By Mera McGrew
Originally invented during World War I to detect submarines, today oceanographers and other marine professionals are using sonar technology to advance knowledge of the world’s ocean.
Specifically, sonars can help map out crucial marine habitats. But, that is just a start.  In the future, some researchers suggest that information generated through sonar technology could influence how marine habitats are regulated and even managed.
Last week, one research group boarded the Nancy Foster, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship on a 10-day cruise, to conduct sonar-based experiments aimed at better understanding fish spawning and fish movement in and around the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s Tortugas Ecological Reserve, located 70-miles west of Key West.
The research cruise falls in the middle of a multi-year Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary zoning review that seeks to determine whether the current sanctuary boundaries adequately protect marine habitats and resources.…