Atlantic and Gulf Wahoo (Acanthocybium solanderi)

• Population status for wahoo in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico is unknown.
• The wahoo fishery in the South Atlantic is managed by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The wahoo fishery is not regulated in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Wahoo is an excellent source of low-fat protein. For more information on nutrition, see Nutrition Facts. (USDA)
• Over 75% of the wahoo landed in the U.S. in 2006 came from Pacific fisheries; the rest originated in the Atlantic and Gulf region.

Sustainability Status

Biomass: Unknown
Overfishing: Unknown
Overfished: Unknown
Fishing and habitat: In the South Atlantic, wahoo are caught by trolling surface lures, so there is little or no impact on habitat.
Bycatch: Dolphin, tunas, and other pelagic species are incidentally caught while targeting wahoo. Bycatch in the fishery also includes sailfish and white and blue marlin, but in low numbers.
Aquaculture: There is currently no commercial aquaculture production of wahoo in the United States.

Science and Management

In the Atlantic Ocean, wahoo is managed by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council through the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery of the South Atlantic Region. The FMP was developed in cooperation with the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils. Recognizing the significant importance of the dolphin/wahoo fishery to the recreational fishing community in the Atlantic, managers seek to maintain the current harvest levels of dolphin and wahoo and ensure that no new fisheries develop. Commercial regulations in include gear and area restrictions, permits, and a trip limit of 500 pounds for wahoo. Recreational measures include a bag limit of 2 wahoo per person/per day and prohibition of sale of recreationally caught wahoo without commercial permits.

Wahoo are unregulated in the Gulf of Mexico.

Life History and Habitat

Life history, including information on the habitat, growth, feeding, and reproduction of a species, is important because it affects how a fishery is managed.

• Geographic range: Wahoo are found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
• Habitat: Wahoo inhabit the pelagic area of tropical and subtropical waters.
• Life span: It is believed wahoo live up to 5 or 6 years.
• Food: Wahoo are voracious predators, feeding on fishes such as mackerels, butterfishes, porcupine fishes, round herrings, scads, jacks, pompanos, and flying fishes. They generally compete for the same kind of food as highly migratory tuna.
• Growth rate: Rapid for the first year or two of life.
• Maximum size: The maximum reported size for wahoo is 158 pounds (IGFA World Record). Wahoo commonly attain sizes between 40 and 65 inches in length, with maximum size reaching 98 inches.
• Reaches reproductive maturity: Wahoo mature at approximately 2 years of age. Males mature at 34 inches and females mature at 40 inches. A study from Louisiana and the Bahamas showed that males as small as 7 pounds and females as small as 12 pounds were sexually mature.
• Reproduction: Wahoo from North Carolina have 560,000 eggs (for a 13.52 pound wahoo) to 45 millions eggs (for an 87.1 pound wahoo).
• Spawning season: May through October. They are thought to spawn year-round in the tropics and seasonally in the subtropics.
• Spawning grounds: Unknown
• Migrations: Wahoo tend to be year-round residents in tropical waters, but they expand their range to more northern latitudes during the summer months. If wahoo migrate, an indication of just how far they can travel was provided by the recapture of a tagged fish in the Pacific. The wahoo was recaptured 6.5 months following capture, 1,707 miles away.
• Predators: Young wahoo are prey for predators that inhabit the upper surface layer of tropical and subtropical oceans.
• Commercial or recreational interest: Both
• Distinguishing characteristics: The wahoo's body is covered with small scales and is steel blue above and pale blue below. It has a series of 25 to 30 irregular blackish-blue vertical bars on the sides. The fish has a large mouth with strong, triangular, compressed and finely serrate teeth. Its snout is about as long as the rest of the head.

Role in the Ecosystem

Wahoos are mid-level pelagic carnivores, preying on fish and squid. They generally compete for the same kind of food as highly migratory tuna.

Additional Information

Market name: Wahoo
Vernacular names: Kinkfish, Peto, Guarapucu, Ono, Thazard Batard

Biomass

Biomass refers to the amount of wahoo in the ocean. Scientists cannot collect and weigh every single fish to determine biomass, so they use models to estimate it instead. These biomass estimates can help determine if a stock is being fished too heavily or if it may be able to tolerate more fishing pressure. Managers can then make appropriate changes in the regulations of the fishery.

It is unknown whether wahoo in the Atlantic constitute one or several populations. There has been no comprehensive assessment of wahoo, and so the status of the population(s) is unknown. Maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for wahoo in the U.S. Atlantic has been set at 1.41 to 1.62 million pounds based on catch history in Atlantic, U.S. Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico fisheries. More information is needed on this species' population structure and abundance.

Landings

Landings refer to the amount of catch that is brought to land. The first recorded commercial landings of wahoo were 1,000 pounds caught off Florida in 1974. From 1987 to 1993, landings ranged between 160,000 and 370,000 pounds. Commercial landings have since decreased and have fluctuated between 160,000 and 250,000 pounds. Recreational landings have ranged between 300,000 and 1.8 million pounds since 1981. In the last ten years, recreational landings have been fairly stable averaging 1.2 million pounds annually.

Note: Only domestic commercial landings data are shown in the graph.

Biomass and Landings

Are landings and biomass related? Landings are dependent on biomass, management measures in the fishery, and fishing effort.

Data sources:
Landings from NMFS Annual Commercial Landings Statistics using "WAHOO" as Species and "ATLANTIC AND GULF" as State

Important Dates

2003 – The Fishery Management Plan for the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery off the Atlantic States partially approved
2004 – Final Rule implementing regulations for dolphin and wahoo in federal waters issued

Notes and Links

General Information:
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Fish IDs - Wahoo

Fishery Management:
Fishery Management Plan for the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery of the Atlantic