2025-2026 and 2026-2027 Specifications for Pacific Mackerel

NOAA Fisheries has established annual harvest specifications and management measures for Pacific mackerel for the fishing years: July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, and July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027.

The harvest guideline and annual catch target for the 2025-2026 fishing season are 9,143 metric tons (mt) and 8,143 mt, respectively. The harvest guideline and annual catch target for the 2026-2027 fishing season are 10,448 mt and 9,948 mt, respectively. If the fishery attains the annual catch target in either fishing season, directed fishing will close, reserving the 1,000-mt difference between the harvest guideline and annual catch target as a set-aside for incidental landings in other Coastal Pelagic Species fisheries and other sources of mortality. For the remainder of the fishing season, incidental landings in CPS fisheries would be constrained to a 45 percent incidental catch allowance (in other words, no more than 45 percent by weight of the CPS landed per trip may be Pacific mackerel); and in non-CPS fisheries, up to 3 mt of Pacific mackerel incidental catch could be landed per fishing trip.

This action is intended to conserve and manage the Pacific mackerel stock off the U.S. West Coast.