**The title, authors, and abstract for this completion report are provided below.  For a copy of the completion report, please contact the GLFC via e-mail or via telephone at 734-662-3209**

 

Workshop on Great Lakes Acoustic Standard Operating Procedures

 

Daniel Yule1, Lars Rudstam2, Sandra Parker-Stetter3, David Warner4, Randall Claramunt5, Patrick Sullivan2

 

December 2008

 

 

1 - Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Superior Biological Station, 2800 Lakeshore Drive E., Ashland, WI 54806.

2 - Cornell Biological Field Station and Department of Natural Resource, Cornell University, 900 Shackelton Point Road, Bridgeport, NY 13030.

3 - School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Box 355020, Seattle, WA 98195-5020.

4 - Great Lakes Science Center, 1451 Green Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2807.

5 - Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station, Charlevoix, MI 49720.

 

ABSTRACT:

The Workshop on Great Lakes acoustic standard operating procedures (SOP) was held 8-11 September at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MI DNR), Charlevoix Fishery Research Station. The workshop was paid for by a $10,500 grant received from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) science transfer fund, with participants charged a small fee of $50 each to offset costs of provided meals. The workshop included 1) introductory lectures on fishery acoustics, 2) description of the new Great Lakes acoustic SOP, 3) instruction on the use of two acoustic post processing software packages (Echoview 4.5 and Sonar 5), 4) demonstration of methods for conducting field calibration tests aboard the MI DNR research vessel Steelhead, 5) an example application of the SOP to a Lake Champlain data set, and 6) instruction on cluster analysis, geostatistics and uncertainty analysis. A total of 69 people were invited to participate, but the actual number of participants was 26 led by 5 instructors. Scientists from 3 Universities, 2 private-sector businesses, 10 state, federal and provincial agencies and 1 private environmental consultant attended. The workshop provided an opportunity for new acoustic users to network with more experienced users within the framework of describing how to apply the SOP.  A workshop exit survey showed attendees were generally pleased with the workshop. Future acoustic workshops should be directed towards case studies using the new SOP, invertebrate sampling and bottom typing applications, and methods of incorporating all uncertainty in confidence bound estimates.