Costs and benefits of towed videos and remotely operated vehicles for sampling shallow reef habitats and fish
T. R. Davis A B E , G. Cadiou C , J. Williams C and M. A. Coleman A B D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Fisheries Research, Marine Ecosystems, NSW Department of Primary Industries, PO Box 4321, Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450, Australia.
B National Marine Science Centre, Southern Cross University, 2 Bay Drive, Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450, Australia.
C Fisheries Research, Marine Ecosystems, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Locked Bag 1, Nelson Bay, NSW 2315, Australia.
D University of Western Australia, Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: tom.davis@dpi.nsw.gov.au
Marine and Freshwater Research 71(8) 953-961 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF19207
Submitted: 6 June 2019 Accepted: 28 September 2019 Published: 29 November 2019
Abstract
Where several different tools are available for research, the costs and benefits associated with each option become an important part of the selection process. Towed video (ToV) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are both widely used to assess shallow reef benthic habitats and fish assemblages, but quantitative data on their comparative performance is limited. The relative abilities of commercially available ToV and ROV were assessed using two low-cost (less than A$10 000), manually deployable systems. These systems were deployed to collect photographs of marine habitats and videos of fish assemblages along six 200-m transects at three separate sites. The time required to operate each system and the specific limitations and advantages of each system were compared. Both systems performed equally in terms of the resolution of data collected on benthic habitats and fish assemblages on shallow reefs. However, ToV required significantly less time (~60% less) to collect data than ROV, and should allow cost savings with no loss in data quality. We recommend ToV as a cost-effective and easily deployable system for assessing rocky reef habitats and fish assemblages.
Additional keywords: drop camera, ROV, towed camera, transect, underwater video.
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