BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES FISHERY- OCEANOGRAPHY CENTER LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA FISCAL YEAR 1968 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR- FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL-FISHERIES- Qcculor 303 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Fishery-Oceanography Center. La Jolla G. Mattson Cover DAVID STARR JORDAN UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES FISHERY- OCEANOGRAPHY CENTER LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA FISCAL YEAR 1968 ALAN R. LONGHURST, LABORATORY DIRECTOR Circular 303 WASHINGTON, D. C. September 1968 ABSTRACT This report describes the facihties now available for research and gives an account of research done from July 1967 througli June 1%8. The main accomplishments of the Center during this period have been completion of the EASTROPAC surveys of seasonal changes in the biology and ocean- ography in the eastern Pacific, and design of computer methods of analysis and presentation of survey data; design and construction of an experimental deep-sinking tuna purse seine net; partial elucidation of the genetic- ally distinct racial structure of the northern anchovy ; and completion of studies of the feeding budget of the Cali- fornia sardine population during the rise and fall of the fishery. David Starr Jordan, the Center's major research vessel. G Mattson CONTENTS Page PREFACE THE RESOURCES AND THE PROBLEMS ... 1 THE FACILITIES FOR RESEARCH 4 THE RESEARCH STAFF 8 CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA 10 COOPERATION WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS 10 THE RESEARCH PROGRAMS 11 Fishery-Oceanography Program 11 Temperate tuna forecasting 12 EASTROPAC 14 Scripps tuna oceanography research .... 19 Behavior-Physiology Program 19 Physiology 19 Feeding behavior 22 -. Fish schooling behavior 22 Marine fish larvae 23 Population Dynamics Program 24 California Current suweys 24 Pacific sardme (1951-59) 25 Northern anchovy (1951-59) 25 Jack mackerel (1951-60) 25 Pacific mackerel (1951-60) 25 Pacific hake (1955-59) 25 Dynamics of fish populations 25 Racial structure of commercial species .... 25 Measures of zooplankton productivity .... 26 Operations Research Program 26 Fishery systems analysis 27 Experimental purse seine 27 CTFM sonar 28 Local fishery systems development 28 SENIOR SCIENTIST'S UNIT 29 PUBLICATIONS 30 Papers published 1967-68 30 Papers accepted by journals for publication 31 Papers being edited 31 Papers published, 1967-68 by STOR program(Contract No. 14-17-007-742) . 32 '8S Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Fishery-Oceanography Center. La Jolla G. Mattson PREFACE In late 1964, the new Fishery -Oceanography Cen- ter of BCF (Bureau of Commercial Fisheries) was dedi- cated; it stands on a clifftop on land deeded by the University of California to the north of SIO (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) at La JoUa. Into this building moved the two BCF Biologica] Laboratories from La Jolla and San Diego, together with several tenant agencies, including the lATTC (Inter- American Tropical Tuna Commission) and STOR (Scripps Tuna Oceanography Research). In June 1967, the two BCF Laboratories were merged into a single laboratory known simply as the Fishery-Oceanography Center, La Jolla; it is the purpose of this report to describe the research carried out in the first year following this reorga- nization, the present aims of the laboratory, and the ma- terial facilities which it now has at its disposal. The Fishery-Oceanography Center is the Federal laboratory charged with fishery research in the BCF Pacific Southwest Region, which encompasses Cahfornia and various inland states. Research at the Center is in- tended to supplement that of the State agencies, with which it collaborates, mainly within the framework of CalCOFI (California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries In- vestigations). The Center conducts research ashore in its labora- tories and afioat on its research vessels, on the high seas fished by the distant water fleet from California ports and the home waters fished by smaller vessels. The Cen- ter's research vessels operate througliout the California Current and much of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Peru, and westwards towards the Mar- quesas and Hawaiian Islands. In addition to research on problems relevant to specific fisheries and designed to improve their status, BCF is also charged with advancing basic fishery science. The Fishery-Oceanography Center is active in such fields, as is appropriate from its location, which is adjacent to the laboratories of the Scripps Institution of Ocean- ography, and of the Institute of Marine Resources, organizations with which the scientific staff of the Fishery-Oceanography Center have close relations. THE RESOURCES AND THE PROBLEMS In 1966, the latest year for which publislied sta- tistics are available, the California fish industry used as its raw material just over a quarter of a million metric tons of fish and invertebrates of about 50 species worth $87 million. Of this total. 60.000 tons, valued at $32 million, were cauglit by foreign fishing vessels and trans- shipped to California where it was used by the California processing plants; these imports represent 22 percent of the weiglit and 37 percent of the value of the raw mate- rial used by the industry. The 1966 statistics represented the culmination of along trend of declining landings, which by this time had fallen to less than a third of their 1939 figure, and were offset, for tuna, by an increased dependence on the catches of foreign fishing vessels. In 1939, the total catch of the California fleet was more than three- quarters of a million metric tons, valued at $18 million, supplemented by only about 3,000 tons purchased from foreign fishing fleets. This decline, in brief, is the basis of the problems facing the California fish industry and its fishing tleet. Attributable to no single cause, the failure to participate in the generally rising prosperity of the California econ- omy can be blamed on unwisely heavy fishing of some resources, on natural changes in resource abundance due to climatic trends, and on increasing foreign competition in the tuna fisheries and in the fish meal and oil markets. To understand more clearly what has happened in the California fisheries, we need to compare in more de- tail the years 1939 and 1966; in each year, five elements of the fishery can be recognized: tuna, salmon, industrial fish, fresh fish, and invertebrates. Tuna landings by 1 966 had increased by only about one-third over the 1939 landings, while the proportion formed by each of the species remained about the same: yellowfin tuna (Tfiunnus albacares) dominated in 1966, as in 1939. Althougli only 3,178 tons were purchased from abroad by the canners in 1939, this component had risen to a total of 60,832 tons in 1966; these imports formed 45 percent of the value of the raw material used by the tuna processors, compared with only 5 per- cent in 1939. By the early 1960's it became evident, mainly as a result of the research work of lATTC, that the stocks of yellowfin tuna fished by the California fleet had reached their maximum sustainable harvest, and in 1966 they came under effective international regulation for the first time, on the recommendation of the Commission. Oceanographic operations in the eiisleni Pacific from the Fishery-Oceanography Center. Further sustained expansion of landings of yellow- fin tuna IVoni domestic vessels thus being unlikely, there was now an imperative need to increase the harvest of underutilized species of tuna or face an ever-increasing dependence upon foreign-cauglit fish. Fortunately, it appears possible that the skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pclamis) population and perhaps those of the temperate tunas are not fully harvested and ways of increasing the take of these species by California vessels are now being studied within the Fishery-Oceanography Center. This work is aimed at the solution of two related but different sets of problems. First, the problems with the search for new fishing grounds for skipjack tuna in the tropical waters to the west of the present fishing areas off Central America, along the routes by which they mi- grate to and from the Central Pacific. This search in- volves seasonal surveys of the biological and physical oceanography of wide areas of the eastern tropical Pacif- ic, and also studies of methods for artificially aggregating the rather widely dispersed skipjack tuna in these oceanic regions so that they may be caught. Second, the prob- lems of how tuna react to changes in the environment while migrating and feeding must be studied so that week-to-week movements of fish in response to moni- tored environmental conditions may be predicted in real time and the United States fishing vessels so advised (as are the Japanese on their fishing grounds). The salmon fishery off northern California has maintained ratiier stable landings since the late 1930's, thougli their value has increased. State agencies and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries & Wildlife are both active in re- search in this fishery and so far