A new tool uses facial recognition technology to identify individual whales and dolphins in the wild across 24 species. Claire Lacey, Marine Mammal Research Program, HIMB
A new tool that uses facial recognition technology to identify individual whales and dolphins in the wild across 24 species will help management and conservation efforts for marine mammals in Hawaii.
“From a conservation standpoint it is really useful to be able to recognize the same individuals over time because you can see what areas the individuals use,” said Philip Patton, a Ph.D. student with the University of Hawai’i at Manoa Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biologywho lead the research. “You can also use this information to estimate population size and population trends.”
The research has been published in “Methods in Ecology and Evolution,” according to a UH news release last week.
The multispecies photo-identification model based on a state-of-the-art method in human facial recognition was created for a Kaggle competition organized by Happywhale.comthat challenged engineers to develop a tool that could individually identify whales and dolphins using an algorithm. The algorithm engineers developed can identify characteristics such as scarring, pigmentation, size and other aspects on individual dolphins and whales.
The UH-Manoa Marine Mammal Research Program studies these species using photography to inform management and conservation efforts for marine mammals in Hawaii.
“When we go out and do these surveys like taking pictures of them out in the field, using an algorithm like this we can really speed up the information gathering process,” Patton said in the news release. “Once we get back to the lab we can run our photos through the algorithm and it will tell us who is there and then we immediately have some information to judge things like population, space use, etc. which are important for conserving Hawaiian whales and dolphins.”
Ecologically, dolphins are very social, and this new tool provides a way to observe dolphin social behavior in a noninvasive way.
“You can actually learn a lot of information from just recognizing the same individual over time and noting where you saw it,” said Patton.
The publication is the product of 56 researchers from around the globe sharing their valuable image data — representing six continents and 24 species — to advance cetacean research and conservation, the news release said.
The study included Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology graduate students Liah McPherson and Jens Curry, and Patton’s faculty adviser Lars Bejder. Funding for Patton’s work came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Quest Fellowship.
A new tool uses facial recognition technology to identify individual whales and dolphins in the wild across 24 species. Claire Lacey, Marine Mammal Research Program, HIMBToday's breaking news and more in your inbox
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