Detection of Schools of Marine Fish Using Polarization Laser Sensing

General regularities of lidar returns in the sensing of the water column containing pelagic fish schools are investigated by the Monte Carlo method. Based on results of statistical simulation of depth profiles of lidar return power and depolarization, we propose a method of polarization laser sensing of marine fish schools based on a comparison of numerical values of the lidar return power and depolarization with their threshold levels determined by the sea water extinction index in the fishery region.