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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on April 8, 2009
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2009 66(6):1303-1309; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsp052
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© 2009 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

This article appears in the following ICES Journal of Marine Science issue: The Ecosystem Approach with Fisheries Acoustics and Complementary Technologies [View the issue table of contents]

Measurements of acoustic backscatter and density of captive Atlantic cod with synchronized 300-kHz multibeam and 120-kHz split-beam echosounders

Christopher W. D. Gurshin1,2, J. Michael Jech3, W. Huntting Howell2, Thomas C. Weber4 and Larry A. Mayer4

1 Normandeau Associates, Inc., 25 Nashua Road, Bedford, NH 03110, USA
2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
3 Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
4 Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA

Correspondence to C. W. D. Gurshin: tel: +1 603 637 1180; fax: +1 603 472 7052; e-mail: cgurshin{at}normandeau.com

Gurshin, C. W. D., Jech, J. M., Howell, W. H., Weber, T. C., and Mayer, L. A. 2009. Measurements of acoustic backscatter and density of captive Atlantic cod with synchronized 300-kHz multibeam and 120-kHz split-beam echosounders. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1303–1309.

Effective management strategies for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in the Gulf of Maine require stock assessments based on accurate estimates of its abundance and distribution. If multibeam echosounders are to provide data for such estimates, the relationship between acoustic backscatter and fish biology must be better understood. Working towards this goal, a series of acoustic measurements was made using a 120 kHz, split-beam echosounder (Simrad EK60) and a 300 kHz, multibeam echosounder (Kongsberg EM3002). The transducers from both systems were fixed to a platform over a submerged 98 m3 cage made of 5 cm stretched-nylon mesh. After standard-sphere calibrations, the cage was stocked with live, mature Atlantic cod, with a mean total length of 80.7 cm (range: 51.5–105.0 cm). The echosounders synchronously collected acoustic data, while the cod were monitored with two underwater video cameras. Cod were incrementally removed from the cage to provide a time-series of acoustic backscatter at four densities (n = 128, 116, 66, and 23). Backscatter measurements of cod are compared between echosounders and over time, and the factors affecting the acoustically derived density estimates are discussed. The benefits and limitations of the EM3002 are highlighted.

Keywords: abundance estimation, acoustic scattering, Atlantic cod, EK60, EM3002, Gadus morhua, multibeam echosounder, split-beam echosounder, volume backscatter, water column

Received 8 August 2008; accepted 11 December 2008; advance access publication 8 April 2009.


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