Use a survey design Yes11 No3 Skipped4 Random designs for choosing transects –Random drift, towed gear, ROV Stratified to spread out sampling Habitat basis using acoustic, multibeam (backscatter), sidescan.

Developing monitoring protocols using video for finfish farms sited over hard bottoms. Archipelago Marine Research Ltd, in collaboration with DFO, the Province, and Industry, did this work. Archipelago Marine Research Ltd Evaluation of hard seabed monitoring. Phase 2. Development of ROV video survey and data classification protocols. Prepared for BC Aquaculture Research and Development Committee. 119 pp.

BC Finfish Aquaculture Waste Control Regulation (FAWCR) operational monitoring for hard bottom finfish farm sites Tenure Site 2 transects, each from 2 dominant current direction (usually shore parallel). start point at containment structure, endpoint at perimeter of tenure. for each transect, 5 macrofauna quadrats (size not specified) at each station: perimeter of containment, 30m from 0m station, perimeter of tenure. Reference Sites at least 2 transects per site with one transect at least 100 m long. quadrats 1m 2 (with 9 sections) representing each substrate type. Still image of quadrat. Five at each site (sampled midway on transect). FAWCR survey protocols define sampling effort (quadrats and transects), but lack standard protocols for the field survey, data interpretation, and analysis.

The recommended survey design put forward by Archipelago Marine Research Ltd. Use ROV to collect video imagery. Generally do transects, not quadrats. Maintain transect locations the same as in current regulations. Do a single reference transect. Transects should be 250 m in length, minimum 150 m. Can use stationary boat, free boat, or clump weight. Transect should start at the edge of net pen (use drop line and anchor). ROV flies at a particular compass bearing at speed m/sec (takes 28 minutes to go 250 m). Transect end point can be determined by: bringing the ROV to the surface and get GPS position, lay a transect line on bottom, lay a visual end line, acoustic target, clump weight. Standards set for GPS positioning, transect survey area, compass, depth, resolution, field of view, visual scale, image angle, lighting, camera zoom and tilt, camera resolution.

Shallow water habitat mapping – Herb Vandermeulen, BIO Georeferenced 30m swath high frequency (800kHz) sidescan echogram transects taken in shallow waters (<1m to ~10m) are examined the same field day for textures indicating macrophytes or other structured fish habitat, and hard versus soft bottom Georeferenced drop or towed video footage is taken the next day to verify textures (ground-truth) Video overlay gives true camera position (towed system with TrackLink transponder) miniDV tape converted into AVI clips Everything is embedded in ArcGIS

Logboo k Grids Locations: Two very productive lobster grounds Lobster Bay St. Marys Bay Lobster landings from these Bays ~ 2204 t ( ) Likely the highest landings per km 2 along coastal NS and the Bay of Fundy

20 km 14 km Lobster Bay transects Mean no. lobsters per transect = 26.2

Saint Marys Bay 2006 – 57 transects Mean no. lobsters per transect = 20.3 ~ 38 km Avg ~ 9 km

Bellevue, Trinity Bay - Mapping of Demersal Capelin Spawning Beds

VideoRay ROV and TrackLink Transceiver / Responder TrackLink USBL Transceiver TrackLink Responder

Deployment of VideoRay ROV - Mapping of Beds