6.3 Technology transforms
Since monitoring began in 1966, the technology available for data
collection has inevitably been transformed, with environmental sensors
becoming more accurate, reliable and inexpensive. Likewise, fisheries
assessment tools, such as electrofishing and tagging have improved,
leading to the need to compare methods and re-construct comparable time
series. Fortunately, statistical and modelling tools for data evaluation
are also continuously improving in the era of “big data” and often
these can be used in model-data fusion to enhance the maximum
information content extractable from data, as well as quantify
uncertainties associated with historic time series.