the Fishery -Oceanography Center has not been asked to participate. In comparison with the others, the industrial fish- ery is deeply in trouble; known in California as the "wetfish fishery." it uses many pelagic species in the California Current, which are reduced to fish meal and oil, canned as inexpensive canned products (largely for export) and processed into various animal foods. The decline of this fishery from the days of its great pros- perity in the 1930"s and I940's (the heyday of Cannery Row) to its present state is well known. In 1939, the landings exceeded half a million tons and by 1966 they had fallen to little more than 60,000 tons. Most of this decline is attributable to the cata- strophic collapse of the northern subpopulation of the Pacific sardine (Sardinops caemleits) which began during the 1940's and reached a nadir in the I950"s. In 1939, the landings of this species were 79 percent by weight and 34 percent by value of the total California landings; from just half a million tons in 1939 they fell to a few hundred tons in 1966. In 1949, in response to the evident decline in land- ings, the Fish and Wildlife Service and State laboratories began intensive and cooperative research on the California sardine within the framework of CalCOFI, thus formaliz- ing cooperative sardine research that began earlier. It be- came evident after some years of work that the prob- lem of the Pacific sardine was due to an interaction among heavy fishing, climatic changes which reduced spawning success, and subsequent ecological competition of a related species, the northern anchovy (Engraulis mordaxj. That a fishery has not developed for the ex- panding anchovy population is caused by a complex set of constraints; the low price of the raw product com- pared with the sardine, both inherently and because of lH^ Purse seiners. G. Mattson G- Mattson Resource monitoring anchovy eggs from the CalCOFl surveys off California. price competition from the booming fishery for the Peruvian anchovy (E)igraulis ringens): the disagreement between commercial and sports fishing interests as to how such a fishery might effect the harvested stocks; and the depressed economic state of the fishing fleet con- sequent upon the sardine decline and the collapse of the industrial fishery. In response to these findings, the CalCOFI investi- gations gradually changed their direction, towards seek- ing an understanding of the complex and dynamic equi- librium among the many pelagic species (both of fish and invertebrates) in the California Current, in an attempt to understand their reaction to a changing and unstable environment and to changing fishing pressures on some of them. The almost unmatched accumulation of data, span- ning 20 years which are now available, combined with computer methods of handling such voluminous data, give great promise that these continuing investigations will bring a real understanding of an unusually complex fishery situation. Only from such an understanding can a rational management program be developed. The Fishery-Oceanography Center and State fisheries agencies both remain active in this endeavor. The work demands activity in many fields of re- search: physiology and biochemistry to determine the energy requirements of the components of the biological population, including the commercial fish; population dynamics of the harvested populations of pelagic species, competing and interacting with each other and with the fishery; physical and biological oceanography to under- stand, to monitor, and to predict the environment; gear and operations research to give assistance to an econom- ically depressed and out-of-date fishing fleet. The fishery for fresh fish for the tables of Califor- nians is in a less depressed state than the industrial fish- ery; the landings remained at about the same level in 1966 as in 1939, thougli their value was higher. Research on the fresh tlsh fishery is handled by State agencies, and has much overlap with research on sports fisheries since in several instances the same species are involved in both fisheries. The Fishery-Oceanography Center is involved in this work in only minor ways. The California fishery for invertebrates has re- mained of minor importance in the overall fishery econ- omy of the State, despite a more than doubling of the landings, mainly due to increased exploitation of squid and market crab. State laboratories are active in research on these resources, and again the Fishery-Oceanography Center is involved in only minor ways. FACILITIES FOR RESEARCH The Fishery-Oceanography Center, 4 years after its establishment, is now a fully operational fishery labora- tory with many unique features. About a quarter of the laboratory space is allotted to other research agen- cies; lATTC is the largest tenant agency, followed by STOR, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the U.S. Geological Survey. The remainder of the space is fully occupied by the scientists and supporting staff of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and comprises scien- tist's olTices, laboratories, an experimental aquarium, a library, mechanical and electronic workshops, computing and data-communications facilities, administrative of- fices, and storage rooms for scientific collections. The design of the building has proved to be excel- lent as an environment for research. Among the out- standing facilities is the experimental aquarium (occupy- ing the whole of the basement of two of the four adjoin- ing buildings) which has been heavily used and is proba- bly superior to that in any other fishery laboratory. The delivery, from overhead facilities, of 750 liters per minute of filtered and ultraviolet-treated fresh sea water, op- tionally at 10° or 20°C., has permitted wide use of in- expensive, temporary tanks designed especially for each experimental use. We have been able to maintain adult pelagic fish, such as anchovy or jack mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus), indefinitely in a healthy condition and to rear eggs of many species througli the subadult stage and beyond. The isolated environment rooms have proved invaluable in studies of schooling behavior where insula- tion from vibration and other influences was essential. Although not specifically planned in the design of the building, a data-communications facility has been developed by means of which the Fishery-Oceanography Center is linked to the U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical Weather Central at Monterey, and to data circuits main- Fishery forecasting for lemperate tuna the data com- munications center. tained by Federal Aviation Administration and ESSA- Weather Bureau; telegraph and high-speed landlines and the Bureau-licensed radio station WWD are involved in these links. This facility also has access to the computer center of the University of California adjacent to the laboratory for processing, analysis, and presentation of data in a cheap and efficient manner, since the Fishery- Oceanography Center is now an important part of the University computer system. The degree to which the other laboratory facilities have developed since the Center was established will be clear from a reading of the accounts of research which appear later in this report. In fact, with few exceptions, the individual laboratories are now well endowed with equipment and other facilities. The Fishery-Oceanography Center operates two re- search vessels and a number of small workboats. The major vessel, David Starr Jordan (52 m.), was put into service in 1966. Since then she worked in the California Current before embarking on the EASTROPAC opera- tions; during these she completed six 2-month cruises in the tropical Pacific with very short turnaround periods. This vessel has now developed into a sophisticated re- search tool for fishery oceanography, and has a very complete set of observational equipment. G Mattson G. Mattson Fishery forecasting-receipt of computer generated mete- orological predictions. Included in David Starr Jordan's new capabilities are the following: salinity, temperature, and depth sens- ing to 1.500 m. with STD apparatus, including digital data logger and an electrically actuated rosette of 12 water-sampling bottles; continuous surface themiosalino- graph with analog recorders; expendable bathythermo- '*#'' >^ Testing a zooplankton pump before an EASTROPAC survey. G. Mattson graph system with automatic data logger and data trans- mitter; autoanalysis of water samples for nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and silicate; chlorophyll determination by tluormetry in both discrete in vitro and continuous un- derway in vivo modes; multiple serial plankton samplers (or Longhurst-Hardy plankton rect)rders); and ship- board data processing with desk top programmable computers. These capabilities are in addition to those designed and built into the vessel; normal equipment for hydro- casts and biological collecting; underwater observation chambers in the bow and on the port side; physiology laboratory and constant temperature culture room, both with temperature controlled sea water supplies; research fish-finding sonar and sounder; live bait tanks and pre- cision depth recorder. The smaller vessel. Miss Behavior, was a Navy AVR (Aviation Rescue) received on loan in U)ti4 by the Be- havior Program of the then Biological Laboratory. San Diego. She is an 18 m. wooden-hulled vessel with twin diesels each of 380 hp. Capable of fast day-trips from San Diego and extended coastal cruises, she is equipped with an experimental CTFM (Continuous Transmission Frequency Modulated) sonar and with tanks for trans- porting fish alive to the Fishery-Oceanography Center for use in behavior and other studies in the aquarium. Dur- ing the last year she has made coastal cruises from the Gulf of California to the waters otT northern California. G Mattson David Starr Jordan rr(7ckiug gray whales of)' San Diego witli the researeh sonar in collaboration with a U.S. Naiy scientist. ^*«sf«*«*>? .