NOAA/MLML Radiometric Data Acquisition and Processing

This report is a detailed description of data processing of NOAA/MLML spectroradiometry data. It introduces the MLML_DBASE programs, describes the assembly of diverse data fues, and describes general algorithms and how individual routines are used. Definitions of data structures are presented in Appendices. [PDF contains 48 pages]

Processing NOAA Spectroradiometric Data

This report outlines the NOAA spectroradiometer data processing system implemented by the MLML_DBASE programs. This is done by presenting the algorithms and graphs showing the effects of each step in the algorithms. [PDF contains 32 pages]

Oceanographic Profiling and Spectroradiometer Observations from the MOCE-1 Cruise: 28 August to 8 October 1992

This report contains the frrst observations made for the Modis Optical Characterization Experiment (MOCE). Data presented here were obtained on the R/V DeSteiguer between 28 August and 8 October along the central California coast and in Monterey Bay. Three types of data are reported here: high spectral resolution radiometry at three depths for seven stations; salinity, temperature, fluorescence and beam attenuation profiles at the same stations; and total suspended matter and suspended organic carbon and nitrogen. [PDF contans 164 pages]

Sind die bestehenden Regulierungsmaßnahmen für die Flunderfischerei in der südwestlichen Ostsee sinnvoll?

The reliability of the international minimum landing size of 25 cm for the flounder stock of ICES Sub-divisions 24 and 25 as well as national bans on landing female flounder during the spawning time is investigated on German samples taken in Sub-division 24. The results of the analyses of growth, sex ratio, the proportion of mature flounder, and yield curves show that 25 cm is a convenient regulation measure but it would be reliable to have an international ban on landing female as well as male flounder during spawning time.

The BACOMA cod-end. History and recent developments in BACOMA cod-end regulations and a proposal for abetter specification of the BACOMA cod-end for Baltic Sea cod fishery

To improve the cod stocks in the Baltic Sea, a number of regulations have recently been established by the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission (IBSFC) and the European Commission. According to these, fishermen are obliged to use nets with escape windows (BACOMA nets) with a mesh size of the escape window of 120 mm until end of September 2003. These nets however, retain only fish much larger than the legal minimum landing size would al-low. Due to the present stock structure only few of such large fish are however existent. As a consequence fishermen use a legal alternative net. This is a conventional trawl with a cod-end of 130 mm diamond-shaped meshes (IBSFC-rules of 1st April 2002), to be increased to 140 mm on 1st September 2003, according to the mentioned IBSFC-rule. Due legal alterations of the net by the fishermen (e.g. use of extra stiff net material) these nets have acquired extremely low selective properties, i. e. they catch very small fish and produce great amounts of discards. Due to the increase of the minimum landing size from 35 to 38 cm for cod in the Baltic, the amount of discards has even increased since the beginning of 2003. Experiments have now been carried out with the BACOMAnet on German and Swedish commercial and research vessels since arguments were brought forward that the BACOMA net was not yet sufficiently tested on commercial vessels. The results of all experiments conducted so far, are compiled and evaluated here. As a result of the Swedish, Danish and German initiative and research the European Commission reacted upon this in June 2003 and rejected the increase of the diamond-meshed non-BACOMA net from 130 mm to 140mm in September 2003. To protect the cod stocks in the Baltic Sea more effectively the use of traditional diamond meshed cod-ends with-out escape window are prohibited in community waters without derogation, becoming effective 1st of September 2003. To enable more effective and simplified control of the bottom trawl fishery in the Baltic Sea the principle of a ”One-Net-Rule“ is enforced. This is going to be the BACOMA net, with the meshes of the escape window being 110 mm for the time being. The description of the BACOMA net as given in the IBSFC-rules no.10 (revision of the 28th session, Berlin 2002) concentrates on the cod-end and the escape window but only to a less extent on the design and mesh-composition of the remaining parts of the net, such as belly and funnel and many details. Thus, the present description is not complete and leaves, according to fishermen, ample opportunity for manipulation. An initiative has been started in Germany with joint effort from scientists and the fishery to better describe the entire net and to produce a proposal for a more comprehensive description, leaving less space for manipulation. A proposal in this direction is given here and shall be seen as a starting point for a discussion and development towards an internationally uniform net, which is agreed amongst the fishery, scientists and politicians. The Baltic Sea fishery is invited to comment on this proposal, and recommendations for further improvement and specifications are welcomed. Once the design is agreed by the Baltic Fishermen Association, it shall be proposed to the IBSFC and European Commission via the Baltic Fishermen Association.

