Hydroacoustical parameters of fish in reservoirs with contrasting levels of eutrophication

Hydroacoustical estimation of fish abundance and distribution is performed in three reservoirs that are characterised by different levels of eutrophication. The Biosonics 101 dual beam echosounder with a frequency of 420 kHz and the ESP software for acoustical data analyses are used. A clear dependence between fish density and the level of eutrophication is observed. In the mesotrophic Solina reservoir, fish abundance is over an order of magnitude lower than that in the eutrophic Dobczyce and Sulejów reservoirs. Fish length distributions have different shapes in the three reservoirs, which indicates the changes in fish size structure due to eutrophication; however, the mean target strength of fish does not differ significantly. These results suggest that hydroacoustically collected data may help to assess the ecological state of inland waters and may be used together with other methods in monitoring the water quality.