CalCOFI Reports, Vol. 11, 1967 - California Cooperative Oceanic ...

REPORTS VOLUME XI, 1 JULY 1963 TO 30 JUNE 1966 13column. Although only a few experimental sets havebeen made, from the data collected have been madethe first direct estimates of the natural generationtime of some planktonic marine organisms. It maybe that this approach can yield much fundamentalunderstanding of the economy of the sea that hasavoided other efforts.Planetary Food Potential. Included in the MLRprogram is a continuing study of the position ofmarine productivity in the food potential of thisplant. This study is, of course, highly approximate.Nevertheless it aids in placing fishery developmentin perspective. Figure 1 compares the productivity ofthe land and sea and the related harvest by man. Thepotential harvest of the sea is seen to be several ordersof magnitude greater than the present, or enoughanimal protein for more than 60 billion people. Itis clear from this study that such a harvest can beachieved only by the capture of rather primitivelyfeeding fish, such as the anchovies and sardines.In addition, the probable efficacy of such interventionsas artificial upwelling can be evaluated in such aperspective matrix. It appears that the heat rejectionrequired to produce the world’s power requirementfrom atomic sources can incidentally increase theocean productivity in an amount approximately sufficientto supply a quarter of the needed protein.F,3OCWlC *WD TWRESIRIAL loOD WaGYP c.1/)..out.ide .tmo.ph.r.L c.1IyIlNmLAT1mom Urth aurfac.1024 - *..f“l in .”1022102110201014 - Iwdul in photoi)mth..i.3.5 useful on l adFIGURE 1. Diagram of total energy cascade into the food of themarine and terrestrial realms.-prepared by W. Schmitt.I1024Details of these and other such considerations canbe found in several of the listed publications.Sardine Parasites. An. investigation into thestomach contents of sardines indicates that the sardinepopulation off California was increasingly parasitizedby two species of trematodes during the period 1925to 1955. In later years the infestations were veryheavy. There is even some evidence of competitionbetween the two species of trematodes within thesardine stomachs. Such competition would be almostcertain evidence that the infestation was damagingto the sardine.Neither the sardine below Sebastian Viscaino northe anchovy were subject to such infestations.Whether or not this infection contributed to thedecrease of sardine stocks cannot be definitely ascertained.Xea Xurface Temperature Anomalies. The Yearsof Change 1957-58, brought to our attention the factthat variations in oceanic conditions were not of localorigin but rather involve the entire North Pacific,if not the entire planet. We now know that nonperiodicdepartures from normal sea surface temperaturesare common throughout the oceans. In the NorthPacific these anomalous conditions are often largescale and of long persistence (ea. $ the width of thePacific and of 2 years duration). These anomaliesare associated with changes in weather conditions, thedistribution of marine organisms, circulation, etc.We are now planning a large-scale study of theseanomalies and their associated conditions utilizing alarge number of unmanned instrument stations overa major part of the North Pacific.In preparation for this research, a pilot study hasbeen carried out. This study has revealed a number ofhigh intriguing characteristics of these events thatwill require explanation. Among these findings are :A dependency of anomalies on the local spatial temperaturegradient over one-half of the year; a relativelysmaller variation in spatial and temporal temperaturegradients in the regions of high anomaliesthan in the regions of “normal” conditions; an anisotropyof the heating-cooling cycle ; and others.In addition, the first long-term records from unmannedstations have been obtained. These have shownseveral important features including astronomic periodicitiesof temperature fluctuations.This planned study of the North Pacific shouldresult in better insight and input into North hemisphericmeteorological and oceanographic prediction.Some of these deep moored stations will be installedin the CalCOFI area and will result in almost continuousoffshore data.Deep Benthic Conditiolzs. The oceanographic studiesof the eastern North Pacific have been extended intodeep water. The findings have been most significant.Many of the conditions of the deep ocean bottom arevirtually unexplored. The near-bottom currents arevery poorly known, and little is known of the activecreatures of the deep ocean floor. The developmentof autonomous instruments at Scripps has allowed