10 
In Figure 4, the white crosses show the loca- 
tion of research vessels where the concentration 
of oxygen in the bottom water was found to be 
less than 2.5 mg/l; dots indicate areas where the 
concentration of oxygen was greater than 
2.5 mg/l. This experiment, conducted by the 
NMFS (Leming and Stuntz 1984), demonstrates 
the utility of using ocean-color information to aid 
the shrimp fishing industry, which is valued at 
nearly $500 million annually. 
Another example of using ocean-color imag- 
ery to locate fish species is shown in Figure 5, 
also in the Gulf of Mexico. Here, large concen- 
trations of butterfish were found by NMFS re- 
search vessels in April 1985 in the region of the 
temperature and chlorophyll front (Leming and 
Herron 1986). As discussed in greater detail be- 
low, these fronts can only be detected in summer 
and fall through use of ocean-color imagery at 
these latitudes, partially because of the low tem- 
perature differentials in the ocean's surface and 
partially because the high humidity makes atmo- 
spheric correction impossible. Hence, a Sea- 
WiFS-type sensor will increase temporal cover- 
age for the Gulf of Mexico by at least 25 to 35%. 
MOBILE 
BA 
The prior three examples are drawn from ex- 
periments conducted with CZCS imagery. How- 
ever, the albacore fishing industry used similar 
imagery to increase its catch during the period of 
time when this imagery was available. More 
tuna is consumed in the United States than any 
other type of seafood — over a billion cans annu- 
ally — and albacore is the most valuable species 
of tuna. This species migrates to waters off the 
coast of North America during the summer and 
fall months, and commercially valuable aggrega- 
tions of albacore are found in the warm, blue 
waters near ocean-temperature and ocean- 
color boundaries on the seaward edge of coast- 
al water masses. 
For several years during the operation of the 
CZCS, the imagery was processed in real time to 
derive ocean-color boundary charts. The charts 
were distributed to fishermen at sea by facsimile, 
and color photographs of the images were also 
distributed by overnight mail to Sea Grant Marine 
Advisors and to fishing ports. Figure 6 is an ex- 
ample of a CZCS image that has been processed 
to delineate ocean color boundaries. The boun- 
daries between water masses are accentuated 
Figure 5. Butterfish 
catches are correlat- 
ed with high chloro- 
phyll concentration 
and temperature 
fronts. (Leming and 
Herron 1986) 
