Little is known about the status of blue mackerel stocks and no estimates of current and reference

biomass, or yield, are available for any blue mackerel area. It is not known if recent catch levels are

sustainable or at levels that will allow the stocks to move towards a size that will support the MSY.

EMA 1

For EMA 1, the stability of the age composition data and the large number of age classes that comprise

the catches suggests that blue mackerel may be capable of sustaining current commercial fishing

mortality at least in the short term.