• Oceanographic Fishing Analyses

• Fisheries Research and Consulting

• Other Activities

All of our operational fish forecasting products are designed to allow fishing vessels to concentrate their fishing effort in the most productive waters to increase operational efficiency. The analyses incorporate numerous factors including water temperature, water color,  orientation of local currents, history of ocean fronts, bottom topography, biological quality of the water (chlorophyll, plankton, colored dissolved organic matter, etc.), forage preference of the target species, availability of forage, as well as, habitat preference of the forage and target species.

Our analyses have been used successfully by commercial, professional tournament, recreational fishermen and researchers for a variety of fish species including tuna, marlin, sailfish, swordfish, mahi, wahoo, shark, mackerel, sardine, anchovy, pilchard, herring, bluefish, squid, as well as, cod and  hake.

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Fisheries Research and Consulting

ROFFS™ continues to work on numerous fisheries related consulting and research projects. Some of these have involved bluefin tuna and other tunas, mahi, marlin, fish eggs and larvae in the Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas and in international waters of the North Atlantic Ocean including West Africa. In addition, we have been involved in marine mammal population surveys and stranding investigations along the U.S. east coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. This involves providing real-time oceanographic analyses operationally to a variety of federal and state governmental, as well as, academic researchers. We have conducted research related to new fisheries development in waters off the Azores, Oman, Libya, South Africa and United States (Hawaii). ROFFS™ also provides services for aquaculture site evaluations and penning operations.

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Other Activities

Leveraging our skills and experience in remote sensing and operational oceanography we also provide real-time ocean current information to the oil and gas industry on world-side basis for oil drilling operations, redeployment of equipment, seismic surveys, and ship routing. Our products are designed to provide real-time detailed information on ocean conditions to maximize the operational efficiency and for risk abatement.

ROFFS™ is active in Homeland Security and environmental science issues. We provide real-time analyses related to the location and movements of specific water masses that may carry pollutants. For example after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 we provided daily maps of the distribution of the coastal, potentially polluted waters that were used by numerous federal, state emergency management officials, resource managers, and oceanographers. Our expertise and reputation resulted in a contract as the “Independent Scientist” for the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection Piney Point Phosphate Waste Water Dispersal Program (2003-2004). ROFFS™ also provides search and rescue support and other environmental monitoring.

We remain active in both the scientific community, as well, as the fisheries resource management community locally, regionally, nationally and on an international basis. We are currently funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to study the effects of climate and ocean variability on pelagic fish resources and to develop easy-to-use tools for resource managers. We are a member of NASA’s Biodiversity & Ecological Forecasting Science Team.  ROFFS™ is an active participant in several regional and state Integrated Ocean Observing System associations.

Dr. Roffer was elected to the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of SECOORA and serves on the Products and Services Committee of GCOOS. Roffer is an Adjunct Faculty at the Florida Institute of Technology, Department of Marine and Environmental Systems. Dr. Roffer has been a member of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Ecological Modeling and Forecasting Research Team for the last six years and he also participates on the Ocean Color Science Research Team.

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