Preliminary Findings on Distribution and Abundance of Flying fish in Relation to Oceanographic Conditions of Flores Sea Observed from Multi-spectrum Satellite Images

To describe the short term relationship between oceanographic conditions and flying fish catches and to visualize a spatial pattern of potential fishing grounds in the Flores sea, remotely sensed satellite images of sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a concentration, fishing depth and absolute geostrophic current together with catch data were used. Results indicated that the highest flying fish catch per unit efforts (CPUEs) occurred in areas of SST 27.5-29.5 °C, chlorophyll-a 0.25 - 0.70 mg. m^-3 and current velocities 25.0 - 42.5 m. s^-1. The fishing depth locations have no significant correlation with the CPUEs. The three preferred oceanographic ranges provided a good indicator for spatially detecting the potential flying fish fishing grounds particularly in the peak season. The predicted potential fishing areas were located in the southwestern Takalar waters approximately 118°45 E-119°40 E and 5°30 S-6°10 S and were confirmed by the fishing data. It is likely that the potential fishing grounds correspond to the occurrence of the oceanographic structures such as upwelling and frontal zones which may be responsible for concentrating the fish schools. This short descriptive study suggests that these findings provide some preliminary results on the flying fish fishing grounds in the Flores Sea.