The Kongsberg brand, Simrad, has brought a new SY60 omni sonar to market, featuring significant upgrades over the SY50 that preceded it. According to David Barbee, field service engineer at Simrad, the SY60 is good for all scenarios, recreational and commercial. “You can see schools better with it,” Barbee says. “Both closer to bottom and near the surface, and with better resolution. And it has half again as much range.” 

Barbee notes that because Simrad makes the transducer for the SY60, the company has been able to add half again as many elements to it. “That makes it 18 elements tall, as opposed to 12 on the SY50, making it 384 elements all around,” he says. Barbee notes that the SY60 transmits multiple beams with each ping—the “quad ping”—which can cover 45 degrees of the vertical water column all around the boat, and includes a narrow inspection beam. “That way you can see a seine closing, track fish, and see if they are the right fish and the right size. You can see how they’re moving, if they’re diving or rising.” 

For vessels like salmon seiners fishing in shallow water, Barbee adds that the hoist time for the SY60 transducer is 20 seconds. “It’s really perfect for the 58-foot seiners,” he says. “And it’s small, with an 8-inch diameter tube.” Barbeen notes that the transducer trunk is higher due to the addition of 128 elements, but as long as boats have room for that, they can easily upgrade from the SY50 to the SY60.” And for the boats that go down to California for squid, the SY60 can detect aggregations close to bottom.” 

With fast moving fish, Barbee points out that the SY60 can see faster moving fish at a greater range. “We excel at range at first detection, which is important in competitive fisheries like tuna. The 'Wicked Tuna' boats have been using the SY50.” 

The Simrad SY60 uses FM transmission as opposed to CW transmission, which enables it to provide higher resolution at range. “And the SY60 has what we call high acoustic efficiency,” says Barbee. “That means it’s converting more of the electric pulse into sound pressure rather than heat.” 

Putting the SY60 on small boats that bounce around more means more need for motion correction. “We put the MRU, the motion reference unit, in the transducer head,” says Barbee. “And that also makes it easier for the installers who don’t have to do those calibrations.” It also makes for fewer system components, Barbee notes. “I made piles of the components of our competitors, and our SY60,” he says. “And ours is a lot smaller. That gives boats 38 feet and even smaller an option for a world class sonar that also has optional AI integration that can mark individual fish.” 

An added feature of the SY60, Barbee points out, is that it can record data for future review. “That can help with collaborative research,” he says. “So, say you have a highly avoidant fish like menhaden, the science people might just be looking under their boat and miss the fish that are off to the sides. Fishermen with an SY60 can collect that information and share it with the people doing the stock assessment and get a more accurate analysis of stock size and composition.” 

For Barbee, the point is to help fishermen and regulators create sustainable fisheries. “It’s why I do what I do,” he says.