Abstract
The precarious condition of the world's fisheries is making ever-greater demands of the scientific assessment of fish stocks. Traditional assessments that rely on commercial catch statistics can have major shortcomings1 (as shown, for example, by the collapse of Canada's northern cod stock2), increasing the need for more fishery-independent data. Acoustic surveys can provide such information3, but ocean-going research vessels have high operating costs, and there is also widespread concern that fish avoid these vessels because of the noise they make, thereby biasing abundance estimates4. Here we present new data gathered by an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) showing that vessel avoidance is not a significant source of bias. Our investigation also heralds the arrival of AUVs as effective survey platforms.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Walters, C. J. Western Fisheries 41–44 (January, 1996).
Rose, G. A. & Kulka, D. W. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 56 (suppl. 1), 118–127 ( 1999).
MacLennan, D. N. & Simmonds, E. J. Fisheries Acoustics (Chapman & Hall, London, 1992).
Magurran, A. E. in Dynamics of Pelagic Fish Distribution and Behaviour: Effects on Fisheries and Stock Assessment (eds Freon, P. & Misund, O. A.) ix-x (Fishing News Books, Oxford, 1999).
Foote, K. G. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 73, 1932–1940 (1983).
Millard, N. W. et al. J. Soc. Underwater Tech. 23, 7– 17 (1998).
Mitson, R. B. ICES Co-op. Res. Rep. 209, 1–61 (1995).
Freon, P., Gerlotto, F. & Soria, M. Fish. Res. 15, 45– 66 (1992).
Fernandes, P. G. & Brierley, A. S. ICES CM 1999/M:01 , 1–16 (1999).
Holliday, D. V. & Pieper, R. E. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 52, 279–296 ( 1995).
Brierley, A. S., Ward, P., Watkins, J. L. & Goss, C. Deep-Sea Res. II 45, 1155–1173 ( 1998).
Simmonds, E. J., Armstrong, F. & Copland, P. J. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 53, 189– 195 (1996).
Millard, N. W. et al. in Proc. Int. Conf. Remote Techniques for Hazardous Environments (ed. Barnes, S.) 19–20 (Telford, London, 1999).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fernandes, P., Brierley, A., Simmonds, E. et al. Fish do not avoid survey vessels. Nature 404, 35–36 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35003648
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35003648
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
