Thread: Commercial King Mackerel Fishery...

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/bulle...e-will-close-1

The 2018/2019 commercial hook-and-line quota is 1,116,000 pounds. Updated landings data indicate that the harvest of king mackerel in this zone will reach the quota by October 5, 2018.

Let that number sink in for a moment...

This is about equal to the amount of king mackerel eaten by sharks near the GSPPier each year ;-)

Anybody know where all that product goes?

You don't see too much in markets.

That's a lot of kings, but you never see them on a menu or in a fish market down here? I hear the biggest market is in the northeast???

But think about the fact that the annual catch of Alaska Pollack is over 1 million metric tons. Yes, that metric tons!

If landings data indicate that they're about to reach their quota, somebody's catching them for some purpose. I can't imagine that hook and line fishing for kings would be profitable for sale to the pet food industry. They can't be making very much per pound!

If I had to guess they are shipping it to Asia.

From what I can find, both kings and Spanish are mainly for the American market.

Makes me think of the buffalo fish from the Illinois and Mississippi rivers gracing restaurant menus and community fish frys around this region or the popularity of lake trout in Maryland. Somewhere in america every fish one person turns their nose up for is someone else's delicacy.

This is probably a dumb question, but is the canned mackerel found in the grocery store a different species? I see they use mackerel a good bit for cat food as well, but again, not sure if we're talking about the same species.

i was thinking pet food as well.

Originally Posted by benhunts

This is probably a dumb question, but is the canned mackerel found in the grocery store a different species? I see they use mackerel a good bit for cat food as well, but again, not sure if we're talking about the same species.

Most canned mackerel I've seen in supermarkets is pacific jack mackerel (they look like a big cigar minnow) or pacific chub mackerel (look like an Atlantic mackerel). I had fish similar to jack mackerel in Japan, it was broiled and amazingly good.

Spanish and kings are not used in catfood production, the price per pound is too high. They use atlantic, chub or jack mackerel for catfood.