Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico 

 Migratory Pelagic Fisheries 



Unit 



7 



NANCIE J CUMMINGS 



NMFS Southeast Fisheries 

 Science Center 



Miami 

 Florida 



INTRODUCTION 



Coastal pelagic fishes inhabiting waters oft the 

 southeastern United States include king and Span- 

 ish mackerels, cero, dolphinfish, and cobia. These 

 species range in coastal and continental shelf wa- 

 ters from the northeastern United States through 

 the Gulf ot Mexico and the Caribbean Sea and as 

 tar south as Brazil. Coastal pelagics are fast swim- 

 mers that school and feed voraciously, grow rap- 

 idly, mature early, and spawn over many months. 



U.S. and Mexican commercial fishermen have 

 fished Spanish mackerel since the 1 850's and king 

 mackerel since the 1880's. The Spanish mackerel 

 fishery began off New York and New |ersey but 

 shitted southward through the decades to the 

 southern U.S. Atlantic and Gulf ot Mexico. In 

 1996, over 90% of the commercial catch was 

 landed in Florida. Although early commercial fish- 

 eries harvested Spanish mackerel by hook and line, 

 nearly all the commercial catch now is taken by 



runaround gillnet. A recreational tishery also ex- 

 ists for Spanish mackerel and accounts for about 

 17-40% of all the Gulf stock and 31-51% of the 

 Atlantic stock ot Spanish mackerel landed. 



King mackerel are fished commercially from 

 Chesapeake Bay southward. Four major produc- 

 tion areas exist: North Carolina, Florida east coast 

 (Cape Canaveral to Palm Beach), the Florida Keys, 

 and otf Grande Isle, La. The Louisiana fishery 

 began in the early 1 980's; the area was believed to 

 harbor older king mackerel temales that served as 

 a major spawning population for the Gulf of 

 Mexico stock. Unrestricted fishing mortality was 

 believed to be high on these fish from the late 

 1970's through the early 1980's, and these stocks 

 currently comprise about 3 1 % of the commercial 

 quota for the Gulf regulatory group. Landings, 

 which approached 680 metric tons (t) in 1983, 

 were reduced trom one-halt to two-thirds by Fed- 

 eral quota management trom the mid 1980's to 

 the present. 



Dolphinfish. 



1 25 



