Hydroacoustic mapping system for quantitative identification of aquatic macrophytes, substrate composition, and shallow water bathymetric surveying

This paper reports a test in Puget Sound, Seattle WA, using a new aquatic habitat assessment system consisting of a single beam echosounder (BioSonics MX) and specialized post-processing analysis and mapping software (BioSonics Visual Habitat). Data were collected and processed to generate quantitative measurements of seagrass height and percent coverage, substrate type, and bathymetry. Results were favorable when compared to video data and visual observation and other ground truth measurements.