Abstract
This is a report of the Environmental Effects Monitoring Plan (EEMP) for sixteen hydroacoustic fish surveys conducted in Minas Passage between August 2011 through August 2017. Six surveys were led by Dr. Gary Melvin between August 2011 and May 2012 (herein “historical”). The nine FORCE-funded surveys were conducted between May 2016 and August 2017 (herein “contemporary”).
The four main objectives of this report are to:
1. provide FORCE personnel information relevant to understanding the historical and contemporary datasets, including technical guidance.
2. convey to FORCE a set of scripts that can be used to automate preparation of hydroacoustic data for analyses.
3. provide examples of data visualizations, including a case study example of drilling down into the data to gain insight into the summarized data.
4. provide a statistically rigorous analytical approach to quantifying the relationship between observed volume backscattering strength (Sv: proxy for fish density) and predictor variables (e.g., site, season, tide phase). This approach was designed and approved by a University of Maine statistician.