-.w.Kk^'fm-' ''5^i^„. ^i£S»*Ki,-vV.w™ ^a'sSf.^^XiBi.t* JS«\,.,'? . -K.'»S'*X, «1< « A VR Miss Behavior, equipped for CTFM sonar research. G. Mattson DIRECTORS OFFICE Director A. R. Ixinghurst Assistant Director R. Lasker BCF, Washington. D. C. Senior Scientist's Unit E. H. Ahlslrom Scripps Tuna Oceanography Research BCF contract - M. Blackburn -U. Caht San Diego 1 FISHERY-OCEANOGRAPHY Program Leader - G. A. 1. Eovironinental Monitoring Forecasting C. A. Flitl 2. Tropical Pacific Surveys C. M. Love Flittner & Fishery ner EASTHOPAC BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY Program Leader - R. Laeker Physiology R. Lasker Schooling Behavior J. R. Hunter Feeding Behavior C. P. O'Connell Rearing of Marine Ftsh Larvae G. O. Schumann Administrative Services 1. Administrative Services 2. Building and Grounds 3. Vessel Scientific Services R. Lasker 1. Editorial 2. Library 3. Computer Programming 4. Instrumentation 5. Scuba Diving Research Program Planning Board Director Si Program Leaders POPULATION DYNAMICS Program Leader - P. F. Smith California Current Surveys P, E, Smith Fish Population Dynamics J. S. MacGregor Resource Abundance P. E. Smith Fish Stocks Subpopulations A. M. Vrooman OPERATIONS RESEARCH Program Leader - F. J. Hester 1 . Fishery Systems Analysis R. E. Green 2. Fishery Systems Development F. J. Hester RESEARCH STAFF Of 90 employees at the Fishery-Oceanography Cen- ter, 23 are scientists, 40 are technicians, 9 are in the administrative offices, and 18 man the Center's vessels. The research staff thus forms more than two-tliirds of the total, and is organized into four programs: Fishery-Oceanography, Population Dynamics, Behavior- Physiology, and Operations Research. These programs represent a considerable reorganization from the previous arrangement, and witiiin the four programs are elements from the 8 or 10 programs of the original laboratories. Also housed in the Fishery-Oceanography Center is the research unit lieaded by E.H. Ahlstrom, a Senior Scientist of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries; this unit studies the taxonomy and zoogeography of larval fishes in the Pacific Ocean. Supported by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries at the Fishery-Oceanography Center are the STOR scien- tists and (to a variable extent) a number of visiting scien- tists; from overseas, from universities, on sabbatical leave; from the National Science Foundation; and from other organizations. The work of these scientists will be referred to later in this report; the scientists, and tlieir organizations are listed here. Maurice H. Blackburn Scripps Tuna Oceanography Re- William L. Thomas search. La Jolla, Calif. Frank F. Williams Bernt L. Zeitzschel Edward L. Krehbiel Paul E. LaViolette Walter Nellen Grossmont College, El Cajon. Calif. (June to August 1967-In- vestigation of lactate dehydro- genase isozyme patterns of some pelagic fish) Navoceatio. Washington. D.C. (March 1968-Use and produc- tion of marine atlases) Institut fUrMeereskunde. Univer- sity of Kiel. German Federal Re- public (May 1967 to February 1968 Taxonomy of larval fish) William G. Pearcy Nelson C. Ross George Seeburger Evelyn Shaw Isadore L. Sonnier Robert E. Strecker Manual Vegas Department of Oceanography, Oregon State University. Corval- lis, Oreg. (September 1967 to June 1968-Schooling behavior of pelagic Crustacea) National Oceanography Data Center, Washington, D.C. (No- vember 1967 to April 1968- Development of quality control methods for STD data logger tapes) Hisconsin State University, White- water, Wis. (July and August 1967-Galvanic responses of ma- rine fishes in relation to the de- sign of electro-fishing gear) American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY. (June to August 1967- Schooling of larval fish and net avoidance) Western State College of Colo- rado, Gunnison, Colo. (July and August 1967-Analysis of ocean- ographic data) San Diego City College San Die- go, Calif. (June to August 1967 — Locomotory behavior of cala- noid copepods) Faculty of Fisheries, Universidad Agraria, Lima, Peru (November 1967— Taxonomy of larval fish) Mention must also be made of the people who visit the Fishery -Oceanography Center for training, because during their stay they participate actively in the research work of the Center; during the period of tliis review two trainees have been accommodated: Mario Carreno R. of Chile, sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Orga- nization of the United Nations, Rome, who spent 6 months in 1968 under the supervision of P.E. Smith, Leader of the Population Dynamics Program and Vincent Price, Fisheries Department, Kenya, sponsored by the African-American Institute, who spent the summer of 1967 under the supervision of R.E. Green of the Opera- tions Research Program. The Fishery-Oceanography Center has cooperated with SIO in the National Science Foundation Summer Program since 1960 by providing high school students with the opportunity to work with Bureau scientists. In 1967, the Center accepted 5 such students from various areas in the United States; and in 1968, 12 students have begun work. Many members of the scientific community at large visit the Fishery-Oceanography Center. Among many others, we have been pleased to welcome the following: June 1967 Edward L. Dillon, National CouncU on Marine Resources and Engineering. Washington, D.C. Edward Wenk, National Council on Ma- rine Resources and Engineering, Wash- ington, D.C. July 1967 Manuel Flores V. and associates, Insti- tuto Nacional de Investigaciones, El Sauzal, Baja California, Mexico September 1967 Bui Thi Lang, Faculty of Science, Uni- versity of Saigon, South Viet Nam October 1967 John R. Hendrickson, Oceanic Insti- tute. Honolulu. Hawaii Milner B. Schaefer, Science Adviser to the Secretary of the Interior, Washing- ton, D.C. November 1967 Henry M. Stommel, Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WoodsHole, Mass. December 1967 Karl F. Lagler, Department of Fisheries, FAO, Rome, Italy January 1%8 C. Maurice Yonge, Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glas- gow, Scotland February 1968 George D. Grice. Woods Hole Ocean- ographic Institution, Woods Hole, Mass. March 1968 Jean Y. Lee, Co-Director, FAO/UNSF Project, Ivory Coast May 1968 Raoul Serene, UNESCO, Singapore James E. Shelbourne. White Fish Au- thority. Isle of Man H. Steinitz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel June 1968 Brian McK. Bary, University of Brit- ish Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. R. I. Currie, Scottish Marine Biological Association, Argyle, Scotland G.E.R. Deacon, National Institute of Oceanograpliy, I 'nited Kingdom, Worm- ley, England G. Dietrich, Institiit I'iir Meereskunde, Riel.CJerman federal Republic B.V. Hamon. CSIRCCronulla. Austra- lia Gotthill Hempel, I'niversity of K.iel, German E'ederal Republic Raul Herrera and Hellnuith A. Seivers, Inslituto Hidrogralico de la Armada de Gliile, Valparaiso, Chile H. Kasahara, Lhuted Nations, New G.A. Knox, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Michel Legand, Centre ORSTOM, Nou- mea, New Caledonia N.K. Panikkar. National Institute for Oceanography. Rate Marg, New Delhi, India Mario Ruivo, Department of Fisheries, FAO, Rome, Italy Lucian M. Sprague, Rockefeller Foun- dation, New York, N.Y. K. Voigt. Institut fiir Meereskunde, Warnemiinde, German Democratic Re- York. N.Y. public CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA .Attendance and presentation of papers at scientific meetings continued normally during the period, as chron- icled below: September 1%7 American Fisheries Society, Toronto, Ontario: G. O. Schumann "Fxtent and causes of early mortality in fish" November 1%7 15th Pacific Tuna Conference, Lake Arrowhead. Calif.: A. R. Longhurst "Zooplankton of EASTROPAC cruises" N.E. Clark "Intluence of large-scale heat transfer processes on fluctuation of sea-surface temperatures in theNorth Pacific Ocean" G.A. Flitlner "Fishery forecasting: re- cent developments in methods and ap- plications" F. J. Hester "Visual contrast perception in fishes" R.M. Laurs"Micronekton of EASTRO- PAC: preliminary results" December 19t>7 CalCOFI Conference, Lake Arrowhead, Calif.: E. H. Ahlstrom, "Meso- and bathy- pelegic fishes in the California Cur- rent region" A.R. Longhurst "Pelagic invertebrate resources" P.E. Smith "ADP and biological re- quirements of the CalCOFI sampling grid" March 1968 Conference on the Future of the U.S. Fishing Industry. Seattle, Wash.: E.H. Ahlstrom ".4n evaluation of the fishery resources available