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Fishery Bulletin 94(3), 1996 



flows ranging from 1.6 to 23.6 cm per second rela- 

 tive to 1,000 m in reversing bands both north and 

 south of the island chain. 



In summary, mean current speeds near the Ha- 

 waiian Archipelago range between 0.30 and 0.42 

 knots for geostrophic flow normal to the transects 

 and about 0.06 knots for ARGOS-drifter-measured 

 displacement, with flow near the islands complex and 

 highly variable. The drifter data are considered to 

 be the more reliable estimate of mean-surface drift. 



Projected spawning grounds 



An average current speed (2.5 km per day) estimated 

 from the four drifters tracked in the region was used 

 together with age estimates to infer possible areas 

 of spawning for O. bartramii. To determine whether 

 paralarvae captured at some distance from the ar- 

 chipelago could have been carried to their position 

 by currents from a spawning site next to the archi- 

 pelago, a "best-case" scenario was used that assumed 



