Northeast Atlantic mackerel
Mackerel is a pelagic and fast swimming fish species. It is distributed in the Northeast Atlantic from the Northwestern part of Africa north to the Barents Sea, and westwards in the Norwegian Sea to Iceland and Jan Mayen. Mackerel also enters the Baltic Sea, and furthermore exists in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea.
Distribution and biology
Mackerel in European waters are managed as one stock, Northeast Atlantic mackerel, which exist of three spawning components: North Sea mackerel which spawn in the central part of the North Sea and Skagerrak (May-July); western mackerel which spawn west of Ireland and the British Isles (May-July); and southern mackerel which spawn in Spanish and Portuguese waters (February-May).
The mackerel spawn in the surface layers of the ocean. Larvae measures 3.5 mm at hatching and grow…
