Dual frequency identification SONAR (DIDSON) facility for sampling benthic and pelagic fish populations

Project Member(s): Booth, D., Gladstone, W.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Linkage Infrastructure)

Start year: 2010

Summary: Many Australians enjoy marine and freshwater resources and we are exploiting fisheries and waterways in particular, at an increasing rate. Effective management of fisheries requires understanding the abundance and behaviour of fish. The facility will provide novel acoustic video technology for researchers to count fishes and sharks near weirs, under wharves or logs, within seagrass beds. The DIDSON will also allow accurate and standardised study of fish movements in response to floods, algal blooms or re-stocking events without disturbing the fish or their habitats. This will enhance our understanding of the top-down control by fish or aquatic ecosystems that are directly adjacent to human activity.

Keywords: Sonar, riverine ecology, estuarine ecology, fish behaviour, fish population and dynamics, fish migration

FOR Codes: Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology), Climate and Climate Change not elsewhere classified, Mitigation of climate change, Adaptation to climate change, Understanding climate change

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.