Evaluating Acoustic Technologies to Monitor Aquatic Organisms at Renewable Energy Sites

Lead PI: Dr. John Horne, University of Washington
Start Year: 2010 | Duration: 2 years
Partners: NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Snohomish Public Utility District, BioSonics, & Sound Metrics

Understanding the potential for aggregation, avoidance, or strike at a hydrokinetic energy site requires knowledge of species-specific distributions over relevant spatial and temporal scales. However, the configuration and integration of technologies capable of providing images and data for characterizing and monitoring sites is not well-established, and the application of monitoring technologies is complicated by extreme flows at marine hydrokinetic energy sites. The University of Washington and their partners will evaluate the ability of three classes of active acoustic technologies (echosounders, multibeam sonar, and acoustic camera) to characterize and monitor animal densities and distributions at a proposed hydrokinetic site. Instrument packages will be deployed in northern Admiralty Inlet, WA, the site of the District’s proposed tidal energy demonstration project.

Annual PI Reports:
FY 2011 PI Report
FY 2012 PI Report