Background:
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park covers a vast area, and the 3000 reefs in the system are undergoing frequent and rapid changes. High quality monitoring data is essential to understand the overall condition of the reef, yet government institutions are only able to regularly survey about 20% of the Marine Park in any given year. Contributions of monitoring data from reefs outside the major institutional monitoring programs therefore play an important part in enhancing the overall understanding of the Great Barrier Reef and its condition, and modern tech such as underwater cameras and ReefCloud.Ai allows those contributions to be more accurate than ever.
Mission:
The goals of this research are to extend the reef monitoring network to reefs outside the current institutional monitoring programs, collect and publicize data on reef condition, and leverage the power of A.I. to significantly speed up the image analysis process to more quickly monitor these crucial yet rapidly deteriorating ecosystems.
Research Impacts & Applications:
Coral reefs around the world are dying due to increased global temperatures, pollution, and other anthropogenic causes. The deterioration of coral reefs can be captured over time through photographs and videos, and the new incorporation of AI allows researchers to more accurately understand and predict the ways our reefs will change and be shaped in the future. This knowledge will help researchers and policy makers better understand the conservation efforts that must be implemented to protect coral reefs and ultimately the biodiversity of the ocean as a whole.
