The copepod is one of the primary food of larger fish , such as the cod. Since the cod has been fished to the edge of extinction, the health of the copepod stocks might be the key to the cod's comeback. When you talk about carbon-binding, there is more carbon bound up in copepods than all the animals on land together. Since the eventual populations of all fish stocks depend on how many survive childhood, finding out how they do it, and how many do it, is important to planning for species' futures. Among the commercially important fish that spawn and breed in the back of the Jersey Shore are fluke, winter flounder, sea bass and tataug, as well as many still underutilized species .
Copepods are also among the fastest creatures in the water, which makes it harder.
Kils put on a gadget that consists of a helmet to which are attached special goggles and gloves . The goggles see what the camera sees and the gloves move the device to follow the action. We tried to computerize that part, but it was easier and quicker and cheaper to have a person do it . Wearing the gear he can direct the movements of the device. More elaborate underwater sensing gear will go into operation next summer, Able said.