North Pacific hake

The North Pacific hake, Pacific hake, Pacific whiting, or jack salmon (Merluccius productus) is a ray-finned fish in the genus Merluccius, found in the northeast Pacific Ocean from northern Vancouver Island to the northern part of the Gulf of California. It is a silver-gray fish with black speckling, growing to a length of 90 cm (3 ft). It is a migratory offshore fish and undergoes a daily vertical migration from the surface to the seabed at depths down to about 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

It is the target of an important commercial fishery off the West Coast of the United States, and annual quotas are used to prevent overfishing. Pacific Hake (whiting) contains an enzyme in its tissues that can rapidly spoil the fish in under 12 hours, causing the tissues to disintegrate. Fisheries that target Pacific Hake typically deliver the fish to processing plants within several hours of being caught. At the processing plants, an enzyme inhibitor is added to the raw fish to slow spoilage and neutralize the specific enzyme responsible for rapid deterioration. Almost all Pacific Hake that is wild caught is converted into fish paste and processed into surimi which allows the enzyme inhibitor to be mixed into the fish paste to make crab sticks and other processed fish products. Over 70% of the Pacific Hake caught and processed into surimi is shipped to Japan and Korea.