SERNAPESCA authorities have proceeded to inspect the Russian trawler Alexander Kosarev that unloads jack mackerels captured in international waters according to regulation of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), of which Chile is part.

 

 

 

 

 

The Jack Mackerel (Trachurus picturatus murphy) is a migratory pelagic species, which moves in large schools, of similar size, along the coast and beyond the outer limit of 200 nautical miles of the EEZs. The fish, which can grow to a length of 70 cm, finds its habitat in the ocean front, which consists of cold coastal and subtropical surface waters. The fish can also be found, however, in waters as deep as 300 m. The fish approach the coast during the summer, as well as in other seasons during the warm years.

 

Fish can reach maturity, when they have grown to 21 cm in length; although the average length upon reaching maturity is 31 cm. Spawning occurs during the months of October and November. The minimum allowed capture size is 31 cm.

 

Chilean jack mackerels are the most commonly fished species, which is not a true mackerel. They are captured commercially with enveloping nets designed for small pelagic fences, or with trawls in the middle of the water.

 

 

In the early 1970s, Chilean jack mackerels began to flourish along the west coast of South America and became important as a commercial species. The mackerel then expanded in a westward movement through the open ocean, and finally reached the coastal waters around New Zealand and Australia. During 1997 and 1998, there was a precipitous decline in capture (see chart on the right), which can be attributed to changes in sea surface temperature that accompanied the 1997–98 Child.

 

 

 

On the eastern side of the South Pacific, the Chilean fishery that operates primarily within its own EEZ has captured 75% of the world's catch over the years. The Peruvian fishery captured 800,000 tons in 2001, but in general it is an order of magnitude smaller. On the western side of the South Pacific, New Zealand mackerel fishing primarily within its own EEZ, with a modest peak of 25,000 tons in 1995-96. From 1978 to 1991, the USSR fishing fleet intensely caught the horse mackerel belt on the high seas, with 13 million tons. In the following years, other distant fishing nations, such as Belize, China, the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea, joined Russia to fish for the horse mackerel belt, and in 2007, these nations were obtaining 18% of the world's catch .

Between 2006 and 2011, the biomass of the populations decreased another 63%. Fishery scientists provisionally estimated in 2011 that to achieve maximum sustainable yield, a spawning biomass of approximately 7.4 million tons was required with a fishing mortality rate of 0.15. If spawning stock is going to be rebuilt, current catches should probably be less than 390,000 tons.