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Person

Mark R Dufour

Fisheries Biologist
Email: mdufour@usgs.gov
Office Phone: 419-625-1976
ORCID: 0000-0001-6930-7666

Location
380 Huron St
Huron , OH 44839
US
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Since 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey - Great Lakes Science Center's Lake Erie Biological Station (LEBS) has participated in a collaborative, multiagency effort to assess pelagic prey fish populations in the western (WB), central (CB), and eastern (EB) basins of Lake Erie through a combination of hydroacoustic and midwater trawl sampling. Assessing lake-wide distribution and abundance of pelagic prey species over time facilitates evaluation of large-scale drivers of fish production while also considering food-web dynamics at a smaller sub-basin scale. Information from this survey will support decision making within an ecosystem-based fishery management framework. In support of binational Great Lakes fishery management,...
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Assessing the distribution and abundance of both predator and prey (forage) fish species is a cornerstone of ecosystem-based fishery management and supports decision making that considers food-web interactions. In support of binational Great Lakes fishery management, the objectives of this survey were to: provide estimates of densities of key forage and predator species in the western basin of Lake Erie, to assess seasonal and spatial distributions of fishes in tandem with water quality information, and to assess year class strength. A systematic grid sampling approach with 41 stations was sampled via bottom trawl during June (Spring) and September (Autumn), starting in 2013. This data release adds 2023 data to...
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These data were derived from hydroacoustic data collected by uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) and powered research vessels. The powered vessels overtook the USVs in Lakes Huron and Michigan to study fish avoidance of survey vessels during traditional acoustic surveys. The water column was divided into three depth groups (epilimnion, metalimnion, hypolimnion) for analysis. Each drone transect was binned into 30-sec intervals and measured hydroacoustic values were averaged in this region. To compare vessels and drones, parallel overtakes (overtakes where vessel and drone followed the same path) which were ~2 km long, were measured by both platforms and the differences between acoustic measures compared.
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Hydroacoustic estimates of fish density are used for fisheries management in central Lake Erie. Hydroacoustic data were collected along 10, randomly-selected, 5-kilometer transects and two cross-basin transects between the US and Canadian shorelines in central Lake Erie during July 2021. Software-generated raw variables were used for calculating estimates of hydroacoustic fish densities presented here in tabular form. These data are related to a longer-term data set from 2010-2019, and a data set from 2020.
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These data were derived from hydroacoustic data collected by uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) and powered research vessels in Lake Superior in 2022. The powered vessels overtook the USVs to study fish avoidance of survey vessels during traditional acoustic surveys. The water column was divided into four depth groups for analysis. Each USV transect was binned into 30-sec intervals and measured hydroacoustic values were averaged in this region. To compare vessels and USVs, parallel overtakes (overtakes where vessel and drone followed the same path) which were ~2 km long, were measured by both platforms and the differences between acoustic measures compared.
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