Semiautomated Analysis of Data from an Imaging Sonar for Fish Counting, Sizing, and Tracking in a Post-Processing Application

Dual frequency identification sonar (DIDSON) is an imaging sonar that has been used for numerous fisheries investigations in a diverse range of freshwater and marine environments. The main purpose of DIDSON is fish counting, fish sizing, and fish behav ioral studies. DIDSON records video-quality data, so processing power for handling the vast amount of data with high speed is a priority. Therefore, a semiautomated analysis of DIDSON data for fish counting, sizing, and fish behavior in Echoview (fisheries acoustic data analysis software) was accomplished using testing data collected on the Rakaia River, New Zealand. Using this data, the methods and algorithms for background noise subtraction, image smoothing, target (fish) detection, and conversion to single targets were precisely illustrated. Verification by visualization identified the resulting targets. As a result, not only fish counts but also fish sizing information such as length, thickness, perimeter, compactness, and orientation were obtained. The alpha-beta fish tracking algorithm was employed to extract the speed, change in depth, and the distributed depth relating to fish behavior. Tail-beat pattern was depicted using the maximum intensity of all beams. This methodology can be used as a template and applied to data from BlueView two-dimensional imaging sonar.

[1]  Craig S. Rose,et al.  Use of high-frequency imaging sonar to observe fish behaviour near baited fishing gears , 2005 .

[2]  D. W. Rondorf,et al.  Imaging Fall Chinook Salmon Redds in the Columbia River with a Dual-Frequency Identification Sonar , 2004 .

[3]  S. Uye,et al.  Quantification of the abundance and distribution of the common jellyfish Aurelia aurita s.l. with a Dual-frequency IDentification SONar (DIDSON) , 2009 .

[4]  Jun Han,et al.  Automated acoustic method for counting and sizing farmed fish during transfer using DIDSON , 2009, Fisheries Science.

[5]  Samuel S. Blackman,et al.  Multiple-Target Tracking with Radar Applications , 1986 .

[6]  Thomas J. Carlson,et al.  A fisheries application of a dual-frequency identification sonar acoustic camera , 2003 .

[7]  Dimitri P. Bertsekas,et al.  The Auction Algorithm for Assignment and Other Network Flow Problems: A Tutorial , 1990 .

[8]  Rodney D. Hale,et al.  Acoustic species identification in the Northwest Atlantic using digital image processing , 2000 .

[9]  Kresimir Williams,et al.  Automated tracking of fish in trawls using the DIDSON (Dual frequency IDentification SONar) , 2008 .

[10]  Kevin M. Boswell,et al.  Tail-Beat Patterns in Dual-Frequency Identification Sonar Echograms and their Potential Use for Species Identification and Bioenergetics Studies , 2010 .

[11]  J. Holmes,et al.  Accuracy and precision of fish-count data from a “dual-frequency identification sonar” (DIDSON) imaging system , 2006 .

[12]  Robert P. Mueller,et al.  Video and acoustic camera techniques for studying fish under ice: a review and comparison , 2006, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.