to California fishermen" May 1968 International Association of Biological Oceanography, Woods Hole, Mass.: E. H. Ahlstrom "The quantitative col- lection of fish eggs and larvae" A.R. Longliurst "Development and de- ployment of a system tor multiple serial plankton sampling" P.L. Smith "Full spectrum pelagic sampling" COOPERATION WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS The Fishery-Oceanography Center is fortunate in its neighbors, and BCF scientists have daily contacts with their colleagues from the various agencies of the Univer- sity of California at San Diego, at seminars and more in- formally in each other's laboratories. Several members of the Fishery-Oceanography Center staff (Ahlstrom, Lasker, and Longhurst) have received honorary appoint- ments to the Llniversily facults' and statf and have partic- 10 ipated in formal course work; in 1 9(i7, a course in Marine Biology at the University was staffed completely from the Center. Other, more formal, arrangements witli the Univer- sity and. more particularly, with SiO, are fundamental to the well-being of the Center: the deeding of the land on which the Center is built; the sea-water supply to the experimental aquarium; the cooperative operation of radio station WWD; the supply of computer facilities; and many other matters. In addition to these neighborhood relations with SIO, the Center has participated in cooperative research in the last year with the following organizations; CalCOFI California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Calif. California Department of Fish and Game, Terminal Island. Calif. Estacion de Biologia Pesquera, El Sauzal, Baja Calif. Hopkins Marine Station, Monterey, Calif. SIO, University of California, San Diego, Calif. EASTROPAC lATTC Direccion General de Pesca e Industrias Conexas, Mexico Instituto del Mar, Lima, Peru Instituto Hidrografico de la Armada, Valparaiso, Chile Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Guayaquil, Ecuador Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Tropical Atlantic Biological Laboratory, Miami, Fla. Environmental Science Services Administration, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Enviroimiental Science Services Administration, U.S. Weather Bureau National Oceanographic Data Center, Washington, D.C. National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Office of Naval Research, U.S. Navy, Washington, D.C. SIO, University of California, San Diego, Calif. Smithsonian Institution, Pacific Program, Honolulu, Hawaii Texas A&M University, College Station, Tex. U.S. Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, Washington, D.C. Finally, there is the continuing cooperation in the fishery forecasting project; in its ninth year, this project uses data which are produced by about 25 separate agen- cies or individuals including international organizations, U.S. and foreign Government departments, commercial and fishing vessels and volunteer individuals, such as life- guards and liglithouse keepers, working in strategic local- ities. Without their generous cooperation and without the material assistance of the U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical Weather Central at Monterey, Calif., this project could not survive. RESEARCH PROGRAMS Research at the Fishery-Oceanography Center is or- ganized as four programs, each containing several projects which are the responsibility of individual scientists; the Fishery-Oceanography Program investigates the relations between fish and their environment, and seeks to predict this relationship for the fishermen; the Population Dy- namics Program investigates the structure of the popula- tion of animal populations, their effects on one another, and the effects of fisheries upon some of them; the Behavior-Physiology Program investigates the trophic re- lations of animals which are important in the food web in the sea, seeking to understand the nature and quantity of food needed by each, the methods by wliich this food is obtained; and the Operations Research Program studies the fisheries by means of systems analysis and from determination of the costs, earnings, and methods structure of fisheries suggests new methods by which in- dividual fisheries may be made more profitable. Fishery-Oceanography Program Tliis program includes three projects; the temper- ate tuna forecasting project devoted to monitoring of the environment and forecasting of the West Coast summer fishery for albacore fVmnnus alalimga) and bluefin tuna (T. thyimusj: the EASTROPAC project, devoted to a biological and physical oceanographic survey of the east- ern tropical Pacific-one of the aims of which is to evalu- ate latent skipjack and other tuna resources in this area; STOR project (BCF contract No. 14-1 7-007-742) devoted to basic research in fishery-oceanography particularly of the tropical tuna of the eastern Pacific. 11 TEMPERATE TUNA FORECASTING It is the purpose of this project to investigate and develop the techniques on which fishery prediction serv- ices must be based, by continuing to expand and improve a service now entering its ninth consecutive year tor the temperate tuna fisiieries on the West Coast. More than in its considerable vahie to the albacore and blucfin tuna fishery, its real importance lies in its theoretical studies in the understanding and prediction of processes in the biological and physical environment of the sea; these studies are sharpened by being tested in the context of the forecasting service each summer. The predictive service contains three elements: monthly and 15-day oceanographic charts, showing the actual environmental situation; daily fishery advisories radioed to the fishing tleel through station WWD at La Jolla; and occasional bulletins mailed throughout the fishing season describing trends in the environment and the fisheries, and including prognoses of future trends. G.A. Flittner and his colleagues continue to investi- gate the complex train of events which preludes the sea- sonal arrival of albacore and bluefin tuna off the Pacific Coast each year. The facilities which thev use have been greatly improved in the last 12 months, primarily with the estabhshment of the new data coniniunications cen- ter, adjacent to their forecasting office, in which are mounted several electronic plotters, on-line to the U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical Weather Central at Monterey, to- gether with a suite of other telecommunications equip- ment. Data collection from expendable bathythermo- graph equipment placed aboard fishing and research ves- sels continues, and the raw data from this conununica- tions center are fed directly into the Navy computers at Monterey. The merits of this system have recently been rec- ognized by the Marine Technology Society, who pre- sented a special commendation to P.N. Wolff, of Monterey, and to G.A. Flittner. in recognition of their joint success in its development and operation. The l%7 long-term season prediction was made in mid-May and was based on a "cooler than usual" trend in oceanographic conditions maintained over the pre- ceding months. This trend suggested that the albacore tuna might move to the Oregon-Washnigton region later than in U'bti and consequently, that a good southern California fishery would develop during JuK. DATA BASE SHIPS AT SEA BUOY PLATFORMS SATELLITES AND OTHER MEDIA WEATHER BUREAU SAN FRANCISCO BCF RADIO STATION **D SCRlPPS-LA JOLLA NAVAL-FLEET NUMERICAL WEATHER CENTRAL MONTEREY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DiEGO COMPUTER CENTER LA JOLLA ESSA-WEATHER BUREAU NOOC DATA ARCHIVES ESTABLISH SYSTEMS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL FORECASTS DEVELOP TECHNIQUES FOR FISHERY FORECASTING WEATHER SERVICE FNWC NAVOCEANO MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE DAILY BROADCAST OF FISHING 8 WEATHER SPECIAL INFORMATION BULLETINS SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AT 5 DAY INTERVALS TEMPERATE TuNA FORECAST CONSUMERS Organizational chart oj fishery forecasting service. 12 Fishery forecasting- environmental prediction charts. G. Mattson After this prediction of cooler than normal water was issued, the environmental monitoring system indica- ted an unpredicted and anomalous warming of a very large oceanic area to the north of California, due to ab- normally liglit cloud cover and sliglrt winds over a great part of the northeast Pacific Ocean. A bulletin was im- mediately issued to the fishing community, warning that the predicted trend had not materialized and that the actual conditions were likely to result in a rapid move- ment to the north of the main body of the migrating albacore tuna population. Such a movement would probably result in a bumper catch in the Oregon- Washington area during the later part of the summer. This prediction was realized, and that region experienced its best albacore tuna season since 1944. The large land- ings were in part due to the early warning received by the fleet, to which a large number of the vessels responded. Also, the arrival of the tuna in the area coincided with spawning concentrations of saury, which tended to hold them in the region of the fishery. California, on the other hand, had a poor year and boats which, for one reason or another remained there had an unprofitable season. Thus, two things were conclusively demonstrated during the summer of 1967: that the persistence of large-scale ocean conditions more than 1 5 days ahead was significantly more difficult to predict than had previously supposed for this region, and that predictions for peri- ods less than 15 days were of real value to the daily op- erations of the fishing fleet. In addition, the 1967 ex- periences had dictated that long-term forecasts of land- ings and fishing areas should be temporarily suspended. to be replaced by heavier reliance on short-term bulletins of predictions based on currently observed trends. Temperature anomaUes of sea surface from long-term means: sliaded areas are negative anomalies. 