. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Chris Taylor and Pete Rand use a variety technology. two from ; The number of menhaden reduction plants also has declined along the Atlantic Coast from nine in 1983 to two today — one in Virginia and one in Beaufort, according to Street. Menhaden and other pelagic fish serve another important role by indirectly supporting several commercial and recreational fisheries. Along the route, the fish are eaten by many predators, including bluefish, striped bass and mackerel, birds and marine mammals
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Chris Taylor and Pete Rand use a variety technology. two from ; The number of menhaden reduction plants also has declined along the Atlantic Coast from nine in 1983 to two today — one in Virginia and one in Beaufort, according to Street. Menhaden and other pelagic fish serve another important role by indirectly supporting several commercial and recreational fisheries. Along the route, the fish are eaten by many predators, including bluefish, striped bass and mackerel, birds and marine mammals. Research involves intensive field work To determine if low-oxygen levels and other factors affect the growth rates and behavior of pelagic fish, the Sea Grant research team is collecting samples over two years. The research is tedious and involves long hours on the water at night. Three times a month from May to October, the research team, which includes Taylor, Jacob Rash, Brian Degan and Nathan Hall, motors into the Neuse. "It's pretty gruelling work," says Taylor. "By the time we get off the water at sunrise, we are pretty ; The team leaves in two boats — the 18-foot Atlantic and 23-foot Sea Ox—from a dock at Cherry Point Marine Base in Havelock. First, they use water quality sensors to measure the salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH of the water. "Water quality sensors have revolutionized the way we assess habitat conditions for fish in the field," says Rand. "We can moor them on buoys, tow them behind a boat near the bottom or surface, or cast them down to a depth to generate a complete water column profile. We know that other factors such as salinity and temperature also can negatively impact ; The researchers also use plankton traps to measure the abundance of copepods — plankton eaten by anchovies. "We are trying to draw a link between plankton dynamics and large predators like striped bass, tr
Size: 1332px × 1875px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
