Contrasting baited video with 'traditional' survey methods for assessing freshwater fish assemblages

Collecting accurate species occurrence datasets are fundamental to managing freshwater fishes. Traditionally, freshwater fish surveys uses electrofishing and a range of net or trap techniques. However, these methods have well known biases and often result in an incomplete picture of the fishes present. For example, electrofishlng is well documented to be biased toward larger bodied fishes, while bait traps capture only small bodied species. Accordingly, these techniques are often used In parallel to obtain as complete a picture as possible of the fish assemblage present. In the past decade, baited remote underwater video have gained popularity in the marine environment as an alternative to traditional fish survey methods. These baited camera methods, however, remain largely untested In freshwater systems. This presentation will contrast species assemblage and size information obtained using baited video with that of traditional survey methods in a clear-water, macrophyte dominated freshwater lake in South West Victoria.