Publication Abstract

A satellite transmitting acoustic listening station for monitoring the small scale movements of marine fish

M. Eagle, M. Fulcher, D. Righton, & J. Metcalfe

Studying the behaviour of marine fishes under natural conditions is a problem that continues to challenge behavioural technologists worldwide. Acoustic telemetry methods provide high-quality data in real-time, but long-term studies can be difficult for many practical and technical reasons. CEFAS has developed an unmanned, low maintenance data logging and retrieval system which is named ‘The Acoustic Telemetry Buoy’ (ATB). This system has evolved from a simple real-time acoustic to radio repeater, to a data logging system and, finally, to an autonomous acoustic data telemetry system capable of detecting and logging data over an extended period and transmitting that data from almost anywhere in the world. Further developments will permit telemetry of environmental data such as temperature and depth and an increase in the total number of individually-coded tags that the system can distinguish between. The ATB has successfully been used to monitor the small-scale movements of cod on a feeding ground in the North Sea over periods of more than 3 months at a time. These results, collected during the summers of years 2000 through 2002, provide an illustration of the system’s potential.