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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on April 4, 2009
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2009 66(6):1398-1403; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsp083
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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]

Simulating the effects of side-aspect fish orientation on acoustic biomass estimates

Kevin M. Boswell1, Brian M. Roth2 and James H. Cowan, Jr1

1 Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
2 Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

Correspondence to K. M. Boswell: tel: +1 225 578 9390; fax: +1 225 578 6513; e-mail: kboswe1{at}lsu.edu.

Boswell, K. M., Roth, B. M., and Cowan, Jr J. H. 2009. Simulating the effects of side-aspect fish orientation on acoustic biomass estimates. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1398–1403.

Simulation methods were used to investigate the effect of side-aspect fish orientation on estimates of fish biomass derived from acoustic data. Three population-level length distributions (n = 1000 individuals) were simulated (identical, uniform, and age class) and applied to a target strength (TS) function of fish length previously derived for Gulf menhaden (Brevoortia patronus). Systematic manipulation of the TS–length coefficients strongly affected the biomass estimates. Based on simulations, biomass estimates decreased markedly from the true side-aspect to head- or tail-on orientation, with estimates of population biomass decreasing by 80% when orientation deviated by as little as 30° from true side-aspect. Simulated data indicate that biomass estimates generated from surveys may be grossly inaccurate if fish orientation is not taken into account.

Keywords: acoustic biomass, menhaden, simulation models, target strength

Received 25 July 2008; accepted 4 December 2008; advance access publication 4 April 2009.


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