1999 



OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Landings 

 (X 1,000 t) 



80 - 



70 - 

 60 - 

 60 - 

 40 - 

 30 - 

 20 - 

 10 - 



Landings iU S & Mexico) 



Biomass 

 (X 1 ,000 t) 



Figure 14-4 



Landings and biomass of 

 chub macl<erel, 1929-97, m 

 metric tons (t). 



Landings 

 (X 1.000 t) 



Landings 



Year 



Figure 14-5 



Commercial landings of Pa- 

 cific herring, 1970-97, in 

 metric tons (tl. 



mackerel can also be very erratic, lack mackerel 

 has two distinct behavior patterns during its life 

 cycle: juveniles are found inshore off southern 

 California and Baja California, while adult fish 



are distributed offshore and farther north, in some 

 years as far as the Gulf of Alaska. Adult jack 

 mackerel founci offshore are sometimes caught 

 incidentally by trawlers, particularly those 

 targeting Pacific whiting. 



The foreign trawl fisheries of the 1 970's 

 resulted in jack mackerel being placed in the 

 groundfish fishery management plan, and a 

 bycatch quota of 1 2,000 t/year (north of latitude 

 39° N) was set. Restrictions on fishing for other 

 groundfish species, including Pacific whiting, were 

 thus avoided. The recent history of jack mackerel 

 commercial landings, mostly as incidental catch, 

 is shown in Figure 14-3. In l')')!, interest in jack 

 mackerel increased, and the catch limit was raised 

 to 52,000 t to allow a target fishery to operate. 

 While this fishery has not yet materializx-d, signs 

 of commercial interest continue. A purse-seine 

 fishery for jack mackerel has continued at a low 

 level. Currently, it has no catch limit. Jack mackerel 

 have been occasionallv important to the partyboat 

 sport fishery off southern California. It is also 

 fished recreationally off piers. 



Assessment and management of jack mackerel 

 are difficult because of limited data and its broad 

 distribution. The most recent estimate of biomass 

 was made in 1983. Spawning biomass was 

 estimated at 1,S00,()11() t, and total biomass at 

 1,630,000-1,990,000 t. Its potential yield is little 

 more than an educated guess at this time {Table 

 14-1). 



Chub (Pacific) iVIackerel 



C'hub mackerel has a worldwide distribulion 

 in temperate and subtropical seas. On the Pacific 

 coast, it is most abundant south of Point 

 Conception, Calif It supported one of California's 

 major fisheries during the 1930's-40's and again 

 in the 1 980"s. It was second only to sardine during 

 the hevday of the southern California sardine 

 fisheries in the 1 93()'s-40's. The peak catch reached 

 73,000 t in 1935 and declined steadily thereafter. 

 In 1970, a moratorium was placed on the fishery 

 after the stock collapsed. 



A series of successful year classes in the late 

 1970's stimulated a recovery of the stock, and the 

 fishery was reopened under a quota system in 

 1977. Ihe resource is now harvested bv three 



1 70 



