Spatial Distribution of Fish Density in Relation to Environmental Factors in Makassar Strait Waters

Abstract

The biomass or abundance of fish varies, due to environmental factors such as physical, chemical and biological. The seawater temperature and salinity as physical factors, at least, are very important when evaluating the fish density distribution. An acoustic survey was conducted in the Makassar Strait, especially on Kalimantan Shelf during January and February 1995. The Environmental data, i.e., temperature and salinity collected during the survey, were analyzed and results are presented in this paper. The temperature and salinity distributions indicate the presence of three water types, as coastal, transitional and oceanic water types. The fish density is in higher concentration in the Java Sea coastal waters than in the transitional and Pacific ones. The highest fish density concentration is found at the edge waters near the transitional waters area. It is considered that this situation in caused by the movement of Pacific water masses southward, to the Java Sea.