1999 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Landings 

 (X 1.000 t) 



.' I 



Landings 



Biomass 

 index (t) 



Index ^ 



31 82 83 



85 86 87 



89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 



Figure 7-1 



Landings and biomass in- 

 dex in metric tons (t) of king 

 mackerel, 1981-97. The bio- 

 mass index is tlie estimate 

 in weight (tl, and the high- 

 est year is given the relative 

 value of 1.0. 



Year 



Commercial king mackerel vessels have em- 

 ployed gillnets, troll lines, handlines, purse seines, 

 otter trawls, and potind nets. King mackerel sport 

 Hsheries exist oH many sotitheastern states 

 throughout the year. Commercial yields were un- 

 regulated until the mid 1980's. Recreational land- 

 ings are thought to have been reduced by an ex- 

 panding commercial runaroimd gillnet risher\- in 

 the 1970's and a driftnet fishery operating ott 

 southeast Florida in the late 1980's. Purse seines 

 were used also to exploit the (lulf of Mexico king 

 mackerel during the 1980's but are now prohib- 

 ited as part of the stock recovery plan. 



Coastal pelagics are comanaged under the 



Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources Fishery Man- 

 agement Plan and regulations adopted by the 

 South Atlantic and Cult of Mexico Fishery Man- 

 agement Councils and implemented by the Na- 

 tional Marine Fisheries Service. Total allowable 

 catch and commercial and recreational allocations 

 are established by the ("ouncils for rwo separate 

 groups of migratory king and Spanish mackerel: 

 the Culf group and the Atlantic group. Accept- 

 able biological catches are defined for separate geo- 

 graphical areas within the Gulf migratory group. 

 Quota management began in the 198S-86 fish- 

 ing year. Presently, both commercial and 

 charterboat operators must apply for and hold 

 current Federal permits to fish for king mackerel, 

 Spanish mackerel, or other coastal pelagics. Rec- 

 reational catches arc regulated by creel and size 

 limits. In addition to quota limits, commercial 

 catches must comply with minimum size restric- 

 tions and, off some states as in Florida and North 

 Carolina, daily landing limits and/or trip limits 

 apply. In 1998 the National Marine Fisheries Ser- 

 vice invoked a mandatory reporting requirement 

 from commercial king mackerel fishermen through 

 logbook reports tor all trips. Currently, only U.S. 

 fishermen are regulated, while Mexican fishermen 

 fish under no regulations. Mexican catches are 

 thought to be large relative to the U.S. fishery. 



SPECIES AND STATUS 



Recreational fishermen caught 8,000-17,000 

 t/year of coastal pelagic species, and commercial 

 fishermen caught 5,000-14,000 t/year during 



Table 7-1 



Productivity in metric tons 

 and status of coastal migra- 

 tory fishes in the U.S. Atlan- 

 tic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. 



Total 



15,454 



20,339 



26,448 



'RAY IS for 1994-96 average 



1 26 



