A team of scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California – San Diego has been using the power of sound to their advantage. In recent studies conducted in a marine preserve near the Cabo Pulmo National Park in Mexico, the team used sonar technology to send sound signals into the water and record what “bounced” back. Once they had this information, they were able to apply their knowledge of hydroacoustics, the study of the behavior of sound in water, to get an idea of how many fish were occupying the preserve, and even record the physical properties of these animals, such as their density, size, and shape.
Moreover, according to the article from Australia’s Science Channel, the team of scientists who used sonar technology to count the fish were able to complete their task roughly 125,000% more quickly than the team who solely used visual observations. While using sonar technology to count and observe fish may seem like the obvious solution to a lack of efficiency, visual observations do offer a higher degree of detail about the fish, such as their specific species, color, and activity.
However, hydroacoustic and sonar technologies are only advancing, so it’s highly likely that in the future they will be able to provide us with almost all of the information that visual observations can about marine life, and save scientists thousands of hours of tedious work.