Uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) survey of walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys
Abstract In 2020, the developing COVID-19 pandemic disrupted fisheries surveys to an unprecedented extent. Many surveys were cancelled, including those for walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) in the eastern Bering Sea (EBS), the largest fishery in the United States. To partially mitigate the loss...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab155 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/78/8/2797/40935029/fsab155.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/icesjms/fsab155 2024-09-15T17:59:37+00:00 Uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) survey of walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys De Robertis, Alex Levine, Mike Lauffenburger, Nathan Honkalehto, Taina Ianelli, James Monnahan, Cole C Towler, Rick Jones, Darin Stienessen, Sarah McKelvey, Denise Godø, Olav Rune NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab155 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/78/8/2797/40935029/fsab155.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) ICES Journal of Marine Science volume 78, issue 8, page 2797-2808 ISSN 1054-3139 1095-9289 journal-article 2021 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab155 2024-07-22T04:25:40Z Abstract In 2020, the developing COVID-19 pandemic disrupted fisheries surveys to an unprecedented extent. Many surveys were cancelled, including those for walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) in the eastern Bering Sea (EBS), the largest fishery in the United States. To partially mitigate the loss of survey information, we deployed three uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) equipped with echosounders to extend the ship-based acoustic-trawl time series of pollock abundance. Trawling was not possible from USVs, so an empirical relationship between pollock backscatter and biomass established from previous surveys was developed to convert USV backscatter observations into pollock abundance. The EBS is well suited for this approach since pollock dominate midwater fishes in the survey area. Acoustic data from the USVs were combined with historical surveys to provide a consistent fishery-independent index in 2020. This application demonstrates the unique capabilities of USVs and how they could be rapidly deployed to collect information on pollock abundance and distribution when a ship-based survey was not feasible. We note the limitations of this approach (e.g. higher uncertainty relative to previous ship-based surveys), but found the USV survey to be useful in informing the stock assessment in a situation where ship-based surveys were not possible. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Sea Oxford University Press ICES Journal of Marine Science 78 8 2797 2808 |
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Open Polar |
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Oxford University Press |
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croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract In 2020, the developing COVID-19 pandemic disrupted fisheries surveys to an unprecedented extent. Many surveys were cancelled, including those for walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) in the eastern Bering Sea (EBS), the largest fishery in the United States. To partially mitigate the loss of survey information, we deployed three uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) equipped with echosounders to extend the ship-based acoustic-trawl time series of pollock abundance. Trawling was not possible from USVs, so an empirical relationship between pollock backscatter and biomass established from previous surveys was developed to convert USV backscatter observations into pollock abundance. The EBS is well suited for this approach since pollock dominate midwater fishes in the survey area. Acoustic data from the USVs were combined with historical surveys to provide a consistent fishery-independent index in 2020. This application demonstrates the unique capabilities of USVs and how they could be rapidly deployed to collect information on pollock abundance and distribution when a ship-based survey was not feasible. We note the limitations of this approach (e.g. higher uncertainty relative to previous ship-based surveys), but found the USV survey to be useful in informing the stock assessment in a situation where ship-based surveys were not possible. |
author2 |
Godø, Olav Rune NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
De Robertis, Alex Levine, Mike Lauffenburger, Nathan Honkalehto, Taina Ianelli, James Monnahan, Cole C Towler, Rick Jones, Darin Stienessen, Sarah McKelvey, Denise |
spellingShingle |
De Robertis, Alex Levine, Mike Lauffenburger, Nathan Honkalehto, Taina Ianelli, James Monnahan, Cole C Towler, Rick Jones, Darin Stienessen, Sarah McKelvey, Denise Uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) survey of walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys |
author_facet |
De Robertis, Alex Levine, Mike Lauffenburger, Nathan Honkalehto, Taina Ianelli, James Monnahan, Cole C Towler, Rick Jones, Darin Stienessen, Sarah McKelvey, Denise |
author_sort |
De Robertis, Alex |
title |
Uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) survey of walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys |
title_short |
Uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) survey of walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys |
title_full |
Uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) survey of walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys |
title_fullStr |
Uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) survey of walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys |
title_full_unstemmed |
Uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) survey of walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys |
title_sort |
uncrewed surface vehicle (usv) survey of walleye pollock, gadus chalcogrammus, in response to the cancellation of ship-based surveys |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab155 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/78/8/2797/40935029/fsab155.pdf |
genre |
Bering Sea |
genre_facet |
Bering Sea |
op_source |
ICES Journal of Marine Science volume 78, issue 8, page 2797-2808 ISSN 1054-3139 1095-9289 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab155 |
container_title |
ICES Journal of Marine Science |
container_volume |
78 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
2797 |
op_container_end_page |
2808 |
_version_ |
1810436720541302784 |