Acoustic deterrents to manage fish populations

Common Carp Are Initially Repelled by a Broadband Outboard Motor Sound in a Lock Chamber but Habituate Rapidly

“…It is not unreasonable to speculate that the wild adult Common Carp we captured in a river (Pool 2 of the Mississippi River) with many motorboats would have been very familiar with a variety of outboard motor sounds and thus less inclined to respond to these sounds once placed in a lock and to then quickly learn to ignore it (Rankin et al 2009). This is especially the case as the sound levels played fell below those generally thought to be painful in fish (Putland and Mensinger 2019). Recent studies of coral reef fishes describe the same phenomenon to boat traffic (Nedelec et al 2016).…”

“…Of note is the fact that background noise was 10–20 dB greater in the lock throughout most of its relevant (100–10,000 Hz) frequency range, meaning this broadband sound may have been less detectable and evident (i.e., masked) to Common Carp in the lock than in the laboratory arena. Masking might be especially relevant for relatively low‐amplitude simple sounds that are neither painful nor otherwise biologically relevant (Putland and Mensinger 2019). Sound frequency could have had a role too, although we played exactly the same sound as that used by Zielinski and Sorensen (2017), using the highest quality speakers made by the same manufacturer.…”

“…Further, the sound pressure gradient in the lock was less steep in the lock than in the laboratory and perhaps harder to orient to, a likely artifact of sound echoing off the cement walls of the lock chamber. Additionally, although we did not measure it, the particle motion component of sound would have been much less in the field than in the laboratory and more typical of far‐field sound simply because of differences in how sound propagates in deep versus shallow water (Zielinki and Sorensen 2017; Putland and Mensinger 2019). Common Carp swimming depth relative to speaker depth and measured sound levels probably did not play a role as Common Carp are known to swim at depths of about 1 m (Finger et al 2020), the depth where the speakers were located.…”

“…Although many types of sensory cues are being considered as deterrents to impede invasive fish movement through riverine locks and dams (Noatch and Suski 2012), sound is widely considered to have special promise. Bigheaded carps and Common Carp, like other ostariophysians, have a well-developed sense of hearing, which includes sensitivity to frequencies above 1,000 Hz because they possess Weberian ossicles (Ladich and Fay 2013;Vetter et al 2018;Putland and Mensinger 2019), with Silver Carp showing slightly greater physiological sensitivity (Vetter et al 2018). Further, several laboratory studies have shown that both bigheaded carps and Common Carp avoid various types of broadband (i.e., sounds which include low and high frequencies) and complex sounds (i.e., sounds which contain multiple frequencies).…”

Acoustic and Light Selective Behavioral Guidance Systems for Freshwater Fish

“…Two review articles, Noatch and Suski [36] and Putland and Mensinger [46], were published having different approaches:…”