This paper presents the results of the fishery-oceanographic survey work conducted on board the R/V RESEARCHER by the research and technical personnel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources from March 13 to 26, 1974.
Covering approximately 4,000 sq/km, oceanographic sampling operations and fishing experiments were conducted in Tayabas Bay and adjacent waters, to determine some of its physicochemical and biological characteristics in relation to its fishery. This survey was done in connection with the Test-Fishing Program being implemented by the Bureau which aims to investigate further the economic potentials of the country's fishing grounds.
The emphasis is placed on the oceanographic aspects which are significantly responsible in establishing the inter-relationship between the environmental factors and the fishery resources in the area. The results show some phenomenal features in oceanography that are evident in the lower sub-surface temperature readings which persist up to the surface resulting in a thick homogeneous layer before a thermocline occurs, and water masses of disturbed nature as analyzed from the T-S diagram. These include the higher plankton biomass, especially phytoplankton, and higher oxygen concentration particularly in the surface, which are normal if the water masses described earlier were of another nature.