Abstract

The objective of this study was to monitor and evaluate the schooling characteristics, including the distribution density (volume backscattering strength) and acoustic size (target strength), of commercially valuable species swimming in response to artificial reefs installed at Suyeong Man, Busan, Korea. Fish aggregations at two artificial reef areas and at a nearby natural rocky reef habitat were recorded and analyzed using a 70 kHz split-beam echo sounder and 330 kHz side-scan sonar from August to September, 2006. An underwater CCTV camera system was also used to observe marine organisms in physical contact with and swimming very close to artificial reefs. During the acoustic observations at three reef sites, useful information about schooling characteristics of fish aggregations responding to artificial reefs were obtained, but more trials are needed to confirm significant differences in schooling behavior and geographical distributions in areas containing natural reef structures and artificial reefs.

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