Electronics: what you'll plank down to plug in 



To the uninitiated, a first visit to the marine electronics 

 store is like walking into the nest of some newly hatched 

 species of gizmo. The things are so animated, you can 

 almost imagine one perched on the shoulder of an old skip- 

 per, blinking its digital eyes and chattering away in the 

 latest "user-friendly" computer-speak. 



But for all their gadgetry, these critters are not toys or 

 pets. They are tools — the working tools of the serious 

 fisherman. 



Jim Bahen, Sea Grant's marine advisory agent at Fort 

 Fisher, says that in the last ten years, electronics have 

 revolutionized the fishing industry. It's part of Bahen's 

 job to help fishermen choose and use gear that improves 

 their performance. He spends much of his time helping 

 fishermen put together the right combinations of boats, 

 rigs and electronics. 



"These days, there are more and more boats going after 

 fewer and fewer fish," Bahen says. "It's practically im- 



possible to compete in the offshore fisheries without elec- 

 tronics. This gear is so important to the commercial fisher- 

 men that many of them have gone so far as to buy back-up 

 units, just in case something breaks down." 



The shopping list for a commercial fisherman is often a 

 bit longer than that of a recreational fisherman, but Bahen 

 says the basic types of equipment are very much the same. 

 The inset below gives a brief rundown of the most popular, 

 and most useful, instruments. 



But these are by no means the only electronic instru- 

 ments in the cockpit. Side-scan sonar functions something 

 like a depth recorder aimed forward and to either side, in- 

 stead of downward. Transducers are mounted so that they 

 pick up schools of fish in the surrounding waters. 



"Side-scan is good for, say, a mid-water trawler looking 

 for mackerel," Bahen says. 



Fishermen sailing far offshore, around the continent or 

 around the world, often add some other high-priced items 



The best sellers 



Loran receivers pick up radio 

 waves broadcast from towers 

 onshore and, by comparing the 

 signals, "plot" the position of the 

 boat at sea. Loran A, a navigation 

 system developed by the U. S. dur- 

 ing World War II, gave way a few 

 years ago to loran C, a more precise 

 system that can help a fisherman pinpoint a fishing spot at 

 sea and then return to within a few hundred feet of the 

 same spot, sometimes as close as 50 feet to a favored reef or 

 wreck. The most sophisticated machines have computers 

 that can remember the exact route a boat travels and, 

 coupled with the automatic pilot, steer it along the same 

 path next trip. 



"Now, a captain can plug a course into his loran, go 

 below and relax, and his boat will steer a straight course to 

 the site," Bahen says. Price range: $800 to $4000. 



VHF radio gives the captain 

 radio communication with other 

 boats, bases on shore, and with the 

 Coast Guard, which monitors 

 channel 16 for distress calls. 

 NOAA weather radio broadcasts 

 bulletins at 162.55. 



"VHF has just about replaced 

 the CB," Bahen says. "It has a 

 much longer range, and a greater 



number of channels. Most of the boats now have VHF 

 radios." Price range: $129 to $1000. 



Depth finders use an 

 electronic transducer 

 mounted on the boat's 

 hull to broadcast sonic 

 waves and then record 

 and display the depth of 

 the bottom and other ob- 

 jects under the boat. 

 Depth "indicators" (price 

 range: $100 to $500) 

 report the depth of the 

 bottom in numbers or dis- 

 play the reflected image of 

 fish and bottom contours 

 on a screen. Depth "recorders" (price range: $300 and up) 

 print these images out on paper. Some units, priced from 

 about $1500, combine the two systems in one. The better 

 instruments filter out noise from shafts and other gear for 

 a "cleaner" picture. The most expensive types display the 

 sonic picture in color, with different densities showing up 

 as different colors. (See story on page 5.) 



Autopilot frees the fisher- 

 man to do what he does best: 

 fish. Autopilots are useful on 

 big fishing boats and yachts. 

 The modern autopilot elec- 

 tronically reads a course map- 

 ped in its computer, accom- 

 modates sea conditions, then 

 turns the wheel. Alarms wired 