Untersuchungen des Zanderbestandes in den deutschen Küstengewässern der Ostsee von 1992 bis 2002

Pike-perch is an important resource for the coastal fishery in the brackish waters of the eastern part of the coast. For the conservation of the stocks regulation measures (minimum landing size, closed season and minimum mesh size) have been introduced since many years. Basic biological material of the last decade sampled from the commercial fishery and for recruitment by a standard trawl survey. For the “Eastern stock” this paper presents the results concerning age distribution, year-class strengths, growth, proportion spawners, natural mortality and yield-per-recruit analyses.

Towed vehicles: undulating platforms as tools for maping coastal processes and water quality assessment, Seaside, California, February 5-7,2007. Workshop proceedings

The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) Workshop on Towed Vehicles: Undulating Platforms As Tools for Mapping Coastal Processes and Water Quality Assessment was convened February 5-7,2007 at The Embassy Suites Hotel, Seaside, California and sponsored by the ACT-Pacific Coast partnership at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML). The TUV workshop was co-chaired by Richard Burt (Chelsea Technology Group) and Stewart Lamerdin (MLML Marine Operations). Invited participants were selected to provide a uniform representation of the academic researchers, private sector product developers, and existing and potential data product users from the resource management community to enable development of broad consensus opinions on the application of TUV platforms in coastal resource assessment and management. The workshop was organized to address recognized limitations of point-based monitoring programs, which, while providing valuable data, are incapable of describing the spatial heterogeneity and the extent of features distributed in the bulk solution. This is particularly true as surveys approach the coastal zone where tidal and estuarine influences result in spatially and temporally heterogeneous water masses and entrained biological components. Aerial or satellite based remote sensing can provide an assessment of the aerial extent of plumes and blooms, yet provide no information regarding the third dimension of these features. Towed vehicles offer a cost-effective solution to this problem by providing platforms, which can sample in the horizontal, vertical, and time-based domains. Towed undulating vehicles (henceforth TUVs) represent useful platforms for event-response characterization. This workshop reviewed the current status of towed vehicle technology focusing on limitations of depth, data telemetry, instrument power demands, and ship requirements in an attempt to identify means to incorporate such technology more routinely in monitoring and event-response programs. Specifically, the participants were charged to address the following: (1) Summarize the state of the art in TUV technologies; (2) Identify how TUV platforms are used and how they can assist coastal managers in fulfilling their regulatory and management responsibilities; (3) Identify barriers and challenges to the application of TUV technologies in management and research activities, and (4) Recommend a series of community actions to overcome identified barriers and challenges. A series of plenary presentation were provided to enhance subsequent breakout discussions by the participants. Dave Nelson (University of Rhode Island) provided extensive summaries and real-world assessment of the operational features of a variety of TUV platforms available in the UNOLs scientific fleet. Dr. Burke Hales (Oregon State University) described the modification of TUV to provide a novel sampling platform for high resolution mapping of chemical distributions in near real time. Dr. Sonia Batten (Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Sciences) provided an overview on the deployment of specialized towed vehicles equipped with rugged continuous plankton recorders on ships of opportunity to obtain long-term, basin wide surveys of zooplankton community structure, enhancing our understanding of trends in secondary production in the upper ocean. [PDF contains 32 pages]

Wave Sensor Technologies, St Petersburg, Florida, March 7-9, 2007: workshop proceedings

The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) convened a workshop on "Wave Sensor Technologies" in St. Petersburg, Florida on March 7-9, 2007, hosted by the University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science, an ACT partner institution. The primary objectives of this workshop were to: 1) define the present state of wave measurement technologies, 2) identify the major impediments to their advancement, and 3) make strategic recommendations for future development and on the necessary steps to integrate wave measurement sensors into operational coastal ocean observing systems. The participants were from various sectors, including research scientists, technology developers and industry providers, and technology users, such as operational coastal managers and coastal decision makers. Waves consistently are ranked as a critical variable for numerous coastal issues, from maritime transportation to beach erosion to habitat restoration. For the purposes of this workshop, the participants focused on measuring "wind waves" (i.e., waves on the water surface, generated by the wind, restored by gravity and existing between approximately 3 and 30-second periods), although it was recognized that a wide range of both forced and free waves exist on and in the oceans. Also, whereas the workshop put emphasis on the nearshore coastal component of wave measurements, the participants also stressed the importance of open ocean surface waves measurement. Wave sensor technologies that are presently available for both environments include bottom-mounted pressure gauges, surface following buoys, wave staffs, acoustic Doppler current profilers, and shore-based remote sensing radar instruments. One of the recurring themes of workshop discussions was the dichotomous nature of wave data users. The two separate groups, open ocean wave data users and the nearshore/coastal wave data users, have different requirements. Generally, the user requirements increase both in spatial/temporal resolution and precision as one moves closer to shore. Most ocean going mariners are adequately satisfied with measurements of wave period and height and a wave general direction. However, most coastal and nearshore users require at least the first five Fourier parameters ("First 5"): wave energy and the first four directional Fourier coefficients. Furthermore, wave research scientists would like sensors capable of providing measurements beyond the first four Fourier coefficients. It was debated whether or not high precision wave observations in one location can take the place of a less precise measurement at a different location. This could be accomplished by advancing wave models and using wave models to extend data to nearby areas. However, the consensus was that models are no substitution for in situ wave data.[PDF contains 26 pages]

