Each summer, in the oceanic north-east Atlantic, a drop in the catch of albacore (Thunnus alalunga Bonnaterre, 1788) is observed for 8 to 10 days at the beginning of August. This temporary decrease of catch per unit effort (CPUE) is related to a relaxation of wind for 5 to 8 days during the previous 8 to 15 days. A similar and significant relationship is also observed in the Atlantic sardine (Sardina pilchardus Walbaum) fishery in a coastal area in the north-east of the Bay of Biscay (France). This indicates that a general ecological process is involved in this relationship between wind and CPUE of two pelagic fish, caught at the sea surface.
The timing of the response of the sardine and the albacore fishery to a relaxation of wind is interpreted in the light of a productivity model. The lack of wind-driven turbulent mixing provides a progressive decrease of the food organisms in the surface layer about 7 days after the wind event. Thus, fish disperse and become less susceptible to capture.
However, particular fertilization processes are involved at the continental shelf-break and the results of the association analysis were not found to be significant for the albacore fishery in this area.
The use of Superposed Epoch Analysis seems to provide a suitable method to analyse such a relationship with a daily time scale.
Comparison of the results of cross correlation analysis used in a previous work with a Superposed Epoch Analysis suggests that further considerations should be given to the use of the latter method infishery science.