Research: Improving the sonar fish countsAlthough the technology has already proven to be useful, there is still a lot to do before the sonar counts can be fully utilised in the Miramichi River. A research team from Canadian Rivers Institute at University of New Brunswick is testing and working to improve the method.
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1. Accuracy and PrecisionOne aspect of the research project is to improve the accuracy of the fish counts and make sure that all the fish are registered in our data. The steps we are taking include:
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2. Fish SpeciesCurrently, the sonar method does not differentiate between fish species. Fish length can be measured from the sonar image, but there are several fish species that are of similar size to salmon, and particularly the one sea-winter salmon, commonly known as "grilse". Our goal is to find a method that can be used to distinguish between the species. We are using migration timing, fish behavior, and their swimming characteristics for species identification.
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3. Automated processingFish counting will never be fully automated: River research is always challenging and one can never be ready for all the surprises nature has in store for us.
However, one advantage of using sonar to count fish is the smaller need of staff. While other fish counting methods can be very laborious, sonar data can be processed with computers. We are working to make things faster by automating large parts of the process. |