12 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



TABLE 3 



Tides Along the North Carolina Coast as Listed in the U. S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, Tide Tables, Atlantic Ocean, ig^j * 



* Albemarle and Pamlico sounds are listed but with the comment "except near the inlets, the 

 periodic tide is negligible." 



such areas are described by Winslow (1889) as having currents of a knot 

 and more (the tidal currents in the inlets proper are given in Table 5). 



Circulation Offshore 



The near-by Gulf Stream System (Figure 2) is the outstanding feature of 

 the offshore circulation. From the Straits of Florida to Cape Hatteras the 

 western margin of the stream follov^s the edge of the continental shelf. In 

 this sector, where it is referred to as the Florida Current (Iselin, 1936), the 

 stream has a velocity decreasing from about 3 knots off Cape Canaveral, 

 Florida, to about i knot off Cape Hatteras,*^ and it has a depth of about 450 

 fathoms, extending well down the continental slope toward the bottom of 

 the shallow Blake Plateau, which lies beyond. The axis of maximum strength 

 is near the western margin of the Florida Current and there is a strong flow 

 right to the border where a vivid line of the stream's deep blue indicates the 

 abrupt transition to the coastal waters of weaker and variable currents. Off 

 Hatteras the Florida Current is about 50 miles wide (Church, 1932) but has 



6. Recent oceanographic studies have raised some question as to the accuracy of these generally 

 accepted velocities. 



