-North Atlantic and Tropical Atlantic circulations, 

 with the latter of special interest for understanding 

 variations in abundance and distribution of tuna in 

 the equatorial Atlantic. 



-Intrusions and mixing of water masses over the 

 Continental Shelf off the eastern United States, 

 including the circulation in the Gulf of Maine and 

 the meandering of the Gulf Stream. 



In some fisheries, these studies have led to 

 operational forecast programs. The BCF Honolulu 

 Biological Laboratory now makes annual avail- 

 ability predictions of skipjack tuna in the 

 Hawaiian area on the basis of temperature and 

 salinity data taken at Koko Head, Hawaii. The 

 BCF Fishery-Oceanography Center at La Jolla, 

 California analyzes historical California Current 

 data and sea-surface temperatures of the North 

 Pacific to prepare annual predictions of locations 

 where albacore tuna will occur during June and 

 July. In addition, monthly and 15-day sea-surface 

 temperature charts are compiled from information 

 supplied by the Navy, by ESSA, and by industry 

 sources. These charts are distributed in published 

 form to enable fishermen to select fishing areas. 

 An ocean information reporting service furnishes 

 day-to-day information by radio to local and high- 

 seas tuna vessels. (A sample forecast is appended 

 to this report.) 



Other forecasts by the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries, some in cooperation with international 

 commissions and the States, include prediction of 

 abundance of shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 groundfish and sea scallops off the New England 

 coast, menhaden off the United States East Coast, 

 red and pink salmon in the Pacific Northwest, 

 halibut in the Pacific Northwest, sardine off Baja 

 California and California, and crab off California. 



Tuna forecasts are essentially distribution or 

 availability forecasts and are based primarily on 

 empirical relationships derived between fish popu- 

 lations and environmental conditions. Forecasts 

 for other species are based primarily on the relative 

 strength of year-classes, estimated by the number 

 of young that are sampled several months prior to 

 the beginning of fishing operations. 



2. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife 

 (BSF&W) 



The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife 

 carries out extensive research and development 



programs similar to those of the BCF to determine 

 relations between sport fisheries populations and 

 the environment to develop the scientific basis for 

 forecasting. These studies are carried out at the 

 BSF&W marine laboratories at Tiburon, California; 

 Sandy Hook, New Jersey; and Narragansett, 

 Rhode Island. 



BSF&W does not make any operational ocean- 

 ographic forecasts, but does conduct monthly 

 sea-surface temperature surveys, using an airborne 

 infrared thermometer, for the Atlantic Coast 

 (Cape Cod to Cape Henlopen) and for the Pacific 

 Coast (southern and central Cahfornia, northern 

 Oregon, and Washington). This survey program is 

 carried out in cooperation with the Coast Guard 

 and Navy. 



3. Federal Water Pollution Control Administra- 

 tion (FWPCA) 



The Federal Water Pollution Control Admin- 

 istration has developed mathematical models ap- 

 plicable to forecasting the impacts of wastes on 

 the estuarine environment. The models are for the 

 most part general in nature and thus appUcable to 

 many special situations. Examples of major appli- 

 cations are analysis of the impact of inland wastes 

 on the San Francisco Bay-Delta area in California 

 and analysis of organic and salt water intrusion 

 effects on the Delaware Estuary. These activities 

 are not covered in detail in this report because of 

 their relatively local nature and non-real-time 

 apphcation, as well as the coverage provided by 

 another report of this panel. Although these 

 predictive tools are applied only in planning or 

 emergency situations, FWPCA has the technical 

 capability to forecast estuarine quality conditions 

 where required. 



4. Geological Survey 



It has been necessary to restrict attention in 

 this summary to oceanographic arid marine 

 meteorological activities. The Commission has 

 noted the need for concerted action in regard to 

 the Nation's estuaries, and we have addressed this 

 subject at length in another report. For forecasts 

 of environmental parameters in the estuaries, river 

 flow data is required, in addition to oceanographic 

 parameters. (For a more detailed description of 

 the data requirements, and the interface between 

 estuarine and larger-scale prediction programs. 



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