13 The prediction for the 1968 season, issued in mid- June, coincided with the detection of early arriving alba- core tuna by David Stan Jordan outside the California offshore islands during an anchovy-sardine survey. This year (1968) the open ocean on the migratory route of albacorc tuna towards the Pacific Coast has shown strong warming trends in late May and early June. If this warming continues, we can expect to see an appre- ciable portion of the incoming migrants diverted into northern California waters instead of towards Baja Cali- fornia. Thus, the area near Guadalupe Island may pro- duce few early-season catches, and we e.xpect the fishery to advance relatively rapidly toward central California, from San Juan to Davidson Seamounts. Total California landings for the season cannotyet be estimated, but we expect they may fall near the long- term average of about 15,000 tons. The Oregon- Washington region is expected to receive a significant portion of the total U.S. West Coast catch of albacore tuna this year. In 1968, the blucfin tuna fishery is expected to de- velop later than usual because southern Baja California has had a period of strong northerly winds; heavy weather created by these winds has severely hmited fishing and has caused intense upwelling with a near-shore band of green waters and sea temperatures considerably lower than normal. These events have combined to delay the onset of the fishery well into the month of June and may cause the bluefin tuna to remain farther offshore than usual. One consequence of the delay in the start of the bluefin tuna season will be a northward shift in the center of production and a delay in the period of maxmium catch. Rapid warming in the region north and east of Guadalupe Island may cause bluefin tuna to appear earlier than last year in southern California waters. G.A. Flittner and his colleagues also continue basic environmental research and investigate the methods of predictive analysis. R.J. Lynn has completed his rework- ing of the data base from the CalCOFI oceanographic studies in the California Current and has reanalyzed the seasonal variation of temperature and salinity at 10 m. in the California Current; these studies permit much more precise definition of seasonal anomalies to be made and are of direct application in the predictive process. N.E. Clark has started work on the heal tlux at the sea surface in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and has accumulated oceanographic and nieteorological data for a long period of years. He is using these data to write and test computer programs for prognostic charts of sea surface temperature, from historical data and his heat flux computations. He has also been studying, from his- torical data, the winds and sea surface temperatures off California, to describe the mechanisms involved, and to predict coastal upwelling. R.J. Lynn has been continuing his collaboration with J.E. Reid of SIO on the characteristics and circula- tion of deep and abyssal waters. Potential temperature and salinity of these waters in the major areas of the world ocean have been reexamined in the hope that re- cent data may extend the conventional concept of the formation and circulation of the deeper waters. The results were consistent with the conventional notions of deep flow except for potential density, which appears not to fit in the Atlantic. Further examination has revealed that above the bottom in the western Atlan- tic is a potential density maximum which represents fairly well the lower north Atlantic deep water. Introduction of a new density increase explains the peculiarities of the distribution of potential density. A second study concerns also the abyssal waters of the world's ocean and presents new techniques in the analysis of deep water along density surfaces. This pro- ject uses these techniques to develop a model that de- scribes the sources and paths of waters which mix and ultimately fill the depths of the Pacific Ocean. This deep Pacific water is relatively homogenous in its characteris- tics; as defined within a narrow range of temperature and salinity it has been termed "common water"" and constitutes 44 percent by volume of the Pacific Ocean. It is thus very important in determining the major char- acters of this ocean basin. EASTROPAC EASTROPAC is a multiagency. international series of expeditions designed to investigate the seasonal changes over a rather large part of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, extendnig from the west coast of Mexico to the northern coast of Peru, and to 122 W., far to the west of the Galapagos Islands. The field surveys began in early 1967 and continued througli April 1968. BCF, througli the Fishery -Oceanography Center, was the lead agency. W.S. Wooster of SIO was initially Coordinator of the expeditions and was responsible for early planning and organization. Subsequently, A.R. Longhurst, of the Fishery-Oceanography Center, became Coordinator. Six vessels from the United States worked the main observational lines in the offshore survey area; these cruises ranged from one-ship to four-ship surveys and comprised one summer and two winter surveys, linked by four single-ship monitoring cruises in the interim peri- ods. Five vessels from Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile participated in the expeditions and timed their cruises \o coincide with the major offshore surveys. In addi- tion, five U.S. vessels which passed through the EAS- TROPAC sui^vey area were considered to be ships of op- portunity and worked oceanographic transects which 14 130' 120* 30'uii|i|i|i|i|i|iMI'|Mili| 20" 10° 20' ' i 1 1 ' 1 1 1 ' I ' 1 ' I ' r I ' I ' I ' I T ' ' ' ' ' ' '^ EASTROPAC FIRST SURVEY CRUISES j FEBRUARY -MARCH 1967 _ STATION POSITIONS -. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 ■ I i 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 , 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 , 1 . 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 i , 1 1 1 I.I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ^ 130° 120° 110° 90° 80° will be incorporated within the EASTROPAC data base. On the criterion of number of stations and number of observations. EASTROPAC was a major oceano- graphic effort, comparable with the International Indian Ocean Expeditions, the NORPAC, and the EQUALANT expeditions. This large number of stations has involved the EASTROPAC staff in a monumental data processing problem. The basic oceanographic tool around which the expedition was based was the electronic STD probe with its associated digital data logger; this equipment was used on almost all the major cruises. To an extent, this procedure has eased the problem of handling data, since, althougli the number of information bits was very much greater from the STD than from a Nansen cast, a computer can easily handle the data. Available tech- niques for editing the data tapes were by no means sat- isfactory and had to be developed during and after the expedition, mainly by J. Jones. Almost 5.000 plankton samples from the expedi- tions have now accumulated in the Fishery-Oceanography Center and have caused another major data-acquisition problem; arrangements have been made with the staff of lATTC to sort out the eggs and larvae of pelagic fish from these samples. W.L. Klawe of lATTC directs this sorting, which is progressing very well and is expected to be com- pleted by the end of 1968. Already, some data are avail- able from these biological studies. Witli the completion of the work at sea, plans have been made to produce a data atlas which will be edited by CM. Love. Because of the great number of data, we have decided not to produce classical data reports but to 15 G. Mattson David Starr ioTdan-Iowering electronic salinity- temperature-depth probe with rosette of sampling bottles. archive the edited magnetic tapes of data in the National Oceanographic Data Center. We will produce as rapidly as possible a comprehensive atlas of vertical sections and horizontal plots of physical, chemical, and biological properties. The scope of the expedition, the number of observational lines, and the number of stations have rendered it impractical to produce such an atlas within a reasonable period by classical methods of cartography. The data are all stored on magnetic tape, so computers and electronic plotters can be used to generate mechan- ically drawn plots and profiles. These plots, modified where necessary by hand drafting, will form the basis of tiie atlas. F. Miller, of lATTC, working with the BAS- TROP AC