of theresource, with an added objective of maximizing the sustained harvest.We estimate the sardine population size to have been 353,000 short tons on July 1, 1995. Our estimate was based on output from an integrated stock assessment model called CANSAR(Deriso 1993). CANSAR is a forward-casting age-structured analysis using fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data to obtain annual estimates of sardine abundance, year-class strength and age specific fishing mortality for 1983 through the first semester of 1995. CANSAR couples asimulation model with sardine population dynamics. Non-linear least-squares criteria are used to tune the model to match catch-at-age data and other indices of sardine abundance.To calculate the 1996 fishery quota, we used the harvest formula selected as the preferred option in the draft Coastal Pelagic Species-Fishery Management Plan (CPS-FMP). That formula has undergone extensive scientific and user-group review as part of the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (PFMC) CPS-FMP adoption process and has the endorsement of the fishing industry and the scientific community. Use of this formula will result in a reduced fishing mortality rate compared to the formula used to calculate the quota in 1995. We conclude that it isparticularly important to reduce fishing mortality for 1996 because the rates may have been excessive in recent years, especially for older aged sardines.Accordingly, we recommend a 1996 sardine harvest quota of 35,000 short tons. (21pp.)