Marine - Species - Spanish Mackerel

Recreational Fishery in SC

Spanish mackerel Recreational Fishery Graph

Recreational total catch for Spanish mackerel show year to year variability throughout the time series. Peak catches occurred in 1994, 2003, and 2005. Total catch has remained at or above the 10 year average (146,124 fish per year) of 6 of the last 10 years.

Commercial landings of Spanish mackerel are primarily incidental by-catch from the shrimp trawl fishery. There have been very limited landings in recent years with only 480 lbs reported for entire 2000-2012 time period.

The recreational catch data is provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which conducts phone and angler-intercept surveys to monitor angler activities and catches. For more information see: https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

The commercial fisheries data is provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which compiles commercial information provided by state agencies. For more information, see: https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

Additional Graph Information

Commercial and recreational catches are measured in number of individuals or pounds of fish caught. Changes in catch among years may be the result of changes in abundance, fishing effort, or a combination of the two.

On each graph, the horizontal dotted lines above or below the "10 year average" represent one "standard deviation" unit, which is a measure of how variable the annual data are around the 10-year average. In general, the area between one standard deviation above the mean and one standard deviation below the mean includes approximately 68% of all values. Approximately 95% of observations in the data set are found within two standard deviation units of the average and is referred to as the prediction interval.