project, has written a number of computer pro- grams for the generation of the plots. The programs have been remarkably successful, and we hope that, once the problem of editing the original data logger tapes has been completely solved, the production of an atlas will proceed with very little delay; it will be produced in loose-leaf form and batches of sheets will be issued as soon as they become available, before the entire atlas is completed. The physical data are largely in the hands of SIO scientists, who will be responsible for their analysis and for subsequent studies on the results. W.H. Thomas, of STOR, will be responsible for processing and analysis of the data on dissolved nutrient salts. Many of the biological data, on the other hand, are in the hands of BCF scientists in the Center. R.W. Owen, assisted by B.F. Zeitzchel of STOR, is responsible for the phytoplankton data-both primary productivity measure- ments and chlorophyll determinations. The most im- mediate product of this work will be distributions of standing stocks and production rates over the EASTRO- PAC year. The final product is to be a description of seasonal changes, of the principal mechanisms that pro- duce these changes, and of the relation between phyto- plankton and other trophic levels in the region. G, Mattson Resource sun'eys -skipjack tuna larvae from the HASTROPA C expeditions. G, Mattson Resource sun'cys-yellowfin tuna larvae from a tropical Pacific survey. 16 R. W. Owen has also obtained data on total particu- late carbon for complete profiles at many stations from six cruises, together with light-scattering data from many of the same profiles. A good correlation has been detec- ted between particulate-carbon concentration and the volume-attenuation coefficient of green light. Such cor- relation indicates that organic particles have a higli degree of influence on the inherent particulate properties of these tropical waters. Of over 5,600 productivity samples from 800 sta- tions and 14,000 plant pigment measurements from 1,200 stations, about 10 percent have been processed and examined. Preliminary analyses of these samples show that the distribution of chlorophyll and seston agrees well with expectation and give evidence of seasonal cycles of clilorophyll and seston. Unexpectedly higli concentra- - 7 r . ' ■•-■ .^^^^.^ SKIPJACK LAflVAC IKatiumonus) -' - "^^ - - cp *T*-' : ; iV:, T" c?> : ess; : ' / ~ N- ; i - —CJd : - ^d ::^ ===^ \ \ ■:. i V - cp : • .\ _ 3^ 1 1 i 1 ' ■ ■ ■ ■' 1 1 . 1 Occurrence of lan'ac in samples from first EASTROPAC survey: shaded are areas of occurrence. G. Mattson David Starr Joidzn-shipboard autoanalysis of concen- tration's of nutrient chemicals in sea water samples. tions of plant pigments were found beyond equatorial waters; they sometimes exceeded equatorial values, de- spite the apparently greater local enrichment by upwell- ing along the equator. The continuous in vivo chlorophyll records from the surface water taken during most of the EASTROPAC cruises are very useful for analyzing small scale variations and for locating areas of large changes of pigment con- centrations, such as at oceanic fronts. Diurnal changes of in vivo fluorescence, which occur mainly in equatorial waters, indicate, however, that this measurement is not a particularly good tool for surveys of large areas. R.M. Laurs, who is directing the work of processing of zooplankton samples taken on EASTROPAC, reports that it is progressing well. Volume measurements of samples from 1 .0- and 0.5-m. nets have been completed for all collections taken on the first and second survey cruises, and on all monitor cruises, and are well along for the third survey cruise. Computer listings of standardized volumes are now available for the first survey, and the first two monitor cruises, data from other cruises are being punched on computer cards. 17 TEMPERATURE (C) JORDAN 12 I05*W 15' FEBRUARY 21— MARCH 6 1967 o: 5- ■IS K) -Weinburg calculations, made on tiansferrin types of 694 anchovies from southern California and 506 from southern Baja California, indicated that the samples were drawn from two genetically distinct subpopulations. The location of the division between the two sub- populations has not been established, however. All of the southern Baja California samples are from the Viz- caino Bay area, to the south of the approximate location of a possible division suggested by otiier studies, such as those of J.L. McHugh, who postulated that the northern anchovy off California and Baja California was divisible into three subpopulations or stocks. A.M. Vrooman has not so far been able to confirm the existence of McHugh's far northern stock with his genetic studies. He has found only a small and insignificant difference in transferrin gene frequencies in his few anchovy samples from north of Point Conception. A.M. Vrooman has made electrophoretic compari- sons of the soluble eye lens proteins of three species of hake, and found fewer absorption bands in Merlucciiis alticlus from the Gulf of Mexico than in M. prochicnis from California or M. gayi from Chile. The proteins of the latter two are very similar. Comparison of the solu- ble proteins in the cortex and nuclear portions of the hake eye lenses indicated that most of the proteins are found in the cortex. A.M. Vrooman is also cooperating with the Califor- nia Department of Fish and Game in a study of the de- velopment of annuli on the scales and otoliths of the northern anchovy. He is holding several thousand young- of-the-year anchovies in two batches-one in the aquarium and the other in a floating bait receiver in San Diego Bay. Of these. 6,000 have been injected with tetracycline hydrochloride to mark the growing edge of skeletal ma- terial at the time of injection, and biweekly samples are being collected from both batches as well as from the local wild stock. New rings began to appear on scales and otoliths of some of the fish during April. In scales taken from com- mercial catches, the peak months for new ring formation are February. March, and April. G.D. Sharp has begun work on the electrophoresis of tuna hemoglobins and has examined five species of commercially valuable tunas, using blood samples cumu- latively collected at sea. stabilized, and returned to the laboratory. He found no intraspecific variations in the stocks of skipjack, yellowfin, or bigeye (Tfuininis obesiis) tunas which he examined. He did find a high degree of polymorphism in his samples of albacore from the West Coast. G.D. Sharp has suggested that the polymorphism which characterized 26 of the 76 individual albacore which he examined will provide a means for a general survey of the Pacific albacore population. There are sev- eral indications that suggest that there is more than one subpopulation of albacore in the north Pacific Ocean. MEASURES OF ZOOPLANKTON PRODUCTIVITY J.R. Zweifel has processed the zooplankton bio- mass data from theCalCOFI survey for the years 1951-60 for computer analysis. This 10-year statistical summary is of higli quality and continuity from Point Conception to Sebastian Vizcaino Bay, and offshore for 200 miles (370 km.) at all seasons of the year-a total area of 100,000 square miles (343,000 km.-). On the fiinge of this area are an additional 75,000 square miles (258,000 km. 2) that have seasonal and areal lapses, but which furnish useful basic information for comparison with the main data block. These data have been summarized for use as an en- vironmental feature, in the same way as temperature and salinity, with which to associate spawning and larval sur- vival of commercially important fish. The standing crop of zooplankton clearly represents the difference between two unknown curves-one representing the recruitment of zooplankters to the population catchable with the sampling net and the other representing the loss of zoo- plankters from the sampled population by the processes of natural mortality and advection. These summaries by month and area show seasons of rapid increase and decrease, areas of extremely high and of consistently low standing crops. These averages will be used to detect anomalies which may be associated with environmental features affecting fish populations. It is evident already from the preliminary analyses that the increase of biomass of zooplankton, annually peaking around June, has no latitudinal trend as the season ad- vances; the peak of biomass occurring in southern areas is caused by local upgrowth of the zooplankton popula- tion, not be advection from northern areas. Operations Research Program The projects within this program seek, in various ways, an understanding of. and the development of. the operational aspect of fisheries of the Region: they in- clude: a systems analysis of the California fisheries from both economic and technological viewpoints and to sug- gest ways in which they may be placed on a more rational basis: to devek)p tactical search tools for fishing vessels and new and more efficient forms of fishing gear and to examine the economic constraints presently operating on the fisheries: to suggest how latent resources may be utilized profitably. 