SIST EN 15910:2014

Water quality - Guidance on the estimation of fish abundance with mobile hydroacoustic methods

This European Standard specifies a standardized method for data sampling and procedures for data evaluation of fish populations in large rivers, lakes and reservoirs, using hydroacoustic equipment deployed on mobile platforms (boats and vessels).
This standard covers fish population abundance estimates of pelagic and profundal waters > 15 m mean depth with the acoustic beam oriented vertically, and the inshore and surface waters of water bodies > 2 m depth with the beam oriented horizontally. The size structure of fish populations can only be determined to a relatively low degree of precision and accuracy, particularly from horizontally-deployed echosounders. As acoustic techniques are presently unable to identify species directly, other direct fish catching methods should always be used in combination.
This standard provides recommendations and requirements on equipment, survey design, data acquisition, post-processing of data and results and reporting. A selected literature with references in support of this standard is given in the Bibliography.

Wasserbeschaffenheit - Anleitung zur Abschätzung der Fischabundanz mit mobilen hydroakustischen Verfahren

Diese Europäische Norm legt ein Verfahren zur Datengewinnung und Datenauswertung von Fischpopulationen in großen Flüssen, Seen und Stauseen mit hydroakustischen Geräten fest, die von mobilen Plattformen (Boote und Schiffe) aus betrieben werden.
Diese Norm ermöglicht eine Abschätzung der Abundanz von Fischpopulationen im Pelagial und Profundal von Gewässern mit einer mittleren Tiefe > 15 m unter Anwendung einer vertikalen Schallwellenabstrahlung sowie in ufer- und oberflächennahen Bereichen von Wasserkörpern mit einer Tiefe > 2 m unter Anwendung einer horizontalen Schallwellenabstrahlung. Die Größenverteilung von Fischpopulationen kann nur mit relativ geringer Präzision und Genauigkeit bestimmt werden, besonders bei horizontal eingesetzten Echoloten. Da gegenwärtig mit akustischen Verfahren Arten nicht direkt bestimmt werden können, sollten sie stets mit anderen direkten Fischfangverfahren kombiniert eingesetzt werden.
In dieser Norm werden Empfehlungen und Anforderungen an die Ausrüstung, die Durchführung der Erfassung, die Datengewinnung und die Verarbeitung von Daten und Ergebnissen sowie die Angabe der Ergebnisse festgelegt. Die Literaturhinweise enthalten ausgewählte Publikationen zur Unterstützung dieser Norm.

Qualité de l'eau - Guide sur l'estimation de l'abondance des poissons par des méthodes hydroacoustiques mobiles

La présente Norme européenne spécifie une méthode normalisée pour l’échantillonnage des données et les modes opératoires permettant d’évaluer les données relatives aux populations de poissons dans les grands cours d’eau, plans d’eau et réservoirs, en utilisant des équipements hydroacoustiques déployés sur des plates-formes mobiles (bateaux et navires).
La présente norme concerne les estimations de l’abondance des populations de poissons d’une part dans les eaux pélagiques et profondes d’une profondeur moyenne > 15 m en orientant le faisceau acoustique verticalement, et d’autre part dans les eaux littorales et superficielles de masses d’eau d’une profondeur > 2 m en orientant le faisceau horizontalement. La structure en taille des populations de poissons ne peut être déterminée qu’avec des degrés de fidélité et d’exactitude relativement faibles, notamment lorsque les échosondeurs sont orientés horizontalement. Étant donné que les techniques acoustiques ne permettent pas actuellement d’identifier directement les espèces, il convient de toujours les combiner avec d’autres méthodes de capture directe des poissons.
La présente norme fournit des recommandations et des exigences applicables aux équipements, à la conception de l’étude, à l’acquisition des données, au traitement ultérieur des données ainsi qu’aux résultats et à l’établissement de rapports. La Bibliographie contient une sélection de textes avec des références venant à l’appui de la présente norme.

