After a 25-acre Lake Erie wetland was reconnected, sonar recorded 3.44 million fish detections

After a 25-acre Lake Erie wetland was reconnected A restored 25-acre coastal wetland on the southern shore of western Lake Erie was used continuously by millions of aquatic animals after it was reconnected to nearby waterways, according to a four-year acoustic monitoring study led by researchers at the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The scientific assessment, published in the journal Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, tracked aquatic movement across 2,022 hours of high-resolution sonar monitoring between 2011 and 2014. During the study, imaging equipment recorded 3,436,118 individual fish detections entering and leaving the newly reopened wetland pool. The data provides clear evidence of how aquatic species use restored coastal habitats in the Great Lakes region. Historically, industrial activity, farming and dike construction cut off many inland marshes from the open lake.Acoustic tracking reveals continuous usageTo measure the success of reconnecting the habitat without disturbing the fish, scientists used advanced acoustic sonar at a passage connecting the 10-hectare (25-acre) wetland pool to Crane Creek within Ohio's Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. Traditional...