OCD200201: 38kHz Acoustic Data from Blue Grenadier Fishing, Tasmania 2002

38kHz Simrad ES60 acoustic data was collected during commercial fishing for spawning blue grenadier off the Tasmanian west coast in 2002. FV Ocean Dawn was one of three factory freezer vessels gathering acoustic and biological data for an FRDC project, with data held by CSIRO Marine Science Acoustic Group in Hobart. The cruise dates provided represent the period for which data is held, which is a subset of the full voyage whose exact start and end dates are not known.

Use Cases

• Analyze fish school density and distribution based on 38kHz acoustic backscatter.
• Correlate acoustic data with biological samples (species, length, weight, sex, stage) collected by an AFMA observer.
• Map fishing activity and trawl locations using GPS data embedded in the .raw files.
• Study spawning behavior of blue grenadier in a specific temporal and geographic context.

Strengths

• Data is part of a coordinated FRDC project involving three vessels, suggesting a structured collection effort.
• Complementary biological and trawl log data from AFMA observers and ship officers are referenced.
• Acoustic data is held by the authoritative CSIRO Marine Science Acoustic Group.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset consists of ES60 history files only, with no cruise track or digitised echogram data available.

Provenance

Source

CSIRO Marine Science Acoustic Group (Hobart), collected during an FRDC project.

Collection Method

Acoustic data collected via 38kHz Simrad ES60 echosounder during commercial fishing operations.

Time Range

2002 (specific cruise dates are a subset of the voyage; exact start/end dates unknown).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-21 14:21:00.875498; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Tasmanian west coast.