Stock Assessment and Resource Monitoring
Hydroacoustic technology has been proven an effective method for estimating fish abundance and biomass in lakes, rivers, and oceans. Using hydroacoustic technology, large volumes of water can be sampled within a relatively short period of time. This technology, when integrated with other fish sampling methods, provides a size and/or species specific estimate of fish abundance with high confidence and precision.

Survey Design and Methodology
Careful consideration and planning of survey design and methodology is crucial when providing meaningful information about the population abundance, behaviour, or spatial distribution of aquatic organisms. When designing hydroacoustic surveys, the user should consider a number of questions: What frequency should I use?  Should I complete a daytime or nighttime survey?  Where do I place my transect lines?  How long should my transects be?  These are just a few of the questions we can help you answer before you get on the water to ensure that the data you collect is meaningful and accurate.  These are just a few of the questions that Milne Technologies can help you answer before you get on the water, thus ensuring that the data you collect is meaningful and accurate. To help you effectively design your survey, important considerations include the geographic extent and spatial distribution of the population, the horizontal and vertical movements of the focal species, behavioral characteristics such as schooling and spawning, and available vessel time and budget.

Habitat, Bathymetric, and Submerged Macrophyte Mapping
In addition to fish and zooplankton data, hydroacoustic surveys simultaneously provide information on aquatic habitat (bathymetry and quantified thermal habitat mapping), bottom substrate classification (relative hardness and roughness), and macrophyte mapping. Such mapping can be used, among other purposes, for assessment of the quantity and quality of spawning habitat, characterization of the spatial association between fish and specific habitat features, and provision of detailed lake and river-bottom relief for navigational purposes. For more information, including example maps, check out our aquatic substrates and submerged macrophytes pages.

Behavioural Ecology
Hydroacoustics can be used to study the in situ behaviour of fish and zooplankton. This can provide a rare glimpse into predator-prey spatial dynamics and behavioural responses, foraging and social interactions, and the collective behaviour of individuals in fish schools. In addition, hydroacoustics can provide data on the movement of individuals and schools in three dimensions, vertical and horizontal swimming speed, gear avoidance, school size and shape characteristics, and encounter rates of predators with their prey. Click here for information on the ground-breaking research being conducted by Milne Technologies and partners on combining hydroacoustics with biotelemetry to study the swimming and foraging behaviour of acoustically tagged lake trout.

Hydroacoustic Data Processing and Analysis
Milne Technologies has the expertise and software to perform processing and analyses of hydroacoustics data. Just give us the raw data you collected in the field and we will analyze your data, summarize results, and make detailed figures and maps. Data services provided include those mentioned above. For a description of our specialized software capabilities click here.

Simulation and Statistical Modeling

Simulation Modeling of Management Scenarios
Simulation modeling is a tool that can be used to predict the consequences of alternative management measures on the characteristics of fish populations and yield from fisheries. Example management measures that can be modeled include length limit restrictions, creel or allowable catch limits, seasonal closures, protected areas, and effort control. Milne Technologies provides expertise in designing and programming simulation models that can be parameterized with empirical data and tailor-made for specific populations and systems. For more information click here.

Other Services Provided Incude:

• stock assessment modeling
• fish aging and growth methodology
• fish and invertebrate population sampling
• water chemistry and physical limnology
• statistical analyses of time series data
• evolutionary modeling
• multi-species food web modeling using Ecopath with Ecosim
• scientific writing of journal articles for publication
• side-scan habitat mapping
• GIS analysis