oceans, with particular attention to areas 

 contiguous to the coastlines, but our investi- 

 gations have been carried out largely from 

 vessels, which can cover only minute portions 

 of the surface at any given time. 



In recent years, industry and State and 

 Bureau researchers have used low-flying air- 

 craft to extend the limited range of view 

 possible from vessels. Industry, especially in 

 the menhaden and tuna fisheries, has cut down 

 on expensive vessel search time by using 

 aircraft as spotters. We have found it some- 

 what easier to gain a general impression of 

 the magnitude of a stock of surface-school- 

 ing fishes from the air with visual esti- 

 mates. 



Still, visual records are subjective and 

 monnentary, and aircraft now in use do not 

 cover a very large expanse at one time. Both 

 industry and the Bureau need: (1) a more 

 objective and permanent substitute for visual 

 sightings, school counts, and estimates of 

 school tonnages and (2) a means of viewing 

 broad expanses at one time to be able to 

 estimate the size of the stocks being fished in 

 an entire fishery. 



We thus come full circle to why we are 

 interested in space. We believe that if our 

 work with aircraft observation systems is 

 successful, we can transfer techniques to 



suitably equipped space satellites. These satel- 

 lites will be capable of recording schoolfish 

 concentrations over large areas. The objective 

 records resulting can--or will--be relayed 

 to us nearly instantaneously for dispersal to 

 the fishing industry for guidance in harvest- 

 ing activities and to our scientists for aid 

 in estimating such factors as standing 

 crop. 



It is not feasible, though, to leap from the 

 oceans into space in one jump. As marine 

 specialists and scientists, we must (1) feel 

 our way through the intermediary stages, 

 while (2) attempting to keep abreast of perti- 

 nent developments in space technology. For 

 the latter purpose, we have established working 

 relations with NASA (National Aeronautics and 

 Space Administration); for the former, we are 

 now in the preliminary stages of working with 

 photographs taken with professional aerial 

 cameras mounted in chartered aircraft, in- 

 cluding high-altitude planes. At this stage of the 

 Bureau's funding and staffing and because of 

 current industry interest, we are restricting 

 studies to the coastal schooling fishes of the 

 eastern Gulf of Mexico. From this starting 

 point we hope to expand to other species and to 

 offshore areas. 



First aims are to determine film types and 

 camera requirements, in relation to flight 



Figure 1.— Black and white photograph of fish schools taken originally with color film. 



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