Counting fish at night using artificial light: transect survey of common bream Abramis brama and northern pike Esox lucius abundance as an example.

Visual transect counting of large‐bodied fish using artificial light at night in a shallow littoral zone (<1 m water depth) is introduced as a complementary survey method for fishes such as common bream Abramis brama and northern pike Esox lucius that are under‐represented in standard gillnet surveys. The results suggest that transect counting at night and applying necessary corrections for environmental variables could provide a simple and repeatable method to assess the presence and abundance of large‐bodied fishes in lakes with satisfactory water clarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]