Dual-Frequency
IDentification SONar (DIDSON): Application and the Influence of Flow and Environmental Variables on Fish
Migration in the
Michipicoten
River
, Wawa
Researchers:
Nick Jones, Marcel Pellegrini, Ian Petreman, and Scott Milne
Project Description:
Fixed-location, side-looking sonar techniques are often the only way to
obtain within season abundance estimates for potamodromous fishes in rivers
that are too wide for weir structures and too occluded for visual
observations and too swift for netting. While sonar techniques has been used
in coastal river systems in western North America little use/evaluation has
occurred in inland waters such as the
Great Lakes
.
In this research we attempt to
address (1) what is the variability between observers performing the fish
counts, (2) how much of the data do we need to analyze e.g., 10 minutes per
hour every other day, to estimate migrating numbers of fish, (3) how can
computer derived count data be used to estimate fish abundance (4) what is
the relationship between fish migration and environmental conditions (e.g.
flow, temperature, light) seasonally and daily? How does flow regulation on
the
Michipicoten
River
influence migrating fish? This research will also contribute to the
development of a DIDSON assessment protocol for rivers in Ontario.
Video
1. Fish migration up the Michipicoten on November 3, 2007
