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Dataset for concurrent echosounder and ADCP measurements at a tidal energy candidate site in Australia

Created 24/06/2025

Updated 24/06/2025

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Interaction uncertainties between tidal energy devices and marine animals have the potential to disrupt the tidal energy industry as it advances. Best-practices for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) must be explored that are able to provide conclusive recommendations for mitigating environmental impact concerns of tidal energy developments. As the tidal energy industry is moving closer to commercial-scale array installations, the development of standardised EIAs would allow for potential impact concerns for the marine environment to be identified and minimised early in the site-development process. In an effort to help formulate a standardised EIA framework that addresses knowledge gaps in fish-current interactions at tidal energy candidate sites, this study investigated changes in fish aggregations in response to tidal currents at a tidal energy candidate site in Australia prior to turbine installation. Here, we present the dataset collected for this study that includes tidal current information from Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements, volume backscattering strength from a four-frequency biological echosounder (Acoustic Zooplankton and Fish Profiler – AZFP) as an indicator for fish biomass, and fish aggregation metrics calculated from volume backscatter in post-processing. ADCP and AZFP were installed on a bottom-mounted mooring and engaged in a concurrent sampling plan for ~2.5 months from December 2018 to February 2019. The mooring was deployed in the Banks Strait, a tidal energy candidate site located in the northeast of Tasmania, Australia, at a location favourable for tidal turbine installations considering current speed, depth, substrate, sediment type and proximity to shore. The ADCP dataset includes current velocity and direction measurements at a 1 m vertical and 1-sec time intervals. The raw AZFP dataset includes volume backscattering strength collected at 4-sec time intervals with a vertical resolution of 0.072 m in raw, and 0.1 m in pre-processed form. Fish aggregation metrics were derived in post-processing and are presented by the minute along with corresponding environmental conditions for current speed, shear, temperature, diel stage, and tidal stage compiled from both AZFP and ADCP datasets.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Dataset for concurrent echosounder and ADCP measurements at a tidal energy candidate site in Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/43aaae02-b22b-4e3f-bfc4-cba0b08611fc
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
constantin.scherelis@utas.edu.au
Reference Period 06/12/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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  "type": "Polygon"
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Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "Dataset for concurrent echosounder and ADCP measurements at a tidal energy candidate site in Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/dataset-for-concurrent-echosounder-and-adcp-measurements-at-a-tidal-energy-candidate-site-in-au