[4][2] The Chilean jack mackerel is an epipelagic fish that swims in schools around coasts and in the open ocean.

They are caught commercially with surround nets designed for small pelagic purse seining, or with midwater trawls, or by trolling or longlining.

[4][8][13] In the early 1970s, Chilean jack mackerels started flourishing along the west coast of South America, and became important as a commercial species.

The mackerel then expanded in a westward movement out into and across the open ocean, eventually reaching the coastal waters around New Zealand and Australia.

[8] During 1997 and 1998, a precipitous decline occurred in the catch (see the graph on the right), which can be attributed to changes in the sea surface temperature that accompanied the 1997–98 El Niño.

[14] On the eastern side of the south Pacific, the Chilean fishery operating mainly within its own EEZ has taken 75% of the global catch over the years.

[8] On the western side of the south Pacific, New Zealand fishes jack mackerel mainly inside their own EEZ, peaking modestly at 25,000 tonnes in 1995–96.

[6] Fisheries scientists provisionally estimated in 2011 that to achieve the maximum sustainable yield a spawning biomass of about 7.4 million tons was required with a fishing mortality rate of 0.15.

[16] New data and indicators on the status of the jack mackerel stock suggest that conditions evaluated in detail from the last benchmark assessment (2022) are relatively unchanged.

[5][19] Attempts have been made since 2006 to empower the South Pacific Regional Management Organisation so it can effectively regulate the jack mackerel industry on the high seas and across national boundaries.

[6] In an interview with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the French marine biologist Daniel Pauly compared jack mackerels to American bison, whose populations also collapsed in the 19th century from overhunting: "This is the last of the buffaloes.

"[6] As a way to protect the migrating mackerel, in 2013 the countries Chile, Peru, New Zealand and Australia, as well as six more agreed to form the "South Pacific Regional Fishing Management Organisation (RFMO)".

[20] Chilean jack mackerels are canned or marketed fresh for human consumption;[4] they are a staple food in Africa.