Case Study: USGS Western Fisheries Research Center evaluates fish behavior with Echoview Software

Processing data from acoustic cameras to evaluate fish behavior

USGS Western Fisheries Research Center worked with Echoview Software to study fish passage near Cougar Dam in Oregon, where acoustic cameras were used to monitor juvenile Chinook salmon around a water temperature control tower. The challenge was to process large volumes of acoustic camera data and distinguish fish from predators and background noise so researchers could better understand fish presence, speed, and movement patterns.

Echoview Software provided a semi-automated processing workflow in Echoview that used successive filters to clean the acoustic returns, identify moving targets, and convert them into 2D position and time data for tracking analysis. This helped the researchers use more of the small-fish data in their analysis and quantify how factors such as discharge, time of day, and water temperature influenced fish movement; the study found that travel speed, direction, and counts moving toward the tower were primarily affected by the amount of water discharged through the dam.

USGS Western Fisheries Research Center