Bali sardinella is a coastal small pelagic, schooling, strongly migratory species that inhabit tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region (Whitehead 1985). Bali sardinella, Sardinella lemuru, was previously reported as S. longiceps in the Philippines (PSA 2019). The stock structure for Bali sardinella in the Philippines is unknown. This profile covers the Bali sardinella fishery in the Philippines Fishery Management Area 11 (FMA - 11), covering the waters in Visayan Sea.  Asid Gulf, Jintotolo Channel, Guimaras Strait, Iloilo Strait and Tanon Strait  (see FMA 11 Map and Profile).Visayan Sea.  FMAs were established in January 2019 (Fisheries Administrative Order 263) to focus on the ecosystem approach to fisheries management.  FMA - 11 covers the Visayan Sea, Asid Gulf, Jintotolo Channel, Guimaras Strait, Iloilo Strait and Tanon Strait  (see FMA 11 Map and Profile).

In the Philippine Statistics Authority or PSA, production volume is reported as Bali sardinella  (tamban)  (see OpenSTAT).  The local name "tamban", however, is applied to Bali sardinella S. lemuru and to at least 8 other sardine species: to include five Sardinella spp.  (e.g.,   White sardinella,  S. albella;  Fringescale sardinella,  S. fimbriata; Goldstripe sardinella,   S. gibbosa;  Taiwan sardinella,  S. hualiensis, and Blacktip sardinella, S. melanura) and  three Amblygaster spp.  (e.g., Bleeker smoothbelly sardinella,   A. clupeoides;  Smoothbelly sardinella,   A. leiogaster, Spotted sardinella,  A. sirm)   (see FishBase, (Froese and Pauly 2021); (Williams and Willette 2011).   Other local names for this species are "tunsoy" (Williams and Willette 2011)  or "tuloy" (Gitgano 2015).  In NSAP’s The Philippine Capture Fisheries Atlas several clupeid sardines share common names but are presented separately in areas where stock assessments occur (Barut et al. 2017)  Catch landing data of both species, however, are aggregated with other species under the “small pelagics” group (Santos et al. 2017).