Factsheet Electrofishing for Research

Electrofishing involves the use of an electrical current to stun a fish so that it can be caught. Electrofishing devices are commonly used by scientists, managers, community groups and for industry use. The use of electrofishing devices varies greatly, but they are commonly used to conduct fish population surveys and determine abundance, density and species composition. Electrofishing is often favoured over other methods such as netting surveys because it can actively sample large numbers of fish from a range of sizes and can often access habitats that may be difficult to sample using traditional fish survey methods.