The fishing industry
is using data to locate likely places of higher fish concentrations
and also to pinpoint locations of target species. Fishery Managers also use TOPEX/Poseidon
data in conjunction with other remotely sensed data sets in the following areas:
- Fisheries management research, e.g. swordfish studies
- Mitigation of fisheries interaction with sea turtles
- Recovery of endangered Monk Seals
- Monitoring and assesment of Coral reef ecosystems
and essential fish habitats.
Maps of geostrophic velocity vectors for fisheries management
Regional maps of
geostrophic
velocity vectors overlaid on
maps of sea levels such as those produced by the
Hawaii node of Coastwatch
are used to locate ocean features which define ocean habitats.
These are provided as analog maps.
Regions available are:
- American Samoa
- Hawaiian Chain
- North Equatorial Counter Current
- Western Pacific
Commercial Geographic Information Systems in use by the fishing industry
Global and Regional maps of geostrophic velocity vectors
overlaid on maps of sea levels are also produced by the
University of Colorado.
Available regions are:
- Bering Sea
- Gulf of Mexico
- Gulf Stream
Digital data for the Bering Sea are used
in a system called FishTrek98 which is an on-board Geographic
Information System developed by Scientific Fisheries.
FishTrek98 is designed to provide ship captains with a
variety of essential information such as bathymetry, snags,
water temperature, historic catch figures, and by catch.
In addition, vessel captains can log their catch, tide,
current, marks, snags, temperature, sea conditions, weather,
and lunar conditions in a personalized electronic log book
that is fully integrated with all other available data sources.
