File:Coast watch (1979) (20471968148).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_14 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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Menhaden Research: Echoes of a Fishery By Ann Green Photographs by Scott D. Taylor I t's almost dusk when North Carolina Sea Grant researcher Chris Taylor anchors an old white research boat in the middle of the Neuse River. As several seagulls flutter over the boat, Taylor drops a brown metal cylinder, similar to a fish finder, deep into the water. Within a fraction of a second, he can pinpoint every school of tiny menhaden and anchovies within 90 feet of the boat. Pings from the cylinder pierce through the water and echo back the exact location in the water column, target size and behavioral information to Taylor's computer. This is the first time researchers have used the cylinder—a scientific echosounder based on technology developed by the U.S. Navy during World War II — in a North Carolina estuary to conduct a biological study. "The use of hydroacoustics could provide a reliable method for estimating the number of pelagic fish in the estuary," says lead researcher Pete Rand, assistant professor at North Carolina State University. "Stock assessments for menhaden rely almost entirely on commercial landings data. Our approach could provide a less-biased method for estimating population size." Through monthly sampling of Adantic

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