Advantages and Challenges to Standardizing Fishery Sonar Surveys in Coral Reef Ecosystems

Recent applications of fisheries hydroacoustic surveys in coral reef ecosystems show promise in providing additional biological information to inform fisheries management, marine reserve design and ecosystem assessments.  Clear advantages are in the ability to survey large areas quickly and efficiently, while also resolving distribution of fish biomass at fine spatial resolutions relative to complex habitat mosaics and across a range of spatial and temporal scales.  Significant challenges remain: 1) repeatability of surveys on different vessel platforms, 2) accounting for fish behavior and confounding effects of temporal and spatial distribution, 3) detecting fishes in close proximity to complex and structured habitats, 4) apportioning to species or species groups.  We will use examples from recent ecosystem assessments using hydroacoustics and complimentary visual and optical survey methods in Flower Gardens Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico and the insular shelf of the US Virgin Islands to highlight approaches we are using to begin to overcome these challenges.  Specifically, we will describe current efforts to develop standardized data products that will fill data gaps in fisheries and ecosystem management.