Above: L-R: Dr. Jonathan Fisher and Gordon Adams prepare a baited camera for deployment on the Northeast Newfoundland Slope. Photo by Adam Templeton
Researchers from the Marine Institute (MI) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) recently spent 31 days at sea gathering data using state-of-the-art non-invasive surveying techniques within three federal marine conservation areas of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The group, headed by MI’s Dr. Jonathan Fisher, surveyed the areas of the Northeast Newfoundland Slope along the border of Canada’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone, the Hopedale Saddle off the Labrador coast and Funk Island Deep near Fogo Island. These are areas set aside by the federal government to meet their priorities and projections for conserving marine areas. The team’s 31-day excursion was aboard the Patrick and William, a 31-metre research vessel owned by St. John’s-based RS Marine.
Fisher’s team was responsible for collecting information about these areas using non-invasive surveying techniques to collect data for developing long-term monitoring plans for areas such as these. One such technology used were baited remote underwater cameras, which draws fish and invertebrates in using bait.
“It’s actually SubC Technologies from Clarenville,” said Fisher. “We use their Rayfin systems to get stunning imagery of fish on the bottom. We can use laser systems to measure how big the fish are.”
Another technique used by the research group were drop cameras, which are essentially yo-yos that drop down below the surface to get images of benthic habitats, a term used to refer to anything at the lowest levels of a body of water.
The camera then returns to the surface as the vessel drifts, taking high-definition photographs along the way. These photos can give researchers a solid grasp of what exactly lies below these areas of the ocean, how the habitats vary, and the number of individual species in the area.
MI also used acoustic technologies to give detailed mapping of the research areas. The technology, known as multibeam echosounder (MBES), sends acoustic waves towards the seabed in a fan shape. The time it takes for the waves to bounce back off the sea floor and return to the receiver calculates the waters depth.
“Multi-beam mapping is a big part of this program. Many of these areas have not been mapped, so multi-beam is continuously running,” said Fisher.
“We also have fisheries acoustics that’s running continuously. These are high-tech fish finders that collect information at four different frequencies, so we’re not taking any fish from the water but getting a sense of what might be down there.”
There has been conjecture before that non-invasive surveys like this might be the future of stock assessments for DFO. According to Fisher, the survey technologies are a way out from being viable in the commercial sector.
“I think that things like acoustics still need to be validated. They need to be validated by bringing up individuals. And I’ll make the point that this is not stock assessment, this is conservation area assessment, which are two slightly different groups within DFO,” Fisher explained. “So, I think with stock assessment you still need information on abundance, species composition, things like ages, things like lengths for growth — and those you have to get from individual fish. So, I think that right now there’s not a means to totally get around taking analyzing catch for stock assessments.”
However, Fisher believes that there are plenty of non-invasive and remotely operated technologies that could be viable in the near future.
“I think that innovation and cost-savings are going to drive the use of new technologies as far as possible,” said Fisher. “So, things like remotely operated vessels or gliders — these are things that collect information without people being there. There are systems onboard some technologies out of Norway that for example tow a trawl, but the trawl would be open and it counts the fish and measures the fish as they go through the this deep-vision system that uses cameras as well. There’s a case where we’ve still got a net that’s being towed, but all the fish are getting through and they can all be identified to the species level and get some size information.”
Fisher thinks a strength of this program related to both conservation and stock assessment technologies is how much DFO scientists have come forward and contributed ideas and shared tools in a shared goal of gathering the most information possible in the shortest amount of sea time.
“I think the sky’s the limit,” Fisher added.
