RECENT PRE-RECRUIT PACIFIC HAKE (MERLUCCIUS PRODUCTUS) OCCURRENCES IN THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CURRENT SUGGEST A NORTHWARD EXPANSION OF THEIR SPAWNING AREA

Abstract

Coastal Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) are known to spawn in the southern California Bight from January to March, migrate north during late spring and summer to feed off Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, and then move back to southern California in the fall. Juvenile Pacific hake nursery areas have been found to occur along the coastal shelf and slope of California, and occasionally into southern Oregon during strong El Nino events. In this paper, we combine information from several studies that captured larval and high abundances of young-of-the-year (YOY) Pacific hake in the northern California Current from 2003‐06. These preliminary results suggest that spawning and recruitment of Pacific hake have expanded northward and this will likely have major economic and ecological consequences in the northern California Current (NCC).