Acoustic survey design and analysis procedure: a comprehensive review of current practice

This report has been prepared as a result of discussions in the Fisheries Acoustics Science and Technology (FAST) Working Group ofthe International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Following discussions in Seattle, United States in 1987 and Ostend, Belgium in 1988, a questionnaire on survey and data analysis practices was circulated to the working group participants. Replies were received from Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Sweden and

United States. The responses were compiled, presented, and discussed at the working group meeting in Dublin, Ireland in 1989 (Simmonds, 1989). Further discussions were held in Rostock, Germany in 1990 and it was decided to prepare a report to review acoustic survey and design procedures for abundance estimation and to recommend a number of suitable acoustic survey procedures. This report was prepared throughout 1990 and 1991, and a draft was presented and discussed at the

working group meeting in Ancona, Italy in April 1991 and at the statutory meeting in La Rochelle 1991. Comments were received from individual members of the working group and final editing was completed by July 1992.