Pacific hake, Merluccius productus (Ayres, 1855), also known as Pacific whiting, is a gadiform (cod group) groundfish that is currently the most abundant commercial fish species on the U.S. West Coast (Methot and Dorn 1995).

Four major spawning stocks of Pacific whiting have been identified. Of the four, the coastal stock off California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia is the most abundant and widely distributed. Other spawning stocks occur in central Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and off the west coast of southern Baja California (Stewart 2010).

Pacific Hake are one of the most important commercial species on the West Coast of North America harvested with otter-trawls and long-lines at a level of 500,000 tons per annum off the coastal waters of North America with about half caught in US waters, and about 25% each in Canadian and Mexican waters. Due to its migratory behaviour, pacific hake are what is known as a “trans-boundary” stock in that they migrate between Mexican, U.S. and Canadian waters. This species represents a shared stock among US Canada and Mexico (Ramirez 2009, León 2015). 

This is a pelagic fish that inhabits oceanic and coastal areas, but is mainly found on the continental shelf and although often classified as demersal, the distribution and behavior suggest a largely pelagic existence. Stock found between southern Baja California waters and Costa Rica waters (Ramirez 2009, León 2015).