Detecting fish aggregations from reef habitats mapped with high resolution side scan sonar imagery
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Date
2006
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Show full item recordAbstract
As part of a multibeam and side scan sonar (SSS) benthic survey of the Marine Conservation District (MCD) south of St. Thomas, USVI and the seasonal closed areas in St. Croix—Lang Bank (LB) for red hind (Epinephelus guttatus) and the Mutton Snapper (MS) (Lutjanus analis) area—we extracted signals from water column targets that represent individualand aggregated fish over various benthic habitats encountered in the SSS imagery. The survey covered a total of 18 km2 throughout the federal jurisdiction fishery management areas. The complementary set of 28 habitat classification digital maps covered a total of 5,462.3 ha;MCDW (West) accounted for 45% of that area, and MCDE (East) 26%, LB 17%, and MS the remaining 13%. With the exceptionof MS, corals and gorgonians on consolidated habitats were significantly more abundant than submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) on unconsolidated sediments or unconsolidated sediments. Continuous coral habitat was the most abundant consolidated habitat for both MCDW and MCDE (41% and 43% respectively). Consolidated habitats in LB and MS predominantly consisted of gorgonian plain habitat with 95% and 83% respectively. Coral limestone habitat was more abundant than coral patch habitat; it was found near the shelf break in MS, MCDW, and MCDE. Coral limestone and coral patch habitats only covered LB minimally. The high spatial resolution (0.15 m) of the acquired imagery allowed the detection of differing fish aggregation (FA) types. Thelargest FA densities were located at MCDW and MCDE over coral communities that occupy up to 70% of the bottom cover.Counts of unidentified swimming objects (USOs), likely representing individual fish, were similar among locations and occurred primarily over sand and shelf edge areas. Fish aggregation school sizes were significantly smaller at MS than the other three locations (MCDW, MCDE, and LB). This study shows the advantages of utilizing SSS in determining fish distributions and density.Issue/Article Nr
5Page Range
88-104Pages
124Title of Parent Book or Report
Emerging technologies for reef fisheries research and management.Publisher or University
NOAASeries : Nr
NOAA Professional Paper NMFSResource/Dataset Location
http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/pp5.pdfCollections