Very little information is available in the literature on storage of fish sauce. Therefore, microbiological and chemical chracteristics during storage and quality of fish sauce were investigated and discussed to present data about the optimum storage condition. The chopped sardine meat was mixed with equal amount of water and $9\%$(w/w) of $75\%$ vital wheat gluten and then hydrolyzed by addition of commercial proteolytic enzymes such as bromelain, papaya protease, ficin and a enzyme mixture (Pacific Chem. Co.) for 4 hours at $52.5^{circ}C$. The reaction mixture was heated for 30 min at $100^{circ}C$ for enzyme inactivation, pasteurization and color development and then centrifuged for 20 min at 4,000 rpm. Table salt and benzoic acid were added for bacteriostatic effect and stored for 80 days at $15{pm}1^{circ}C$ and $30{pm}1^{circ}C$. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The amount of amino-nitrogen and pH of fish sauce were almost unchanged during storage. 2. Mininum concentration of salt for bacteriostatic activity was $9\%$(w/w) regardless of addition of benzoic acid. 3. the yields of amino-nitrogen were $63.1\%$ for the hydrolysate prepared without enzyme, $79.7\%$ for that with bromelain, $69.9\%$ with ficin, $74.3\%$ with papaya pretense, and $78.1\%$ with enzyme mixture, respectively. 4. The contents of amino-nitrogen were $4510.0mg\%$ on the dry basis for the product prepared by autolysis, $5483.2mg\%$ for that prepared with bromelain, $5305.7mg\%$ with ficin, $4994.1mg\%$ with papaya protease and $5582.3mg\%$ with the enzyme mixture, respectively. 5. The contents of crude protein were $51.35\%$ on the dry basis for the product prepared by autolysis and 55 to $59\%$ for prepared with commercial enzymes. 6. The hydrolysate prepared with the enzyme mixture revealed a little stronger meaty taste than any other products. 7. The level of crude protein in residues was still high ($69.5{sim}77.2\%$ on the dry basis) and might be originated from the added vital wheat gluten.