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Profile updated on 4 February 2025
SCIENTIFIC NAME(s)
Scomber japonicus
SPECIES NAME(s)
Pacific chub mackerel, chub mackerel, macarela
Pacific chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus, has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution (Froese and Pauly 2019). In the Northeast Pacific, the distribution spreads from Southeastern Alaska to Mexico, including the Gulf of California (Crone et al. 2019). Initially, morphological characteristics determined that five stocks occurred: California and British Columbia, northern Baja California, central Baja California, the Cape San Lucas region, and the Gulf of California (Roedel 1952, in (Hernández et al. 2000)). Another study found only two stocks, from southern California to Vizcaíno Bay and the other for the entire Gulf of California, overlapping at Magdalena Bay (Gluyas-Millán and Quiñonez-Velázquez 1996)(Gluyas-Millán 2004). Three spawning aggregations exist: one in the Gulf of California and two in Baja California, one of which extends to Southern California and is exploited by the US and Mexico (Crone et al. 2019).
Therefore, this profile is structured around a biological population and a management unit (DOF 2019).
Management Quality:
≥ 6
≥ 6
DATA DEFICIENT