Fisheries Acoustics - Platforms For Fisheries Acoustics

Platforms For Fisheries Acoustics

Fisheries acoustic research is conducted from a variety of platforms. The most common is a traditional research vessel, with the echosounders mounted on the ship's hull or in a drop keel. If the vessel does not have permanently installed echosounders, they may be deployed on a pole mount attached to the ship's side, or on a towed body or "towfish" pulled behind or alongside the vessel. Towed bodies are particularly useful for studies of deep-living fish, such as the orange roughy, which typically live below the range of an echosounder at the surface.

In addition to research vessels, acoustic data may be collected from a variety of "ships of opportunity" such as fishing vessels, ferries, and cargo ships. Ships of opportunity can offer low-cost data collection over large areas, though the lack of a true survey design may make analysis of these data difficult. In recent years, acoustic instruments have also been deployed on remotely operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles, as well as at ocean observatories.