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| Title | Spatial Distribution and Diurnal Migration of the Pelagic Fish and Zooplankton in Loch Ness |
| Author | Adrian Shine, David Martin, Rosalind Marjoram |
| Date | Sep-30-2002 |
| Description | The first suggestions of an off-shore population of Charr Salvelinus alpinus in Loch Ness were made as a result of echo-sounding by Dr. P.F. Baker (Baker and Westwood, 1960). Echo-sounder transects were also made as a part of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology's multi-disciplinary survey during 1977-80 (Maitland, 1981). Throughout the 1980s, the Loch Ness and Morar Project conducted a pelagic programme of qualitative echo-sounding, gill-netting and trawling, designed to reveal the basic distributions of fish within the water column and along the axis of the loch (Shine and Martin, 1988). Species taken by pelagic gill-netting and trawling consist mainly of Charr, with some Brown Trout Salmo trutta and, particularly in the southern basin, Three-spined Sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus. From 1988 onwards, more quantitative acoustic methods have been applied, which have improved our understanding of the distribution, numbers, biomass, and diurnal behaviour of the fish population. Observations have also been made of the vertical and horizontal distribution of zooplankton. Most of these exercises were carried out as part of 'Operation Echo', a series of collaborations with the Simrad Company and the Marine Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (D.A.F.S.) at Aberdeen. Simultaneous surveys were also carried out by the Hydroacoustic Unit from Royal Holloway University of London, and are described separately (Kubecka, Duncan and Butterworth, 1993). |
| Doc Link | http://www.lochnessproject.org/ADRIAN_SHINE_ARCHIVEROOM/papershtml/loch_ness_diurnal_fish_migration.htm |
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