November 3, 2026 — The ocean is a three-dimensional world. Life moves vertically and horizontally through the water, often across large areas and at depths scientists cannot easily observe. Active acoustic technology gives researchers a tool to sample what’s hidden under the surface, gathering information that nets and other sampling gear cannot capture.
The use of sound to study the ocean is not new. After the Titanic sank in 1912, scientists and engineers began developing ways to use sound to detect shipwrecks and other objects beneath the surface. Fishermen soon found another use: Early underwater sounders could reveal where fish were. By the 1920s and 1930s, fishermen in Europe were using sounders to direct their fishing efforts.
What began as a practical fishing tool is now an important part of fisheries science. Today, our researchers use active acoustics to survey large areas of the ocean and study the distribution of fish and other organisms. The technology extends the reach of fisheries surveys and complements other forms of data collection, such as biological sampling. The resulting insights provide fisheries managers with the information needed to sustainably manage fish populations that support our nation’s seafood industries and the coastal economies that depend on them.
Dr. Michael Jech, a research fishery biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, has spent nearly three decades advancing the use of underwater acoustics. Since joining the center’s emerging acoustic program in 1998, his contributions to the field have helped refine techniques and expand their applications in fisheries research. “The trick is in the interpretation of the electronic signals,” Dr. Jech explains. “That challenge has shaped much of my career.”
Dr. Jech’s work helped launch acoustics from a specialized technology toward a broader tool for observing fish, plankton, and marine ecosystems. As the former chair of the international Working Group on Fisheries Acoustics, Science, and Technology, his work continues to connect Northeast fisheries research with the international acoustics community. For more than 50 years, the working group has brought together fisheries and plankton acoustics researchers from across the globe to advance methods, technology, and applications for active acoustic technology. Their most recent meeting convened researchers from 26 countries representing all inhabited continents.