1998 



OUR LIVING OCEANS 



King and 

 Watson 

 Florida. 



Spanish 

 Island, 



mackerel, 

 Miami, 



averaged approximately 1,814 metric tons (t) an- 

 nually during the 1 920's and 1 930's. These catches 

 decreased in the early 1 950's to about 1 , 1 34 t and 

 then increased to about 3,629 t in the 1970's. 



Recreational fishing lor king mackerel in the 

 Gull ot Mexico became important starting in the 

 1 9S()'s and 1 960's as boats and technology lor off- 

 shore fishing became available to large numbers 

 of people. The increasing number of recreational 

 anglers, combined with advances in technology 

 such as larger and more powerlul boats, the global 

 positioning system (GPS), and gear improvements, 

 has increased considerably the recreational fish- 

 ins^ pressure on the king mackerel. King mackerel 

 have traditionally been an important component 

 of the charterboat fishery in the Gulf ol Mexico, 

 and large numbers are taken from private and 

 rental boats. Size and bag-limit regulations were 

 begun in 1986 in an attempt to reduce the fishing 

 pressure from the recreational sector. 



CURRENT FISHERIES 



Recreational 



The recreational fishing sector targeting the 

 Gulf of Mexico group is currently allocated 68% 

 of the total acceptable catch (TAC^), making it the 

 largest component ol the Gull king mackerel lish- 

 ery. Hook-and-line gear is employed in this sector 

 from private and rental boats, chartered fishing 

 trips, and headboats. The fishery is concentrated 

 in Florida, which accounts lor about 80% of the 

 recreational landings. Current management regu- 

 lations in this fishery are a 20-inch (-SO cm) lork 

 length minimum size and a daily bag limit ol two 

 king mackerel. Fish caught under the recreational 

 bag limit are occasionally sold, particularly by the 

 captain and crew in the charter boat fleet. These 

 sales are especiallv important and contentious 

 when the commercial fishery has been closed due 

 to filling its quota. In general, the recreational sec- 

 tor seeks the largest king mackerel while the com- 

 mercial sector seeks the highest density of hsh. 

 1 hus, on average the recreational sector catches 

 bigger and older king mackerel than does the com- 

 mercial sector. 



Commercial 



The commercial fishing sector targeting the 

 Gull ol Mexico group is currently allocated 32% 

 of the TAG which is lurther subdivided between 

 the eastern and western sections of the Gull. The 

 eastern Gulf (east ot the Florida-Alabama border) 

 is allocated 69% ol the total commercial quota 

 (22%) of the TAG) with the western Gull allowed 

 to catch the remaining 31% ot the commetcial 

 quota. The tleet is mainly hook-and-line with some 

 gillnetting dt)ne in Federal waters. The ban on en- 

 tangling nets in Florida state waters enacted in 1 994 

 was not as important in this fishery as it was in the 

 Spanish mackerel fishery where commercial catches 

 were reduced approximately 70%. The king mack- 

 erel gillnet tleet consists of larger boats (that fish 

 lurther ollshore in the U.S. Exclusive Economic 

 Zone) than the Spanish mackerel gillnet fleet. I he 

 fish caught by the commercial sector are mainly 

 sold whole and iced to wholesalers, who may pro- 

 duce fillets or steaks before they reach the market, 

 or directly to restaurants straight from the boats. 



Bycatch in Shrimp Trawls 



An addilional source of king mackerel mor- 

 talitv in the Ciulf ot Mexico is the catch of juve- 

 niles by the shrimp trawl fleet. Although the cap- 

 ture of a king mackerel in a shrimp trawl is rela- 

 tively rare (<5% ot tows), there are hundreds ot 

 thousands of days spent trawling by the fleet each 

 year, resulting in annual bycatch estimates rang- 

 ing from 300,000 to 1 ,300,000 fish. The estimated 

 catches ot king mackerel in the shrimp trawl fish- 

 ery have been higher in recent years than prior to 

 the start ot king mackerel fishery management. 

 Implementation ot bvcatch reduction devices in 

 the shrimp trawl nets is expected to reduce this 

 large bycatch, but the amount of reduction in terms 

 of fishing mortality that will result is not known. 



Management 



Large catches by both commercial and recre- 

 ational fishermen in the late 1970's and early 

 1980's, associated with perceived declines in catch 

 rates, were the impetus tor the inclusion ol king 

 mackerel Goastal Migratory Pelagic Resources 



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