26 27 FISHERY SYSTEMS ANALYSIS The costs and earnings analysis of tlie fleet of tuna boats based in California ports, wiiich was completed some time ago. proved to be so valuable ;ti examining the economic constraints on the prosperity of this fleet that R.E. Green has started a second economic study to in- vestigate the economic base of the California industrial fishery -which, as has been noted earlier, is in a very depressed situation. The planning of this study was per- formed in collaboration with B.C. Noetzel of the BCF Division of Hconomics, Among other matters of less immediate concern, the study should prove valuable in assessing the earnings lost to the fleet througli the assignment of zone limits in the anchovy reduction fishery. R.E. Green's services were given in November- December 1967 to the International Bank for Recon- struction and Development. He went on a mission to Ecuador to estimate the economic soundness of a request put to the Bank by the Government of Ecuador for the development of a small fleet of tuna purse seiners in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Technicians from this project have made a number of trips on tuna purse seiners in the last year. They have collected data on aspects of seining operations, principally the rate of sinking of nets of varying sizes and constructions-an important matter in view of Green's recent demonstration of the relation between the depth of the mixed layer and nature of the thermocline and the percentage of successful sets in this fishery. Dur- ing these studies, bathykymographs were mounted at sev- eral points along the leadlines of purse seines and, from their records. Green has prepared diagrams of the shape of the net at critical stages during its setting. Fishing (>penirii>ns ivsainli cxpcrinu'iiful purse seine f<)r (una is huill in a San Pedro nel-vard. j Qg^,^ |fe-n»— ' This modified design incorporates a 33 percent hang-in of webbing at the corkline to allow rapid sinking with a decreasing hang-in down to 1 5 percent on the leadline to permit the net to stay at depth during pursing. The net is also tapered at the ends to save webbing and equipped with "gavels" which will decrease the open area next to the seiner. The net will initially be placed aboard a chartered vessel and, suitably instrumented with bathykymographs, will be tested at sea in simulated setting operations. When tests are successfully completed the net will be loaned to a commercial vessel for the late summer blue- fin and albacore tuna fisheries; the operation of this ves- sel and of the net will be obsei-ved by technicians from the project. EXPERIMENTAL PURSE SEINE In I96ti, R.E. Green studied the design and per- formance of purse seines with M. Ben-^'anii, a fishing gear technologist from the Department of Fisheries of the State of Israel, who spent 3 months at the Fishery- Oceanography Center during that year. Comparative studies with model nets at La JoUa showed that an im- proved net design might increase the sinking rate by as much as twice and, moreover, fish more deeply at the net ends. These tests were so encouraging that, in collab- oration with BCF Exploratory Fishing and Gear Re- search Base in Seattle, the construction of a full-scale tuna purse seine based on Green and Ben-Yami's design was undertaken. The net is now complete and ready for trials. Fishing operations researeh resting mocki of experi- mental tuna purse seine. ^ Q|.gg^ CTFM SONAR The Continuous Transmission Frequency Modu- lated sonar wliicli was installed in the AVR several years ago has now been evaluated by F.J. Hester. We had hoped that this type of sonar, developed for BCF, would enable a tuna boat to follow the very rapidly moving schools which are so difficult to follow with a conven- tional pulsed sonar. We had also hoped that the size of the fish in a school could be estimated, so as to prevent the contravention of regulations concerning the size of tuna which may be landed, and the enclosing of fish small enough to gill themselves in the meshes of the net. The CTFM sonar was coupled with a high-resolution frequency analyzer to analyze Doppler shifts caused by motions and by body flexure of target fish. Targets showing complex, broad-band Doppler shift were found to be characteristic of fish schools. Interspecific varia- tions in these broad-band Doppler patterns were found between small fish schools and single large tuna. Unfortunately, Hester found some unforseen and intractable problems in the use of this sonar as a tactical tool ; at ranges of several hundred meters, very good con- tact can be maintained with schools of tuna, but they have a frustrating habit of fading from contact. Tliis disappearance has been traced to small changes in the lateral orientation of the fish in respect to the sonar beam; only when the long axis of the fish is normal to the sonar beam can fish be detected at long ranges. The same problem does not apply to contact made with schools of clupeids at the same ranges, perhaps because of their small internal intervals; for such fish the rapid scan rate of the CTFM sonar made it possible to estimate school size and movement at any instant. We do not expect, therefore, that CTFM sonar will be applicable to commercial tuna operations as a tactical tool, but it clearly has a place in the sonar array of a fishery research vessel. LOCAL FISHERY SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT During the course of other work it is inevitable that fishery problems of purely local interest should pre- sent themselves to the attention of the Operations Re- search Program. These questions are pursued where their solution seems likely to give an immediate economic re- turn and work on them does not conflict with the plans of work of State laboratories. S. Kato completed his work on the sharks assoc- ciated with the eastern tropical Pacific tuna fisheries. He has turned his attention to the latent basking shark re- source off California, which had not been fished since 1950 when it became uneconomic because of the start of industrial synthesis of vitamins previously extracted from shark liver oil. Fishing operations research -small sword fish vessel e- quipped with harpoon gear, now turning to basking shark fishery in offseason. S. Kdto 28 A new use for this oil enabled Kato to reactivate the fishery in 1967, however: shark liver oil contains 25 to 60 percent of squalene. a hydrocarbon which yields, on hydrogenation, a colorless, odorless oil valuable in cosmetics and much in demand in Japan. Several vessels, used during the summer for the harpoon fishery for swordfish, have turned in the winter to harpooning basking sharks after contact was estab- lished between them and Japanese importers of squalene. Nearly 30 tons of liver were shipped in the initial con- signment in April 1968 -the product of sLx small vessels. Other activities by Kato and Green on this project include the investigation of the possibility that the same swordfish vessels might change their gear from harpoons to small floating longlines in their summer fishing for broadbill swordfish. They are also investigating the pan- dalid shrimp resources off southern California in canyon and slope areas with lines of shrimp traps. SENIOR SCIENTISTS UNIT E.H. Ahlstrom has been heavily occupied with the identification of fish larvae from the EASTROPAC sam- ples and has completed work on one survey and two monitoring cruises; in these studies he is collaborating with W.L. Klawe of lATTC who is studying the ecology of tuna larvae. He has also devoted almost half his time to work on various manuscripts of research, review, and conference papers. This work on EASTROPAC complements and sup- plements the studies of fish eggs and larvae of the Cali- fornia Current. With few exceptions, the same major groups of fishes are represented in CalCOFI and EAS- TROPAC collections-in offshore waters: scombroids, Coryphaena. myctophids, gonostomatids, bramids, me- lamphaeids. paralepidids, bathylagids and nearer the coast: flatfish, scorpaenids, labrids, serranids, clu- peids, engraulids, sciaenids, pomacentrids In fact, a number of the tropical species of wide distribution in EASTROPAC collections also occur in the southern ^art of the CalCOFI pattern off central and southern Baja California, and a few of the hardier species, such as Vincigueiria lucetia and Diogenichthys latermtus, even push as far north as California. H.G. Moser has continued his work on the descrip- tion of myctophid larvae and on the distribution and re- production of rockfishes (Sebastodes spp.y, which are a commercially important element of the fish fauna in the California Current. He participated in a cruise oi Miss Behavior to the Gulf of California in December 1967, during which an undescribed species of Sebastodes was taken. Since many species of this group are viviparous, the identity of larvae taken in plankton nets may be re- solved by reference to larvae taken from adult females of known species; Moser has been describing the larvae of many Sebastodes species in this manner. 