Trace Metal Sensors for Coastal Monitoring, Seaside, California, April 11-13, 2005: workshop proceedings

The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) Workshop on Trace Metal Sensors for Coastal Monitoring was convened April 11-13, 2005 at the Embassy Suites in Seaside, California with partnership from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). Trace metals play many important roles in marine ecosystems. Due to their extreme toxicity, the effects of copper, cadmium and certain organo-metallinc compounds (such as tributyltin and methylmercury) have received much attention. Lately, the sublethal effects of metals on phytoplankton biochemistry, and in some cases the expression of neurotoxins (Domoic acid), have been shown to be important environmental forcing functions determining the composition and gene expression in some groups. More recently the role of iron in controlling phytoplankton growth has led to an understanding of trace metal limitation in coastal systems. Although metals play an important role at many different levels, few technologies exist to provide rapid assessment of metal concentrations or metal speciation in the coastal zone where metal-induced toxicity or potential stimulation of harmful algal blooms, can have major economic impacts. This workshop focused on the state of on-site and in situ trace element detection technologies, in terms of what is currently working well and what is needed to effectively inform coastal zone managers, as well as guide adaptive scientific sampling of the coastal zone. Specifically the goals of this workshop were to: 1) summarize current regional requirements and future targets for metal monitoring in freshwater, estuarine and coastal environments; 2) evaluate the current status of metal sensors and possibilities for leveraging emerging technologies for expanding detection limits and target elements; and 3) help identify critical steps needed for and limits to operational deployment of metal sensors as part of routine water quality monitoring efforts. Following a series of breakout group discussions and overview talks on metal monitoring regulatory issues, analytical techniques and market requirements, workshop participants made several recommendations for steps needed to foster development of in situ metal monitoring capacities: 1. Increase scientific and public awareness of metals of environmental and biological concern and their impacts in aquatic environments. Inform scientific and public communities regarding actual levels of trace metals in natural and perturbed systems. 2. Identify multiple use applications (e.g., industrial waste steam and drinking water quality monitoring) to support investments in metal sensor development. (pdf contains 27 pages)

A 30-Year History of Tide and Current Measurements in Elkhorn Slough, California

Elkhorn Slough was first exposed to direct tidal forcing from the waters of Monterey Bay with the construction of Moss Landing Harbor in 1946. Elkhorn Slough is located mid-way between Santa Cruz and Monterey close to the head of Monterey Submarine Canyon. It follows a 10 km circuitous path inland from its entrance at Moss Landing Harbor. Today, Elkhorn Slough is a habitat and sanctuary for a wide variety of marine mammals, fish, and seabirds. The Slough also serves as a sink and pathway for various nutrients and pollutants. These attributes are directly or indirectly affected by its circulation and physical properties. Currents, tides and physical properties of Elkhorn Slough have been observed on an irregular basis since 1970. Based on these observations, the physical characteristics of Elkhorn Slough are examined and summarized. Elkhorn Slough is an ebb-dominated estuary and, as a result, the rise and fall of the tides is asymmetric. The fact that lower low water always follows higher high water and the tidal asymmetry produces ebb currents that are stronger than flooding currents. The presence of extensive mud flats and Salicornia marsh contribute to tidal distortion. Tidal distortion also produces several shallow water constituents including the M3, M4, and M6 overtides and the 2MK3 and MK3 compound tides. Tidal elevations and currents are approximately in quadrature; thus, the tides in Elkhorn Slough have some of the characters of a standing wave system. The temperature and salinity of lower Elkhorn Slough waters reflect, to a large extent, the influence of Monterey Bay waters, whereas the temperature and salinity of the waters of the upper Slough (>5 km from the mouth) are more sensitive to local processes. During the summer, temperature and salinity are higher in the upper slough due to local heating and evaporation. Maximum tidal currents in Elkhorn Slough have increased from approximately 75 to 120 cm/s over the past 30 years. This increase in current speed is primarily due to the change in tidal prism which has increased from approximately 2.5 to 6.2 x 106 m3 between 1956 and 1993. The increase in tidal prism is the result of both 3 rapid man-made changes to the Slough, and the continuing process of tidal erosion. Because of the increase in the tidal prism, the currents in Elkhorn Slough exhibit positive feedback, a process with uncertain consequences. [PDF contains 55 pages]

