Hydroacoustic Fishery Assessment Techniques: A Feasibility Study on the Mississippi River.
Abstract
In the past few years, advances in hydroacoustic fishery assessment techniques have been rapid and significant, and these techniques have been successfully applied to a variety of open-ocean, estuarine, lake, and northwestern-river environments. This study was initiated to evaluate the usefulness of hydroacoustic techniques in large, alluvial river systems. The hydroacoustic equipment evaluated operated at a frequency of 420 kHz and included down- and side-facing transducers, dual-beam echo integrators, and digital recording equipment operated in mobile and stationary surveys. The equipment was applicable to a variety of habitats and survey objectives. It was found to be reliable, fairly easy to use (with adequate training), and provided information of fish abundance, distribution, and behavior patterns not easily attainable using conventional fishery assessment tools such as netting or electrofishing. The techniques worked well in this riverine environment and were not adversely affected by high turbidity and swift currents common around the dikes. In addition, the hydroacoustic equipment was able to provide information on sediment disturbance due to towboat passage and dredging, and potentially was able to characterize bottom sediment types. The major technical drawback to hydroacoustic techniques is their inability to identify fish species.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA161001
Entities
People
- C. H. Penington
- P. Kanciruk