29 PUBLICATIONS The following lists indicate the status of publica- tions by BCF scientists at the Fishery-Oceanography Cen- ter. Omitted from these lists are book reviews, popular or public-relations articles, and conference papers except where these describe new research which will not be pub- lished elsewhere. Publications from STOR, supported by BCF funds, are listed separately. Also omitted, purely lor reasons of space, are the monlhU publications by FLITTNER.G.A. and associates in the series California Fishery Market News Monthly Summary, Pari II Fishing Information, vj\\\c\\ achieved its 1 00th consecutive monthly issue during the last year. HUNTER. JOHN R., and CHARLES T. MITCHELL l%7. Association of fishes with flotsam in the off- shore waters of Central America. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv.. Fish. Bull. 66: 13-2^). 1%8. Field experiments on the attraction of pelagic fish to floating objects. J.Cons. Perma. Int. Explor. Mer. 31: 427-134. KATO. SUSLIMU. 1 968. Triakis actitipinna (Galeoidea, Triakidae), a new species of shark from Ecuador. Copeia, 1%8: 319-325. PAPERS PUBLISHED 1967-68 AHLSTROM. ELBERT H. l9Ci7. Co-occurrences of sardine and anchovy larvae in the California Current region off California and Baja California. Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. II: 117-135 FEDER, HOWARD M.. and REUBEN LASKER. I9f)8. A radula muscle preparation from the gastro- pod, Kelletia kelletii, for biochemical assays. Veli- ger 10: 283-285. GREEN. ROGER E. 1967. Relationship of the thermocline to success of purse seining for tuna. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 96: 126-130. HAYASI.SIGEITI. 1 968. Preliminary analysis of the catch curve of Pacif- ic sardine, Sardinops eacndea Girard. U.S. Fish Wildl. Sei-v.. Fi.sh. Bull. 66: 587-598. HESTER, FRANK J. 1967. Identification of biological sonar targets from body-motion Doppler shifts. Proc. Second Symp. Mar. Bio-Acoustics 2: 59-74. HUNTER, JOHN R. 1967. Color changes of pelagic prejuvenile goatfish, Pseudupeneus grandiscpiamis, after confinement in a shipbt)ard aquarium. Copeia, 1967: 850-852. 1968. Effects of light on schooling and feeding of jack mackerel, Trachunis symmetricus. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 25: 393-407. KATO, SUSUMU, and ANATOLIO HERNANDEZ CARVALLO. 1967. Shark tagging in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 1962-65. In P.W. Gilbert (editor) Sharks, Skates and Rays, pp. 93-109. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore. KATO, SUSUMU, STEWART SPRINGER, and MARY H.WAGNER. 1967. Field guide to eastern Pacific and Hawaiian sharks. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Circ. 271. 47 pp. KIMURA, MAKOTO, and C.E. BLUNT, JR. 1967. Age, length composition, and catch localities of sardine landings on the Pacific Coast of the United States and Mexico in 1962-63. Calif. Fish Game 53: 105-124. KRAMER, DAVID, and ELBERT H. AHLSTROM. 1968. Distributional atlas of fish larvae in the Cali- fornia Current region: northern anchovy, /;'«^?ra;///s /;i('n/(/.v Girard. 1951 through 1965. Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Atlas 9. 269 pp. LEONG, RODERICK. 1967. Evaluation of a pump and reeled hose system for studying the vertical distribution of small plank- ton. U.S. Fish WUdl. Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. 545. 9 pp. LYNN, RONALD J. 1967. Seasonal variation of temperature and salinity at 10 meters in the California Current. Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. I I: 157-186. McCLENDON, ROBERT I. 1968. Fish school occurrence as determined by sonar; 30 eastern treipical Pacific, July-November 1967. Coni- nier. Fish. Rev. 30: 26-29. McCORMICK, J. MICHAEL, R. MICHAEL LAURS, and JAMES E. McCAULEY. 1967. A hydroid epizoic on myctophid fislies. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 24: 1985-1989. MOSER, H.GEOFFREY. 1%7. Reproduction and development oi' Sebastodes paiiclspinis and comparison with other rockfishes off southern Calit'ornia. Copeia, 1967: 773-7')7. 1967. Seasonal histological changes in the gonads of Sebastodes paucispinis Ayres, an ovoviviparous tel- eost (family Scorpaenidae). J. Morphol. 123: 329- 354. OWEN.R.W.JR. 1''67. Atlas of July oceanographic conditions m the northeast Pacific Ocean, 1961-64. U.S. FishWildl. Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. 549. 85 pp. HESTER, FRANK J. F.M. Sonar. FAO Manual Series. Underwater photography in the study offish behavior. Soc. Photo-Optical Instrum. LASKER, REUBEN, and LAWRENCE T. THREADGOLD. Chloride cells in the skin of the larval sardine. E.\p. Cell Res. MacGREGOR. JOHN S. Fecundity of the northern ■dncUovy, Engraiilis mordax Girard. Calif. Fish Game. MACKIE, A.M., R. LASKER, and P.T. GRANT. Avoidance reactions of a mollusc Buceinum undatum tosaponin-like substances present in extracts of the starfish Asterias nibens and Marthasterias glacialis. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. SCOTT, JAMES MICHAEL. Tuna schooling terminology. Calif. Fish Game. 1968. Oceanograpliic conditions in the northeast Pacific Ocean and their relation to the albacore fishery. U.S. Fish Wildl. Sere., Fish. Bull. 66: 503- 526. THREADGOLD, L.T., and REUBEN LASKER. 1967. Mitochondriogenesis in integumentary cells of the larval sardine (Sardinops caendeaj. J. Ultra- struct. Res. 19: 238-249. WHITNEY, RICHARD R. 1967. Introduction of commercially important spe- cies into inland mineral waters, a review. Contrib. Mar. Sci. 12: 262-280. PAPERS ACCEPTED BY JOURNALS FOR PUBLICATION BEN-YAMI. MNAKHEM, and ROBERT E. GREEN. Design and performance of purse seines. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Ind. Res. CHASE, THOMAS E. Bottom topography of the central eastern Pacific Ocean. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Circ. SMITH, PAUL E., ROBERT C. COUNTS, and ROBERT I. CLUTTER. Changes in filtering efficiency of plankton nets due to clogging under tow. J. Cons. Perma. Int. Explor. Mer. PAPERS BEING EDITED AHLSTROM, ELBERT H., and H. GEOFFREY MOSER. A new gonostomatid fish from the tropical eastern Pacific. Submitted to Copeia. CLARK. NATHAN E. Specification of sea-surface temperature anomalies. Submitted to J. Geophys. Res. HESTER, FRANK J. Visual contrast thresholds of the goldfish (Carassius aiiratusj. Submitted to Vision Res. KRAMER, DAVID. Synopsis of the biological data on the Pacific mack- erel Scomber japonicus Houttuyn (northeast Pa- cific). For U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv.. Circ. FAGER, E.W., and ALAN R. LONGHURST. Recurrent group analysis of species assemblages of demersal fish in the Gulf of Guinea. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. LASKER, REUBEN. Utilization of zooplankton energy by a Pacific sardine population in the California Current. For Marine Food Chain Symp. 31 LYNN, RONALD J., and JOSEPH L. REID. Characteristics and circulation of deep and abyssal waters. Submitted to Deep-Sea Res. O'CONNELL, CHARLES P. Towed pump transect length and samphng efficiency in estimating density of zooplankton in small areas. Submitted to Limnol. Oceanogr. SHARP, GARY D. An electrophoretic study of tuna hemoglobins. For Comp. Biochem. Physiol. THRAILKILL, JAMES R. Zooplankton volumes off the Pacific coast, 1960. For U.S. Fish WUdl. Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. TRANTER, D.J., and P.E. SMITH. Zooplankton sampling methods. Chapter 111. Filtra- tion performance. For UNESCO Monogr. Serv. PAPERS PUBLISHED, 1967-68 BY STOR PRO- GRAM (BCF CONTRACT NO. 14-17-007-742) BOYD, CARL M. 1967. The benthic and pelagic habitats of the red crah, Pleuroncodes planipes. Pac. Sci. 21: 394-403. CLUTTER, ROBERT I. 1967. Zonation of nearshore mysids. 200-208. Ecology 48: JERDE,C.W. 1967. On the distribution of Portunus (Achelousj affinis and Euphylax dovii (Decapoda Brachyura, Portunidae) in the eastern tropical Pacific. Crus- taceana 13:1 1-22. 1967. Diversity and trophic structure of zooplankton communities in the California Current. Deep-Sea Res. 14: 393-408, 1967. The pelagic phase oi Pleuroncodes planipes Stimpson (Crustacea, Galatheidae) in the California Current. Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. 11: 142-154. 1968. Distribution of the larvae of Pleuroncodes planipes in the California Current. Limnol. Ocean- ogr. 13: 143-155. LONGHURST, ALAN R., CARL J. LORENZEN, and WILLIAM H. THOMAS, 1967. The role of pelagic crabs in the grazing of phytoplankton off Baja California. Ecology 48: 190-200. LONGHURST, ALAN R., and DON L.R. SEIBERT. 1967. Skill in the use of Folsoms' plankton sampler splitter. Limnol. Oceanogr. 12:334-335. LORENZEN, CARL J. 1967. Determination of clilorophyll and pheo- pigments: spectrophotometric equations. Limnol. Oceanogr. 12: 343-346. 1968. Carbon/chlorophyll relationships in an upwell- ing area. Limnol. Oceanogr. 13: 202-204. WYRTKl, K. 1967. Circulation and water masses in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Inl. J. Oceanol. Limnol. 1: 117-147. LONGHURST, ALAN R. 1967. Vertical distribution of zooplankton in relation to the eastern Pacific oxygen minimum. Deep-Sea Res. 14: 51-63. YOSHIDA, K. 1967. Circulation in the eastern tropical oceans with special reference to upwelling and undercurrents. Jap. J. Geophys. 4(2): 1-75. MS. SI 828 32 MBL WHOI l-ibrarv - Se iais 5 WHSE 00471 Created in 1849, the Department of the Interior — a depart- ment of conservation — is concerned with the management, conservation, and development of the Nation's water, fish, wildlife, mineral, forest, and park and recreational re- sources. It also has major responsibilities for Indian and Territorial affairs. 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