Imagine if anyone could be a scientist and contribute
to understanding where ocean animals travel?
It’s quickly becoming a reality.
Today, data from citizen scientists
is playing an important role in revealing
the secrets of ocean animals.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
has partnered with engineers at Wild Me
and NOAA’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
to pool data collected by citizen scientists.
That is, basically, anyone.
The data can be used to better understand population size,
migration routes, and social structures of marine mammals.
People can send photographs of a whale
to a tool known as Flukebook: a web-based catalog
that builds a profile for each individual,
like a global social network.
Flukebook uses machine learning, a form of
artificial intelligence, known as A.I.,
to find the whales in submitted pictures
and then individually identify them
based on differences in their appearance.
Through A.I., