AquaTracker: A Complete Software Package for the Analysis and Visualization of Acoustic Telemetry Data

Advancements in the miniaturization of acoustic tags have made acoustic telemetry an important tool in fisheries research.  Acoustic telemetry can yield important information about the migratory routes of fish and other large and medium scale spatial behaviors, such as ranging and habitat usage.  However, the large amounts of data generated by even a small number of receivers can be very challenging to analyze. Because most commercial software available for acoustic telemetry is designed to visualize animal tracks, we developed a custom program to quantify, analyze, and visualize the data generated by telemetry projects for steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and lingcod (Ophidon elongates) in Puget Sound.  The program, which we called AquaTracker, was written in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0.  It allows the user to track the path of a single fish and export track parameters to any spreadsheet program.  These parameters include travel rate, travel distance, range of travel, ranging index, and tortuosity.  The program also identifies receivers near which the fish spent the maximum continuous time and calculates the residence time at that receiver.  A data model that supports mobile tracking is also provided.  Additionally, AquaTracker allows the user to import sunrise/sunset data to compare diel and nocturnal movements.  Receivers with overlapping detection radii can be grouped, so the overlaps do not bias the analysis. Density plots, excursion analysis, fish grouping, and other tools are also provided.  Since 2006, we have receiver arrays in the Hood Canal to track the movements of steelhead trout to determine the effects of hatchery supplementation on key population parameters.  Data from this on-going study has been used to test the AquaTracker package and will be used to show some of AquaTracker’s functions in this talk.  Other scientists in the Puget Sound Biotelemetry Workgroup have begun using this software and are providing feedback and suggestions to optimize its development.