Kakovost vode - Navodilo za ocenjevanje številčnosti rib z mobilnimi hidroakustičnimi metodami

General Information

• Status: Published
• Public Enquiry End Date: 30-Sep-2013
• Publication Date: 23-Feb-2014
• ICS: 13.060.70 - Examination of biological properties of water
• Technical Committee: KAV - Water quality
• Current Stage: 6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 31-Jan-2014
• Due Date: 07-Apr-2014
• Completion Date: 24-Feb-2014
• Directive: 2000/60/EC - Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (substitutes Directive Reference 01/991 - Common Position on WFD)
• Directive: 2009-01-0312 - Pravilnik o monitoringu stanja površinskih voda
• Directive: EUR-PUB - European Union - Public Standards
• Mandate: M/424 - Mandate for standardisation addressed to CEN for the development or improvement standards in support of the water framework directive
• Ref Project: EN 15910:2014 - Water quality - Guidance on the estimation of fish abundance with mobile hydroacoustic methods

Relations

• Revised: oSIST prEN 15910:2009 - Water quality - Guidance on the estimation of fish abundance with mobile hydroacoustic methods
• Effective Date: 01-Sep-2013

Overview

EN 15910:2014 - Water quality: Guidance on the estimation of fish abundance with mobile hydroacoustic methods (CEN) defines a standardized approach for using hydroacoustic (echosounder) systems deployed on mobile platforms (boats/vessels) to estimate fish abundance in large rivers, lakes and reservoirs. The standard covers vertical-beam surveys for pelagic/profundal zones (mean depth > 15 m) and horizontal-beam surveys for inshore/surface waters (> 2 m). It sets out requirements for equipment, calibration, survey design, data acquisition, post‑processing, calculation of results and reporting, and highlights limitations of acoustic methods (e.g., species ID and precise size-structure estimation).

Key topics and requirements

• Scope and field of application
  • Mobile hydroacoustic surveys for lakes, reservoirs and wide lowland rivers.
  • Vertical orientation for deep (mean > 15 m) pelagic/profundal waters; horizontal orientation for inshore/surface waters > 2 m.
• Equipment & performance
  • Use of calibrated echosounders and modern multi/dual/split-beam systems; minimum and optimum performance levels are specified.
  • Calibration procedures and routine checks are required.
• Survey design
  • Pre-planning, timing, transducer orientation/positioning, and determination of Elementary Distance Sampling Unit (EDSU).
  • Considerations for resolution, detection range (MUR), and stratification.
• Data acquisition
  • Recommended echosounder settings, logging of environmental and GPS track data, and complementary gear (nets, electrofishing) for species identification.
• Post-processing & analysis
  • Bottom detection, discrimination of biological and non-biological echoes, Single Echo Detection (SED/ST) handling, and methods for abundance/biomass estimates.
  • Interpretation of Target Strength (TS) into fish length/weight (noting inherent uncertainty).
• Quality assurance
  • Procedures for QC/QA, inter-comparisons, precision and variance estimation, and standardized reporting templates.

Practical applications

• Rapid, non-destructive mapping of fish distribution and density across large water bodies.
• Monitoring fish population trends, biomass estimation for fisheries management, habitat assessment, and supporting environmental impact studies.
• Complementary use with gillnets, electrofishing or other direct sampling for species composition and age/size validation.

Who should use this standard

• Fisheries biologists, aquatic ecologists, environmental consultants, water resource managers and monitoring agencies conducting mobile hydroacoustic surveys.
• Developers of monitoring programs needing standardized protocols for comparability across sites and time.

Related standards and resources

• EN 14962 (Guidance on the scope and selection of fish sampling methods) is referenced for combined sampling strategies.
• Annexes in EN 15910 provide supplementary methods (EDSU, variance estimates, TS interpretation) and a bibliography for further reading.

Using EN 15910:2014 ensures consistent, reproducible hydroacoustic assessments of fish abundance and supports scientifically robust fisheries and water‑quality monitoring programs.

