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60 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 19, 2005 Since You Asked 40-fathom curve sets measure of sea floor In your fishing stories about rockfish, you mention that the rules are based on the 40-fathom curve. What is the curve and why not just say 240-feet deep instead of 40 fathoms? — Blair H., Medford Oh, Blair, we at SYA Central couldn’t fathom dropping the nautical term, just like kids of the 1970s wouldn’t drop inches and feet for centimeters and meters. It’s a unit of measurement steeped in nautical history. A fathom is six feet, roughly the "wingspan" on a average-sized man. Average-sized men for centuries would mark ropes in six-foot intervals, tie a weight to one end, drop it overboard until it hit bottom and count the submerged marks. Nowadays, sonar is used, but the old term sticks. The 40-fathom curve is the line plotted on nautical maps that normally indicates a shelf on the sea floor. Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to [email protected] . We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Tatoos Advertisement s