The stock structure of Short mackerel  Rastrelliger brachysoma (Bleeker, 1851) in the Philippines is unknown. This profile covers the Short mackerel fishery in the Philippines Fishery Management Area 4 (FMA - 4), covering waters off southern Panay and Negros islands east of Sulu Sea, and the southern Sulu Sea to include several bays in the Zamboanga Peninsula, and the Basilan Strait, Moro Gulf,  and Tawi-tawi Bay in BARMM  (see FMA 4 Map and Profile). FMAs were established in January 2019 (Fisheries Administrative Order 263) to focus on the ecosystem approach to fisheries management.

The Short mackerel Rastrelliger brachysoma is a small short-bodied coastal pelagic scombroid fish frequently found in schools in tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region (Collette and Nauen 1983). Short mackerel is associated with the two other Rastrelliger species, i.e., the Indian mackerel R. kanagurta and the island mackerel R. faughni.  There is no separate catch record for short mackerel Rastrelliger brachysoma. In NSAP’s The Philippine Capture Fisheries Atlas species-specific data may be presented separately in areas where stock assessments occur (e.g., length-frequency measurements, E values; in (Barut et al. 2017)  while catch landing data of Rastrelliger species, however, are combined with other species under the “small pelagics” group (Santos et al. 2017).