<![CDATA[The Maluku Sea is a body of water with considerable potential in terms of the fisheries sector. Several fish aggregations are located in the Maluku Sea that are being checked using a Simrad EK-15 single beam echosounder with a frequency of 200 kHz kHz using the hydroacoustic method to record fish echoes. The hydroacoustic method provides information in the form of echoes from fish groups or fish volume. The backscattering strength (SV) is distributed around the fish aggregating device. This study aims to detect the presence of pelagic fish using hydroacoustic technology in the form of backscatter values and to analyze the relationship between pelagic fish SV and temperature, salinity, and currents around fish aggregating devices in the Maluku Sea. Fish aggregating devices in the Maluku Sea are dominated by small pelagic fish with fish aggregating device constructions reaching 70 meters below the water surface, there are buoys tied with floating ropes and artificial attractors such as palm fronds and weights. The temperature profile is around 29.73 – 26.85 °C, salinity ranges from 34.4 to 34.9 PSU, and the current speed is 0.2 meters per second. The distribution of fish SV values in the three fish aggregating devices was at a depth of 5 to 20 meters with SV values ranging from -46.53 to -52.91 dB, indicating that the fish aggregating devices greatly influenced the distribution of pelagic fish that tend to gather and follow the presence of attractors in the fish aggregating devices. ]]>
