Adaptive Resolution Imaging Sonar (ARIS) as a tool for marine fish identification

Assessment and monitoring of marine biodiversity, including fish populations, is essential for evidence-based conservation management of coastal marine resources. The effectiveness of monitoring techniques for stock assessment varies with sea conditions. In dynamic marine environments with high turbidity, such as those found in estuaries, mangroves, coastal straits, fjords, and bays, traditional assessment methods include the use of destructive techniques such as trawling. Hydroacoustic sampling techniques overcome such restrictions, equipment such as echosounders have commonly been used for biodiversity assessments including fish community structure, biomass, behaviour, and dynamics studies. However, hydroacoustic methods have been shown to be less reliable for species identification. The high frequency Adaptive Resolution Imaging Sonar (ARIS) is widely used for underwater object detection and imaging. Our study investigated the suitability of ARIS 3000 for the species identification of North-East Atlantic marine species using experimental aquarium studies, field surveys and multi investigator assessments. Aquaria results showed that 82 % of species were detected by observers, of which five were identified correctly identified consistently. The remaining four species were identified correctly <67 % of the time. During field surveys, a 150 % higher confidence in identification was given to more morphologically distinct groups such as elasmobranchs. Whilst our results highlight the suitability of the ARIS for accurate and repeatable identification of some of the model species used in this study, we have also shown that factors such as size and morphological traits limit the accuracy of identification for all species. We suggest that monitoring techniques combine the use of ARIS sonars alongside other sampling tools for assessing motile faunal communities.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that the high-frequency ARIS hydroacoustic system has a certain level of accuracy in underwater species identification, but is limited by factors such as species size and morphological traits. Monitoring techniques should combine the use of ARIS sonars alongside other sampling tools.