A camera-based autonomous underwater vehicle sampling approach to quantify scallop abundance

The use of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) survey method for population density estimates of Iceland scallops Chlamys islándica (O.F. Müller) was evaluated. The main focus was on statistical evaluations and survey design. The underlying objective was to illustrate how a repeated AUV survey approach can be used to generate variance estimates of population parameters to verify statistical precision of population density estimates. As a case study, 5 small-scale surveys were conducted at a site off West Iceland. The scallops were enumerated visually from a random selection of photos of the seafloor and the count data were used to estimate mean scallop population abundance with confidence limits. A nested random effects model yielded no significant difference among the 5 surveys, showing that such small-scale surveys are repeatable. The application was small scale, but the methodologies established can be applied to larger areas of a similar nature.