Abstract
Various techniques have been used in marine fishery resources assessment. Among those, acoustic techniques have high efficiency and wide adaptability, and are environment friendly. Therefore, acoustic techniques played a key/indispensable role in the field of ecosystem-based fishery management. Acoustic surveys were conducted during the wet (May) and dry (November) seasons in 2016 in the artificial reefs ecological reserve of Bohai Gulf and a nearby control region to understand the current situation of fishery resources and explore the effectiveness of underwater artificial constructions by a dual-frequency identification sonar (DIDSON) and a scientific split-beam echosounder (120 KHz, Simrad EY60). Fish densities in various seasons and regions showed significant differences and interaction, with a maximum value of 358020.34 ind/n.mile2 in the artificial reefs’ region and a minimum value of 71898.35 ind/n.mile2 in the control region during the wet season. Fish densities in defined parallel transects revealed a roughly southward migration trend of small-size individuals from wet season to dry season. Single echo detections in the artificial reefs region demonstrated a wider target strength (TS) range (− 60 ~ − 30 dB vs − 60 ~ − 51 dB) and higher mean TS values (− 55.87 dB vs − 58.31 dB) than the control region both in the wet and dry seasons, which indicated a more complicated and stable fish community structure in the artificial reefs area. The vertical distribution of single echo detections tracked by the echoview post-processing system showed an apparent downward gathering effect. A positive correlation between TS and water depth was discovered from Pearson correlation analysis in the artificial reefs region during the dry season.
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