Aquatic animals rely on sound to understand their environment, including communicating with conspecifics. Many fish species have been documented to produce sounds, with 1,185 different species across 133 different families known to be soniferous. The ambient underwater soundscape has been changing due to the growing contribution of human-generated noise sources. Increased underwater noise levels are not only changing the soundscape but have also been documented to increase mortality and alter behavior in many fish species. This session will explore the use of underwater soundscapes as a tool for better understanding the ecology of fish species, the impact of anthropogenic activities, and the use of sound production in fish for monitoring species distributions, managing fisheries, and detecting invasive species. Collectively, these topics represent emerging areas for fisheries conservation and management.
Organizer: Kelsie Murchy, University of Victoria, [email protected]
Co-organizers: Francis Juanes, Kieran Cox, Audrey Looby
Supported by: University of Victoria