AI controlled acoustic system to be tested on dee to deter seals from wild salmon.
The Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews has secured £160,000 in funding to trial an automated acoustic deterrent system aimed at reducing seal predation on wild Atlantic salmon in Scotland.
The prototype system, to be tested on an 80 mile stretch of the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, uses underwater loudspeakers to emit sounds that seals find unpleasant. Unlike earlier equipment, which had to be operated manually by fishery staff, the new setup will pair sonar monitoring with machine learning algorithms to trigger the devices automatically when seals are detected.
If successful, the technology could be deployed on other rivers with critically endangered wild salmon populations.
“We are in a race against time to save our Atlantic salmon as both grey and harbour seals are now coming into the river on a regular basis and eating these fish in significant numbers,” said Lawrence Ross, chair of the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board (DDSFB).
Previous efforts on the River Esk have included manually operated acoustic devices towed by fishery protection officers using jet skis, but the DDSFB said these measures had proved “ineffective”, partly because seals were thought to return once staff had left.
Salmon stocks in many Scottish rivers have declined, with pressures attributed to rising water temperatures, water quality, physical barriers such as dams and weirs, sea lice and predation by seals.
Dr Alan Wells, chief executive of Fisheries Management Scotland, said: “Seal predation is an important pressure in several Scottish rivers and we look forward to hearing the results of this partnership project.”
