The Emergence of the California Pacific Hagfish Fishery and Characteristics of the Stock

The Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii) is one of several species of jawless fishes that have historically been ignored by fisheries scientists. In North America, scientists have historically considered hagfishes as biological oddities while the fishing industry looked upon these species as "trash-fish".  However, hagfishes subsequently became the basis of the lucrative Asian "eelskin wallet" industry worth millions of dollars. In North America in efforts were made to provide new sources of hagfish, as it appeared that the Asian fisheries for hagfish based on Eptatretus burgeri and E. atami were in decline while the demand for hagfish skins continued to grow. By 1988, a new fishery for Pacific hagfish (E. stoutii) was established and appeared to be growing explosively as many fishers were drawn to a lucrative market for a seemingly abundant product, which required little investment and risk. The rapid growth of the California hagfish fishery was of great concern to fisheries biologists as virtually no information on the biology and ecology of this fish existed. These factors coupled with the documented low fecundity suggested a possibility of another "Boom and Bust" fishery on the Pacific coast.