FAQs

Why build a large-scale array of acoustic sensors and install it permanently on the seafloor?
What are the benefits of joining POST?
How big do the animals have to be to carry tags?
What species can be tracked using the POST array?
How long do the tags transmit?
Where is the array located?
What sensors are available for tags and receivers?
How well do the listening lines perform?
How effective is tag implantation surgery?
What QA/QC procedures are in place for the data?
How do I access my data?
How much will this cost me?
I am interested in regions not currently covered by the POST array--what can I do?
I've found a POST tag or receiver--who do I contact?

Answers

1. Why build a large-scale array of acoustic sensors and install them permanently on the seafloor?

A worldwide array of acoustic receivers has the potential to change our understanding of the ocean in the same way that the telephone changed our ability to communicate. We know little about the ocean survival and migration of marine animals—even commercially important or endangered species—and this limits our ability to wisely conserve them. Ocean conditions can vary markedly between regions and over time and there is evidence that climate change may contribute to these differences. We are aware of no other technology capable of tracking individual animals in a cost-effective, long-term, and large-scale manner. Pit tags have limited range; radio-telemetry can not penetrate seawater; satellites see only a few millimeters below the surface; and surveys based on nets that catch and kill the animals are inadequate to follow individual animals and establish a detailed understanding of their movement patterns in the sea. POST provides the proof that acoustic technology can be used to answer these questions, and can be applied globally.

2. What are the benefits of joining POST?

Cost effective – you share the costs with everyone who uses the array;
Large scale – wherever your animals move, there is likely to be an expanding array of compatible, tested equipment keyed to the POST coding standard to detect them and ensure that you will find out about it;
Efficient – you don’t have to spent time engineering and maintaining a large-scale acoustic setup yourself;
Accurate – detection rates are high and data is QA/QCed before distribution;
Interpretable – everyone will understand how you got your data;
Statistically reliable – the ability to track the movement of virtually every animal over a line means that tagging numbers are modest– reducing costs and increasing data yields while providing the spatial and 24/7 year-round time scales for monitoring needed to provide statistically reliable information,
Progress oriented – you can get on with the business of science, easily building on work done by previous researchers all following a standard, well-defined, protocol.

3. How big do the fish have to be to carry tags?

Our experience for salmon is that smolts down to 12-14 cm fork length can carry the 7 and 9 mm diameter tags (the precise minimum size depends on the species and whether the animal has recently fed). For the 6 mm acoustic tags currently in development, recent research suggests that animals as small as 10 cm (10 grams) will be candidates.

At the other end of the spectrum, fish of about 2 kg can probably be implanted with a tag that could have up to a projected 10 yr lifespan, and for 5 kg fish the projected lifespan is on the order of 20 years. These sizes and lifespans are approximate, as they depend on the anatomy of the fish in question and the programming used for the tags.

4. What species can be tracked using the POST array?

Acoustic technology can be used to track just about any species that will hold a tag (so far, we haven’t been able to keep tags in jellyfish). The POST array is primarily designed to track animals that migrate along continental shelves or similarly confined areas such as rivers. However, the array is useful for species that make trans-oceanic crossing between shelves (e.g. sea turtles) and is adaptable for species that make only small-scale movements (e.g. B.C. Hydro study on sockeye in the Coquitlam Dam reservoir.

5. How long do the tags transmit?

Battery life for acoustic transmitters depends on the tag size, the transmission schedule, and the signal strength. Kintama has developed transmission specifications for POST tags that optimize detection on the array, balance the cost of array infrastructure, and maximize battery life. Using these specifications, the battery life for VEMCO tags small enough to be implanted into salmon smolts, can range from 9 months to several years. Larger tags can contain battery packs that last up to 20 years. These values are changing as research and development efforts continue to refine the tags.

6. Where is the array located?

The array currently extends 1,700 kms along the Pacific continental shelf of North America between Cascade Head, Oregon and Icy Strait, southeast Alaska.

7. What sensors are available for tags and receivers?

Currently, tags are available from Vemco that can be equipped with sensors to detect temperature and pressure.

8. How well do the listening lines perform?

In 2005, the average detection rate of the V9 low power acoustic tags was approximately 93%, with 100% detection for a number of stocks and lines. The lower detection rates generally occurred in areas where incomplete recovery of acoustic listening lines occurred. In areas where these shortfalls did not occur (e.g., Keogh River mouth receivers, Howe Sound, northern Strait of Georgia), almost complete detection of passing fish was achieved. We are refining our system to improve geographic coverage and data recovery.

9. How effective is tag implantation surgery?

Research on survival and tag retention in steelhead smolts (Welch et al., In Press) shows that tracking and survival measurement of up to 1 year is feasible. More recent joint research with Dr. Scott McKinley and grad student Cedar Chittenden at the University of British Columbia has followed survival and tag retention post-surgery for Thompson River coho held in tanks at the lab. This research also is showing that survival and tag retention is high for many months post-surgery.

10. What QA/QC procedures are in place for the data?

Kintama Research recognizes that quality assurance and control is essential to the successful operation of our data delivery service. QA/QC is conducted during each step of the process: equipment preparation prior to field work, field tagging and receiver deployment, data harvesting, data review, and data delivery. Because this is a novel application of a developing technology, we continue to refine and expand our QA/QC methodologies.

11. How do I access my data?

POST hosts the data in a database accessible from their website. We have also included a link to the database from our menu on the left of your screen.

12. How much will this cost me?

For basic services (i.e. project consultation, array maintenance, data harvesting, data QA/QC, and data distribution), user fees are based on the level of use. Please contact the POST Secretariat for current rules governing participation in the POST consortium.

13. I am interested in regions not currently covered by the POST array; what can I do?

Kintama will be glad to help you write funding proposals and/or plan research for areas outside of the current POST array. Our vision is a network of integrated, low-cost sensors operating 24/7, every day of the year, along the continental shelf of every continent in the world. Funding the placement of new receivers and their integratation into the rest of the POST array is a basic step in achieving this goal.

14. I've found a POST tag or receiver; whom do I contact?

If you have found POST equipment, please contact:

Dr. David Welch
President
Kintama Research Corporation
Centre for Shellfish Research
Malaspina University College
900-5th Street, Nanaimo, B.C.
Canada V9R 5S5

Email: david.welch@kintamaresearch.org
Toll-free tel: 1-866-546-8262*

*Please use this telephone number only to report found equipment.