FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72. NO. 2 



1972), relationships between selected oceano- 

 graphic parameters and fish distribution and 

 abundance (Kemmerer and Benigno, 1973), and 

 commercial fishing operations (Maughan, Mar- 

 melstein, and Temple, 1973). 



EXPERIMENTAL RATIONALE 



With existing technology, fish cannot be de- 

 tected directly with sensors aboard orbiting satel- 

 lites. It may be feasible, however, to use satel- 

 lite sensors to measure selected environmental 

 parameters and then to use these parameters to 

 predict, and in some cases even forecast, the dis- 

 tribution and abundance of a fish species. The 

 quality of these predictions or forecasts would 

 depend on how accurately the parameters are 

 measured with the sensors, how precisely the 

 parameters correlate with the distribution of 

 specific fish populations, and how accurately the 

 values were predicted. 



The rationale employed in the experiment was 

 to convert data obtained with ERTS- 1 or aircraft- 

 supported sensors into oceanographic parameter 

 information, attempt to derive correlations be- 



tween these parameters and the distribution and 

 abundance of a selected fishery resource, and then 

 determine if the relationships have meaning for 

 commercial fishing operations and resource man- 

 agement. Data obtained with the satellite were 

 supplemented with data obtained with sensors 

 aboard aircraft to provide a broader spectrum of 

 environmental information. In addition, a mas- 

 sive sea-truth sampling effort was undertaken to 

 provide calibration data for remote sensors and 

 backup information for correlation analyses. 



STUDY AREA AND FISHERY 



The study area was a 8,670-km rectangle 

 situated in the north central portion of the Gulf of 

 Mexico (Figure 1). It included coastal areas of 

 Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana and encom- 

 passed all of the Mississippi Sound, the southern 

 portion of Mobile Bay, and extended offshore from 

 the Mississippi Sound to approximately the 

 18-m depth curve. The study area is divided in 

 half lengthwise by five barrier islands which 

 isolate the typically turbid, low-salinity waters of 

 the Mississippi Sound from the relatively much 

 clearer oceanic waters of the offshore portion of 



B 



D 



TEST SITE COORDINATES 



LATITUDE LONGITUDE 



SCALE 1:875,000 



A) 30O27'N 



B) 30°27'N 



C) 30°00'N 



D) SQOQO'N 



89°30'W 

 87045'W 

 87045'W 

 89°30'W 



N.MI, 



10 



20 



TEST SITE DIMENSIONS 

 LENGTH: 170 KM. 

 WIDTH: 51 KM. 

 AREA: 8670 SQ . KM. 



KM. 



_L 



j_ 



_L 



J 



10 20 30 AO 



Figure 1. — ERTS-1 menhaden experiment study area. 



376 



