On April 8-10, MIT Sea Grant hosted an international workshop on the application of passive acoustics in fisheries. This workshop brought together experts in passive acoustics as it applies to fisheries, marine conservations issues and the identification of essential fish habitats. The 'hands-on' workshop drew over 50 international experts drawn from fisheries, fish biology, acoustics, signal processing, underwater technology and other related fields.

Because of its non-invasive nature, passive acoustic technologies hold special promise in helping to resolve many of our current fisheries issues. However, it has been largely ignored in the northwest Atlantic in the study of fishes important in the marine food chain and for commercial exploitation. It is also a technique that is amenable to cooperative research with commercial fishermen, who can bring their own knowledge to such studies.

As a result of the workshop, a compelling research agenda is being formed. A proceedings of the workshop will be published and the role of passive acoustics is helping achieve sustainable fisheries will be presented to the fishing and fisheries research communities.

For more information on the workshop contact the organizers listed below. If you are interested in being notified when the proceeding become available contact Cliff Goudey at cgoudey@mit.edu

Organizers
Rodney Rountree, SMAST, UMass Dartmouth rrountree@UMassD.Edu
Clifford A. Goudey, Marine Advisory Leader, MIT Sea Grant College Program
Tony Hawkins, greenseas@btopenworld.com