**The title, authors, and abstract for this completion report are provided below.  For a copy of the completion report, please contact the GLFC via e-mail or via telephone at 734-662-3209**

 

 

Study group on fisheries acoustics in the Great Lakes

 

 

Lars G. Rudstam¹

¹Cornell Biological Field Station and Department of Natural Resources

900 Shackelton Point Road

Bridgeport , NY 13030

 

Doran M. Mason ²

²NOAA-Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

2205 Commonwealth Blvd.

Ann Arbor, MI 48105

 

Abstract

The Study Group on Fisheries Acoustics in the Great Lakes was formed in 2002 through a grant from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to Lars Rudstam and Doran Mason. The study group had two tasks. The first was to hold meetings and workshops on acoustics in the Great Lakes to improve communications between assessment biologist and scientists interested in fisheries acoustics in the region. Workshops were held at the Cornell Biological Field Station in New York and at the USGS Great Lakes Science Center in Michigan. Topics included review of acoustic surveys in the Great Lakes (2002), survey design (2003 with John Simmonds, Fisheries Research Services Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, Scotland), on target strength (2004, with John Horne, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.), and multifrequency analysis (2006, with Frank Knudsen, Simrad and Helge Balk, University of Oslo, Norway). In addition, we organized a symposium of fisheries acoustics in the Great Lakes at the International Association for Great Lakes Research annual meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2005.

The second task was to develop standard operating procedures (SOP) based on discussion at these workshops. This SOP is intended to provide standard procedures for collecting, processing, and analyzing acoustical data collected in the Great Lakes. This task was expanded to also include preparation of the acoustic chapter for the new edition of the American Fisheries Society book on Fisheries Techniques. The first draft of both the book chapter and the SOP is included as an appendix. It includes a review of acoustic techniques and recommendation for standard operating procedures. At this stage, this first draft is going out for review first to the members of the study group, and second to members of the broader community of scientist interested in acoustic methods.