Trawl surveys routinely conducted by Cefas under-sample some of the larger
piscivorous fish species, which are often either of commercial and/or
conservation interest. Additionally, some habitats cannot be sampled
effectively with trawls (e.g. reef habitats, deep-water areas etc), and other
gears (e.g. longline) cannot be deployed safely from Cefas Endeavour. Baited
Remote Underwater Video Systems (BRUVS) provide an alternative, non-lethal
method for sampling such fish, and have been widely used in the Southern
hemisphere to monitor fish assemblages in certain habitats. Over the course of
this project (Jan 2012 - Jan 2014), 18 deployments with BRUVS were made, with
a total of 37 hours, 23 mins recording time.
