Mackerel are in the tuna family, which includes tuna and mackerel. According to a study conducted for the Pacific Fisheries Management Council for the Pacific or Chub Mackerel in 2009 (
Crone et al. 2009), there are "possibly three spawning ‘stocks’ along the Pacific coasts of the USA and Mexico: one in the Gulf of California; one in the vicinity of Cabo San Lucas; and one along the Pacific coast north of Punta Abreojos, Baja California and extending north to waters off southern California and further, off the Pacific Northwest depending on oceanographic conditions (say regimes)". They rarely spawn north of Point Conception in California although young-of-year fish have been reported as far north as Oregon and Washington (Crone et al. 2009). According to
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (2009), in BC, species of mackerel are "frequently encountered off the west coast of Vancouver Island during years when warm waters from the El Niño current are prevalent. They are rarely found inside the Strait of Georgia." Pacific mackerel is most frequently caught within 30 km of shore, but is sometimes caught as far as 400 km offshore (Crone et al. 2009).
