Ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management require examination of numerous biotic and abiotic factors using a variety of sampling equipment and analytic techniques. Data must be efficiently collected and integrated to enhance our understanding of relevant ecological processes to facilitate effective management advice. Acoustical methods remain the primary remote-sensing tools for space-time-observations of biota in the aquatic environment. These techniques continue to evolve with innovative implementations and augmentation with other technologies.

This Symposium is the premier forum for information exchange among fisheries acousticians, physicists, engineers, biologists, and ecologists.  The international community has an invaluable opportunity to examine this rapidly evolving field, and to advance the application of aquatic ecology to improved fisheries management.

This will be the sixth Symposium on Fisheries acoustics and technology for aquatic ecosystem investigations sponsored by ICES.  The other symposia were held in Bergen, Norway in 1973 and 1982; in Seattle, USA in 1987; in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1995; and in Montpellier, France in 2002.

The 2008 Symposium will review and discuss recent developments in acoustic methods and technologies applied to the characterization of marine and freshwater ecosystems to improve the effectiveness of fisheries management.  Particular emphasis will be on technologies used to measure diverse aspects of the aquatic environment, and the integration of data sets to elucidate functional ecological relationships.  Contemporary challenges and future directions of these objectives will be discussed.