Investigation of demersal fish using Autonomous Underwater Vehicle - Kichiji Rockfish，Sebastrobus macrochir (Günther，1877)，surveys and challenges

Abstract

This study examines the survey of demersal fish resources using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) equipped with cameras. We have surveyed Kichiji Rockfish (Sebastolobus macrochir) and analyzed multi-year field data collected by the AUV Tuna-Sand in the Sea of Okhotsk (mean depth 600m) between 2013 and 2015. More than18,800 strobe-illuminated images covering 4.7 ha along a total 26.5 km transect were analyzed to determine the distribution of individuals and their sizes at different time periods，and to generate biomass estimates. The results were validated using trawl data，and showed good agreement. The major advantages of the introduction of AUVs are 1) it provides high resolution information on the relative position of individuals based on accurate AUV location data，2) it has significantly less environmental impact，3) it allows for high repeatability that conventional trawl surveys. The results demonstrate that the natural sparsity of the Kichiji distribution is an important factor in survey track-line design and data analysis. Consequently，this paper recommends best practices for reliable resource estimation

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