Profile updated on 17 April 2023
SCIENTIFIC NAME(s)
Macruronus magellanicus
SPECIES NAME(s)
Patagonian grenadier, Hoki
COMMON NAMES
merluza de cola (Spanish)
Patagonian grenadier or hoki is distributed in the Southeast Pacific and Southwest Atlantic, from southern Chile to Argentina. A study showed differentiation between Pacific and Atlantic fish, and also between north-south fish in the Atlantic Ocean (Machado-Schiaffino and Garcia-Vazquez 2011). Other studies found substantial mixing between Pacific and Atlantic fish (Schuchert et al., 2010; Niklitschek et al., 2013) suggesting a single population group (stock) distributed all around the cone of South America. Studies undertaken by INIDEP did not find clear evidence of different populations within the Atlantic or between the Atlantic and Pacific (information compiled in Morsan et al. 2020). More recently, based on otolith multi-elemental chemical signatures, (Gorini et al. 2021) found the potential existence of different stocks and contributed to the knowledge on the segregation of juveniles and adults over the Atlantic and Pacific coast, considering however that the population structure "is not resolved".
There have been joint workshops between Chilean and Argentine research institutes but there are still two separate assessment units (and respective management units): Patagonian grenadier - Argentine and Patagonian grenadier - Chilean.
Management Quality:
≥ 6
10.0
≥ 6