Evaluating Autonomous Underwater Vehicles as Tools for Surveying and Tracking Tagged Fish

Quantifying the spatial movements of animals is crucial to understanding the role that species play in ecological systems and is of critical importance for fisheries management. However, measuring the movements of individuals is problematic and researchers have relied on a variety of different technologies and are constantly in search of tools that increase data collection and minimize human effort. We have developed an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that is designed to actively track an acoustically tagged animal. The AUV is able to provide better spatial accuracy than a human (AUV: 6.1 ± 4.8 m, Researcher: 16.6 ± 9.7 m, F = 31.1, p = 0.005), while generating significantly more localizations per minute (AUV: 45.2 ± 10.5 detection/min, Researcher: 12.2 ± 9.1 detections/min, t_2.41= 3.96, p = 0.04). By utilizing autonomous tools such as this, researchers will be better able to quantify the movements of important fishes, while reducing man-hour investment. In addition, these tools have the ability to provide simultaneous multiple data streams, allowing for environmental characterization, habitat and sea floor mapping, and 3D position estimates for tagged focal animals. These vehicles also offer a tool for surveying for tagged animals and providing high-resolution position estimates.