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Tracking radio-tagged Asian Carp with Unmanned Aircraft System Active

By National Innovation Center January 1, 2016

The ability to track fish such as invasive Asian carp is critical in characterizing their habitat, use and movement, spawning locations, feeding habitats, overwinter refugia, and general movement patterns. We anticipate that a UAS-based approach for tracking fish that are radio-tagged will prove effective and used widely. 

The USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center in collaboration with other Midwest USGS Centers is currently using Asian carp implanted with Lotek combined acoustic and radio transmitting (CART) tags to locate schools of Asian carp.  Locating the tagged fish is a time-consuming task, and carp that are in areas inaccessible with the boat and out of range of the receiver simply cannot be located.  The radio tag signals are best sensed from above the target at heights beyond that of the antenna on the boat, and thus a UAS equipped with a receiver (0.8-2.4kg) should be able to sense the radio-tagged fish underwater.  Once fish are located, we will boat to the site to deploy side-scan sonar to assess the population of the school and habitat. UAS sensing of the CART tags will reduce the amount of time it takes to locate tagged Asian carp by boat alone in lakes, stream

  • Overview

    The ability to track fish such as invasive Asian carp is critical in characterizing their habitat, use and movement, spawning locations, feeding habitats, overwinter refugia, and general movement patterns. We anticipate that a UAS-based approach for tracking fish that are radio-tagged will prove effective and used widely. 

    The USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center in collaboration with other Midwest USGS Centers is currently using Asian carp implanted with Lotek combined acoustic and radio transmitting (CART) tags to locate schools of Asian carp.  Locating the tagged fish is a time-consuming task, and carp that are in areas inaccessible with the boat and out of range of the receiver simply cannot be located.  The radio tag signals are best sensed from above the target at heights beyond that of the antenna on the boat, and thus a UAS equipped with a receiver (0.8-2.4kg) should be able to sense the radio-tagged fish underwater.  Once fish are located, we will boat to the site to deploy side-scan sonar to assess the population of the school and habitat. UAS sensing of the CART tags will reduce the amount of time it takes to locate tagged Asian carp by boat alone in lakes, stream