330 
NOAA 
Spencer F. Baird 
National Marine 
Fisheries Service 
Fishery Bulletin 
fy’ established 1881 •<?. 
First U.S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
& 
Predicting potential fishing zones for Pacific 
saury iCoiolabis saira} with maicinium entropy 
models and remotely sensed data 
Email address for contact author: fachrudinsyah@gmail.com 
' Laboratory of Marine Environment and Resource Sensing 
Faculty of Fisheries Sciences 
Hokkaido University 
3-1-1 Minato-cho 
Hakodate 041-8611, Japan 
^ Department of Marine Science 
University of Trunojoyo Madura 
Jalan Raya Telang 
P.O. Box 2 Kamal 
Bangkalan-Madura, Indonesia 
3 Arctic Research Center 
Hokkaido University 
N21-W11 Kita-ku 
Sapporo 001-002, Japan 
Abstract — Fishing locations for Pa- 
cific saury (Cololabis saira) obtained 
from images of the Operational 
Linescan System (OLS) of the U.S. 
Defense Meteorological Satellite 
Program, together with maximum 
entropy models and satellite-based 
oceanographic data of chlorophyll- 
a concentration (chl-a), sea-surface 
temperature (SST), eddy kinetic en- 
ergy (EKE), and sea-surface height 
anomaly (SSHA), were used to evalu- 
ate the effects of oceanographic con- 
ditions on the formation of potential 
fishing zones (PFZ) for Pacific saury 
and to explore the spatial variabil- 
ity of these features in the western 
North Pacific. Actual fishing regions 
were identified as the bright areas 
created by a 2-level slicing method 
for OLS images collected August-De- 
cember during 2005-2013. The re- 
sults from a Maxent model revealed 
its potential for predicting the spa- 
tial distribution of Pacific saury and 
highlight the use of multispectral 
satellite images for describing PFZs. 
In all monthly models, the spatial 
PFZ patterns were explained pre- 
dominantly by SST (14-16°C) and 
indicated that SST is the most influ- 
ential factor in the geographic distri- 
bution of Pacific saury. Also related 
to PFZ formation were EKE and 
SSHA, possibly through their effects 
on the feeding grounds conditions. 
Concentration of chl-a had the least 
effect among other environmental 
factors in defining PFZs, especially 
during the end of the fishing season. 
Manuscript submitted 20 July 2015. 
Manuscript accepted 12 May 2016. 
Fish. Bull.:330-342 (2016). 
Online publication date: 2 June 2016. 
doi: 10.7755/FB.114.3.6 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Achmad F. Syah (contact author) 
Sei-lchi Saitoh’'^ 
Irene O. Alabia^ 
Toru Hirawake' 
The Pacific saury {Cololabis saira) 
is widely distributed in the west- 
ern North Pacific from subarctic to 
subtropical waters and is one of the 
commercially important pelagic spe- 
cies in Japan, Russia, Korea, and 
Taiwan. The total landings of this 
species in these countries increased 
from 171,692 metric tons (t) in 1998 
to 449,738 t in 2011. Over the last 
half century, annual catches of Pacif- 
ic saury in Japan, for example, have 
averaged around 257,800 t (Tian et 
al., 2003) and have fluctuated greatly 
from 52,207 t in 1969 to 207,770 t in 
2011 (Fisheries Agency and Fisheries 
Research Agency of Japan, 2012). 
The number, size, and location of 
fishing grounds for Pacific saury are 
largely affected by oceanographic 
conditions (Yasuda and Watanabe, 
1994; Kosaka, 2000; Tian et al., 
2002), and the significant effect of 
environmental factors on abundance 
of Pacific saury was evident in the 
unexpected drop in both the catch 
and catch per unit of effort in 1998, 
following a period of high abundance 
(Tian et al., 2003). The distribution 
and migratory patterns of Pacific 
saury have been associated with 
chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentration 
and sea-surface temperature (SST) 
(Watanabe et al., 2006; Mukai et 
al., 2007; Tseng et al., 2013). More- 
over, sea-surface height indicates 
water mass movements and, by ex- 
tension, the flow of heat and nutri- 
ents, which will subsequently influ- 
ence productivity (Ayers and Lozier, 
2010). Sea-surface height can also be 
used to infer physical oceanographic 
features, such as eddies, fronts, and 
convergences (Polovina and Howell, 
2005). Therefore, understanding the 
relationship between oceanographic 
