The acoustic character of an underwater habitat
Just as the doctor listens to the condition of your lungs with his stethoscope, imagine that you can tell how healthy or unhealthy the sea is from the underwater sound. That is what LifeWatch VLIZ engineer Clea Parcerisas wants to find out with her doctoral research on underwater soundscapes.
What is the difference in the soundscape of the Gulf of Tribugá in Colombia and the Belgian Part of the North Sea?
A new LifeWatch paper compares two different soundscapes: the Gulf of Tribugá in Colombia and the the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS). This study is of great importance as a general marine soundscape baseline in order to map possible future disturbances of port construction or to evaluate whether policy measures taken are effective. The comparison shows that biophony dominates the Gulf ot Tribugá while anthropophony is dominant in the BPNS.
European Tracking Network for fish has reached over 500 million detections
In recent years, fish tracking technology has revolutionized our knowledge on fish migration and behaviour. Today, the European Tracking Network (ETN) integrates the European efforts of hundreds of users, dealing with thousands of tagged fish from a multitude of species. Within this LifeWatch initiative, 500 million detections so far have taught us a lot on fish species such as Atlantic bluefin tuna, European seabass and sturgeon.
The migratory fish need our help!
Who still remembers that wild Atlantic salmon was once a local product, caught in the Scheldt, IJzer or Maas rivers?