Abundance and biomass of fish in shallow aquaculture ponds using acoustic techniques
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1
EcoFish Research SLL, Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Spain
One of the major needs in the management of aquaculture enterprises is reliable knowledge of abundance and biomass of fish farming in ponds. On the one hand, because it is a priority for the traceability of the product and on the other hand, because it has a direct impact on the final feed costs. Currently, the generalized procedure is the periodic sampling of fish using intrusive methods. This study presents the results obtained by applying a hydroacoustic methodology developed in a previous study supported by Ctaqua under the Project "non-intrusive technique for the calculation of total fish biomass in aquaculture production systems" (supported by the Ministry of Economy, Innovation Science and Enterprise) on shallow aquaculture ponds. Unlike extractive methods, the acoustic methods obtain information on the fish density and biomass without direct contact with animals, avoiding the stress that this entails. The hydroacoustic techniques are presented as appropriate for the remote detection of organisms into the water, including fish.
The study was conducted in rectangular ponds of seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilthead seabream (Spaurus aurata) using hydroacoustic in its horizontal application, because of the depth of these systems (<3 m). A Simrad EK60 echosounder provided with two circular split-beam transducers operating at 200 kHz (ES200-7C) was used. The transducers were oriented in opposite direction and worked simultaneously.
The acoustic results were compared with actual data provided by the fish farmers. The use of specific equations for the studied species allowed us to obtain estimates of the average weight very similar to the actual one, indicating the good performance of hydroacoustic on identifying sizes horizontally. The acoustic results show reliable estimates of absolute abundance and biomass of fish. The density of fish per unit volume (fish/m3) was presented as the most suitable measure of the abundance of fish. The biomass results showed a lower fit with actual data than the abundance ones. However, they were also good, indicating that the applied method provides a valuable tool for aquaculture management.
Keywords:
fish,
hydroacoustics,
Aquaculture,
Abundance estimation,
Biomass estimation
Conference:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
4. FISHERIES, AQUACULTURE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
Citation:
Encina
L,
Rodríguez-Ruiz
A,
Cid
J,
Orduna
C and
Rodríguez-Sánchez
V
(2016). Abundance and biomass of fish in shallow aquaculture ponds using acoustic techniques.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00074
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Received:
15 May 2016;
Published Online:
02 Sep 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Lourdes Encina, EcoFish Research SLL, Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Seville, E-41080, Spain, vrodriguez@us.es