North Pacific Hake

1. What is it?

North Pacific Hake(Merluccius productus) is a slender, silver-grey fish with soft white flesh. It grows quickly and has a migratory life cycle, adapted to the Pacific coast of North America from Alaska to Mexico.

2. How was it caught or farmed?

North Pacific Hake are fished using mid-water trawls. These nets are very large with a minimum mesh size of 76mm when stretched to maximum size. Trawling takes place in the pelagic zone between the seabed and the surface of the sea, and the net is dragged through the water with minimal contact with the seabed. As a result, there is very little impact on the benthic habitat or species other than the occasional bottom contact. Mid-water trawls tend to target large schools of fish of the same species, so bycatch tends to be a relatively small portion of the total catch. For some vulnerable species such as sharks, sunfish and seals, however, the number of individuals caught might be significant enough to affect population levels.

Bycatch of non-target species is low; North Pacific hake with the use of midwater otter trawl is not likely to cause significant damage to a population of any endangered, threatened, protected (ETP) species. Mortality due to discarding is low (less than 5%). The catch is dominated by the target species; the share of other species in landings is expected to be at the level of approximately 4%.

3.Where is it from?

North Pacific Hake are caught in FAO 67. The largest catches are usually made off Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia during seasonal migrations.(FAO 67). The North Pacific Hake midwater trawl fishery is managed in accordance with scientific advice and recommendations, and the TAC is usually set well below the advice and not utilised. The entire fleet is covered by an observer program (either by personnel or by video monitoring). Still, some infringements are reported