Effective management of living marine resources depends on the ability to accurately estimate their distribution and abundance. Information needs have recently become acute because of declining stocks, official definitions of overfishing, growing controversy, increased exploitation of new or alternative fisheries, and extensive litigation. Estimates of stock abundance and recruitment are key elements to a stock assessment and are based on fishery-independent surveys coupled with fishery statistics. The direct counting of animals in the sea is an inaccurate and inexact science because of limitations in technology and ship time.
Environmental conditions play a key role in estimating stock abundance.
Environmental measurements can also be incorporated into a geostatistical sampling design to improve precision, and are needed to establish the link between stock dynamics, distribution, movements, and environmental forcing. There is a need for developing new technologies, but also applying and integrating existing technologies to a great extent. These improvements can be achieved with advanced sensing technologies, improved design and deployment of sampling instruments, new models, and the merging of new technologies in physical and biological sampling. Fishery application of airborne lidar technology is new, but has same problems as hydroacoustics. This technology is particularly useful for reef communities or other habitats where trawling is impractical.