After a long delay as a result of Covid, the first iAtlantic regional capacity development workshop is underway in Mindelo, Cabo Verde. Focused on hydroacoustic surveying and technologies, the “Monitoring Biomass in Coastal Ecosystems through Hydroacoustic Technologies” workshop is providing training on the acquisition, processing and interpretation of data for monitoring biomass in coastal ecosystems.
The 4-day course will deliver a mix of lectures and practical, boat-based exercises to a group of 20 participants from West Africa and Cabo Verde, including from the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) consortium. The course is organised in partnership with the Coastal Ecosystems Monitoring for Cabo Verde (CEM-CV) project, led by iAtlantic scientist Bjoern Fiedler (GEOMAR) and hosted at the Ocean Science Centre Mindelo.
The workshop kicked off on Tuesday 23 August 2023 with a day of introductory presentations and lectures, covering topics such as the physics of sound, use of hydroacoustics in fisheries and marine ecology, and fisheries management in Africa. These sessions set the scene for Day 2, where participants split into smaller groups to undertake boat-based hydroacoustic survey training and an excursion to a local aquaculture facility. Day 3 focuses on acoustic biomass estimation followed by practical sessions on acoustic data processing and visualisation.
The course wraps up on Friday 26 August with a look at science-policy interfaces, featuring experts from the West African region sharing experiences on fish stock assessments, marine resource sustainability and fish stock management, as well contributions from ICES on the transfer of scientific information into the policy arena and from the FAO sub-regional working group on hydroacoustics.
Our thanks to the workshop organising team, trainers and external experts for all their contributions and hard work!
