Lateral-aspect, target-strength measurements of in situ herring (Clupea harengus)

Abstract

Pedersen, G., Handegard, N. O., and Ona, E. 2009. Lateral-aspect, target-strength measurements of in situ herring (Clupea harengus). – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1191–1196. Surveys of schooling herring with the new multibeam sonar (Simrad MS70) pose new challenges when converting the echo energy to estimates of biomass. Because the sonar projects horizontally, data and models of lateral-aspect, herring target strength (TS) are needed. In this study, the TS of herring is measured with a horizontally projecting, split-beam echosounder (Simrad EK60). Target-tracking methods are used to estimate swimming angles relative to the horizontal (θ) of individual herring within schools and layers and to evaluate how θ and TS change with depth (z). Measurements of θ and TS are used as inputs for a model describing TS as a function of θ and z. The results indicate that the mean lateral-aspect TS of in situ herring depends on z. Moreover, the mean lateral-aspect TS is more sensitive to z than the mean dorsal-aspect TS predicted by a published model. At z = 50 m, the mean lateral-aspect TS is nearly 2.5 dB higher than the mean dorsal-aspect TS. Conversely, at z = 350 m, the lateral-aspect TS is 5 dB lower. These results suggest that herring swimbladders do not compress uniformly with increasing pressure, but compress dorsoventrally more than laterally.