First results with the new scientific multibeam echo‐sounder ME70

Multibeam echo-sounders and sonars are increasingly used in fisheries acoustics for studying school structure and behavior and for abundance estimation. However, data quality and a poor signal-to-noise ratio obtained with the existing multibeam echo-sounders preclude quantitative biomass estimation as carried out with the traditional single beam echo-sounders. In order to overcome these shortcomings, Ifremer and Simrad AS started in 2003 the...