Standards Content (Sample)

2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.LPLWasserbeschaffenheit - Anleitung zur Abschätzung der Fischabundanz mit mobilen hydroakustischen VerfahrenQualité de l'eau - Guide sur l'estimation de l'abondance des poissons par des méthodes hydroacoustiques mobilesWater quality - Guidance on the estimation of fish abundance with mobile hydroacoustic methods13.060.70Preiskava bioloških lastnosti vodeExamination of biological properties of waterICS:Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z:EN 15910:2014SIST EN 15910:2014en,fr,de01-marec-2014SIST EN 15910:2014SLOVENSKI
STANDARD
EUROPEAN STANDARD NORME EUROPÉENNE EUROPÄISCHE NORM
EN 15910
January 2014 ICS 13.060.70 English Version
Water quality - Guidance on the estimation of fish abundance with mobile hydroacoustic methods
Qualité de l'eau - Guide sur l'estimation de l'abondance des poissons par des méthodes hydroacoustiques mobiles
Wasserbeschaffenheit - Anleitung zur Abschätzung der Fischabundanz mit mobilen hydroakustischen Verfahren This European Standard was approved by CEN on 17 November 2013.
CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre:
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B-1000 Brussels © 2014 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CEN national Members. Ref. No. EN 15910:2014 ESIST EN 15910:2014

Supplementary data . 29 Annex B (informative)
Methods for estimates of fish abundance . 31 Annex C (informative)
Interpretation of TS into fish length and weight . 32 Annex D (informative)
Deconvolution procedure . 37 Annex E (informative)
Determination of the Elementary Distance Sampling Unit (EDSU). 39 Annex F (informative)
Estimates of sampling variance and precision . 40 Annex G (informative)
Published inter-comparison studies . 41 Bibliography . 43
m-2); — Sv Volume Backscattering Strength; Unit: decibel, dB re 1 m-1; — SED Single Echo Detection; — SNR Signal to Noise Ratio; — ST Single Target; — TS Target Strength; Units = dB re 1m2; — TVG Time Varied Gain; — YOY Young of the year. SIST EN 15910:2014

(1) where D is cruise track length; A is the area being surveyed. Then: 0,5()−=CVaΛ (2) where a is a variable between 0,4 and 0,8, depending on fish distribution; higher values of a are appropriate when fish are concentrated in a few large schools, low values when the fish are more uniformly distributed [35]. g) Working time. The working time available for the collection of acoustic data should be calculated. For both water bodies (lakes and rivers), time may have to be factored in for stationary measurements for specific purposes, e.g. aspect identification for sizing Target Strength (TS) in horizontal surveys, hydrographic sampling, etc. h) Preparation of the survey track data for GPS. The survey plan (i.e. waypoints and transects) should be in a format suitable for transfer to GPS. i) Appropriate vessel. The selection of an appropriate vessel is important. This should be stable and low noise (with a preference for 4 stroke over 2 stroke motors, or electric if feasible). Cruise speed should be a maximum of 10 km/h Actual speed selection should be appropriate for the ping rate and water depth, aiming for a minimum of 3 hits on a fish of interest when target-tracking / trace-counting. 6.4 Timing of surveys The timing of acoustic surveys should consider the following factors. Surveys should be conducted during the period when the target fish are in open water and most dispersed. The following seasonal factors should be considered when planning an acoustic survey [38]: SIST EN 15910:2014

Horizontal surveys Vertical surveys Signal-to-noise ratio Low High Aspect of fish relative to the transducer Often unknown Dorsal Weather conditions Highly susceptible to adverse weather (wind, waves, heavy rain) Less susceptible to adverse weather Vessel stability High influence on measurements Low influence on measurements Boat traffic Susceptible to acoustic interference from other vessels Less susceptible to acoustic interference from other vessels 6.5.2 Requirements specific to vertical surveys The maximum pulse repetition rate shall be calculated according to the maximum depth sampled. The transducer depth should be as shallow as possible, but greater than depths that generate micro-bubbles. SIST EN 15910:2014

1) Sonar5-Pro® (Lindem Data Acquisition, Oslo, Norway), Echoview® (Myriax, Tasmania, Australia), EchoScape® (HTI, Seattle, USA) and Visual Analyzer® (BioSonics, Seattle, USA) are examples of suitable products available commercially. This information is given for the convenience of users of this European Standard and does not constitute an endorsement by CEN of these products. SIST EN 15910:2014
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