Abstract Clear liquid optical chamber baited remote underwater video systems (CLOC‐BRUV) are an effective option for assessing fish assemblages in turbid water, but current designs are limited by their large size and high operational costs. We developed a lightweight CLOC‐BRUV unit and evaluated its performance through proof‐of‐concept trials and field deployments in the highly turbid waters of the Sicao Wetland, western Taiwan. The operational CLOC‐BRUV design (50 kg in full operation) retained the optical advantages of earlier large designs and can be deployed manually from small vessels without any lifting devices, substantially reducing logistical and operational costs. Monthly deployments of CLOC‐BRUV recorded 440 individuals from 13 families, including mullets, gobies, sea catfish, snappers, and penaeid prawns, which are important food items for the endangered black‐faced spoonbill Platalea minor . Fish taxa composition differed markedly from that obtained using netted fish traps, indicating methodological complementarity. Nighttime deployments yielded dramatically higher detection rates than daytime surveys, suggesting pronounced nocturnal habitat use by several taxa. Our findings demonstrate that our CLOC‐BRUV units can serve as an effective, scalable, and low‐impact tool for monitoring fish communities in turbid coastal waters, where conventional visual methods usually perform poorly.
Huang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.