Team IDs genesis of mass migrations(under cover of darkness. Come morning th...)

The work was conducted using Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (OAWRS). In 2006, Makris and colleagues published a paper in Science introducing OAWRS, which they invented, and initial observations made with it.

OAWRS allows the team to take images of an area some 100 kilometers (approximately 62 miles) in diameter every 75 seconds. This is a vast improvement over conventional techniques such as fish-finding echo-sounders, which Makris compares to "watching one pixel on a movie screen" while the new technology allows you to "see the entire movie."

Both OAWRS and conventional methods rely on acoustics to locate objects by bouncing sound waves off of them. With conventional techniques, survey vessels send high-frequency sound beams into the ocean. In contrast, the new system uses much lower frequency sound that can travel much greater distances and still return useful information with signals far less intense.

Makris sees potential in using OAWRS to better monitor and conserve fish populations. Large oceanic fish shoals provide vital links in the ocean and human food chain, he explained, but their sheer size makes it difficult to collect information using conventional methods.

Ron O'Dor, co-senior scientist of the Census of Marine Life (CoML), commented that "OAWRS allows us to gather information such as geographical distributions, abundance and behavior of fish shoals and to better understand what constitutes healthy fish populations ... which can be implemented by policymakers to better monitor and improve conservation of fish stocks."

CoML is an international scientific collaboration engaged in a 10-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life in the oceans. It aims to release the first Census of Marine Life in 2010.

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