Marine 



Advice 



Extending Knowledge to the Coastal Community 



Satellite Guides Fishermen to Their Catch 



All offshore fishermen, recreational and 

 commercial, know fishing is a hit or miss. 

 Some days are good; other days you 

 couldn't lure a fish to your line if you had 

 the only bait on the Atlantic coast. 



But what if you had a little help from 

 above? 



Not divine aid, mind you. But a 

 satellite telling you where the fish are. 



In an age when we use satellites to 

 predict tomorrow's weather, to pinpoint 

 Iraq's nuclear arsenal and to complete 

 complicated communications connections, 

 why not use these circling sensors to do a 

 little fishing too? 



Jim Bahen, Sea Grant's marine advisory 

 agent at Ft. Fisher, thought the overhead 

 orbs might be just what offshore fishermen 

 needed to find the Gulf Stream. He knew 

 that locating the meandering current of 

 warm water often meant finding fish. 



Pelagics such as marlin, wahoo, 

 swordfish, dolphin and mackerel like the 

 warmth of the Gulf Stream and rarely stray 

 from the confines of its heated waters. 



But finding this haven for fish can be 

 tough. 



"For a long time, people thought the 

 Gulf Stream could always be found at the 

 edge of the continental shelf," Bahen says. 

 "But that just isn't true. 



In reality, the warm-water current 

 fluctuates in position, responding to the 

 wind, current and storm patterns of the 

 Atlantic. It can change location by several 

 miles in just a few days time. 



To find this wandering warmth, 

 "fishermen used to spend a lot of time and 

 fuel running around in the ocean looking 

 at their temperature gauges," Bahen says. 



But now Bahen has devised a system 

 that can save commercial and recreational 

 fishermen the search. 



Several years ago, Bahen began talking 

 to the folks at the National Oceanic and 



Atmospheric Admin- 

 istration's National 

 Environmental Satellite 

 Service in Miami. They 

 received satellite images 

 that allowed them to plot 

 the Gulf Stream. 



Using infrared 

 photography, a circling 

 satellite could differenti- 

 ate the warmth of the 

 Gulf Stream from the 

 colder surrounding 

 waters of the Atlantic 

 Ocean. 



Only during summer 

 when the continental 

 shelf waters are heated 

 to nearly the same 

 temperature as the Gulf 

 Stream is detection of the 

 current's position 

 impossible. But most of 

 the year, the current 

 could be accurately 

 plotted. 



So Bahen decided to be the link 

 between the readily available satellite 

 information and the fishermen who 

 needed it. 



He began a service to send subscribers 

 a weekly map charting the position of the 

 Gulf Stream along the Eastern Seaboard. 

 He charges S20 a year to cover the cost of 

 postage, envelopes and photocopying. 



The map arrives on Wednesday, and 

 Nancy Martin, Bahen's assistant, sends it to 

 a mailing list of about 100 people. 



She also encloses other Gulf Stream 

 information — its speed, its direction, its 

 average temperature and its width at 

 various points along the East Coast. 



Bahen says the subscribers to the 

 service are varied. Most are recreational or 

 commercial fishermen. 



Several recreational anglers subscribe 

 just so they'll know the Gulf Stream's 

 location during the lucrative billfish and 

 mackerel fishing tournaments. 



For other anglers, it's the location of 

 the unusual formations — peninsulas and 

 eddies — that form along the current's 

 boundary that make Bahen's chart a good 

 investment. 



Often warm-water pelagics are trapped 

 in these pockets, not daring to venture into 

 colder waters. Therefore these areas 

 become prime fishing areas that would go 

 unnoticed without Bahen's chart. 



If you would like more information 

 about Bahen's Gulf Stream chart, call him 

 at 919/458-5498. If you would like to 

 subscribe, send $20 to: Gulf Stream Charts, 

 Sea Grant, Box 130, Kure Beach, NC 

 28449. Make checks payable to Sea Grant. 



Kathy Hart 



16 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1991 