Reconstructing an 83-Year Time Series of Daily Sea Surface Temperature at Pacific Grove, California

Daily sea surface temperatures have been acquired at the Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California since January 20, 1919.This time series is one of the longest oceanographic records along the U.S. west coast. Because of its length it is well-suited for studying climate-related and oceanic variability on interannual, decadal, and interdecadal time scales. The record, however, is not homogeneous, has numerous gaps, contains possible outliers, and the observations were not always collected at the same time each day. Because of these problems we have undertaken the task of reconstructing this long and unique series. We describe the steps that were taken and the methods that were used in this reconstruction. Although the methods employed are basic, we believe that they are consistent with the quality of the data. The reconstructed record has values at every time point, original, or estimated, and has been adjusted for time-of-day variations where this information was available. Possible outliers have also been examined and replaced where their credibility could not be established. Many of the studies that have employed the Hopkins time series have not discussed the issue of data quality and how these problems were addressed. Because of growing interest in this record, it is important that a single, well-documented version be adopted, so that the results of future analyses can be directly compared. Although additional work may be done to further improve the quality of this record, it is now available via the internet. [PDF contains 48 pages]

A review of the commercially exploited marine fishery resources of Nigeria

The annual estimated total marine fish catch in Nigeria for the period 1971 to 1979 is 0.3299 million metric tons. The differential distribution pattern of the predominant fish groups for the maritime states, the component species, their life habits in relation to hydrographic factors leasing to seasonal fluctuations in the fisheries are highlighted, focussing also on the types of fishing carafts and gear in common use along the coastal states and the fish species obtained from them. The landings by the exploratory and commercial fishing trawlers including the distant water vessels (imports) form about 4.24% of the total marine fish landing

Deutsche und internationale Dorschfischerei in der Ostsee im Jahr 1998

In 1998 the longtime series of the standardized bottom trawl surveys conducted in the western Baltic (ICES Sub-division (SD) 22 and 24 since 1978) during spring and autumn and also in the eastern Baltic (ICES Sub-division since 1993) during spring were continued. The results of the surveys as well as those of a sampling programme carried out on board of commercial cutters (mainly financed by an EU study project) and on the market, the investigation of the survival rate of the discards, and the landing statistics are the basis of the analysis of the German and international cod fishery in 1998. The German cod fishery was concentrated on the ICES SD 22 and 24 (total landings 9722 t). The total landings from the fishing grounds east off Bornholm, the traditional German fishing ground, amounted only to about 1270 t. The German cod quota was utilized at 64 %. The fishery in the ICES SD 22 and 24 was characterized by a discard rate of undersized cod of 13 %. That corresponds to about 7.3 million specimens of 0-group, one- and two-years-old youngfish, respectively. The total international cod landings of the Baltic amounted to 101 500 t. In comparison with 1997 (total landings 129 600 t) the landing decreased by 23 %. The percentage utilization of the cod TAC (1998: 140 000 t) amounted to 74 % in 1998.

Observations on the purse-seine fishery for Northern bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Eastern Pacific Ocean

ENGLISH: This report presents information on the fishery for bluefin in the northeastern Pacific Ocean derived from purse seiner logbook records and landing statistics. Information on the size composition of the fish in the catch is also presented. The logbook records cover the period 19611980; however, catch statistics and length-frequency data from previous years are also presented. SPANISH: Este informe presenta los datos sobre la pesca del T. thynnus en el Océano Pacífico nordeste, obtenidos de los cuadernos de bitácora de los barcos cerqueros y de las estadísticas de desembarque. Se presenta además la información sobre la composición de talla de los peces en la captura. Los registros de bitácora abarcan el período de 1961 a 1980; no obstante, se presentan además las estadísticas de captura y los datos de la frecuencia de talla de años anteriores. (PDF contains 105 pages.)

Lunar and seasonal variations in the catches of Macrobrachium fisheries of the Cross River Estuary, SE Nigeria

Monthly catches of the Macrobrachium fisheries were recorded at a commercial shrimp landing site on the coasts of Calabar (Nigeria), from April 1997 to August 1998. Catches fluctuated over an annual cycle, with two peaks occurring from May-July and November-December. These peaks represented periods of major activities, reproduction, recruitment or migration. Also, mean catches decreased in the months of February and August, corresponding to the peak of dry season and the so-called 'August break', respectively. Catches from active gears (seine, push net) varied among the moon phases too, with a main peak during full moon, and the minimum catch was recorded during the first moon quarter. However, the catch from passive gear (trap) depicted an inverse relationship, showing a peak during the first moon quarter. Variation in catches at different months and moon phases were significant at P:0.05. Recognize these variations and trends would help in management decisions such as defining closed seasons without adversely affecting the economy of the fishers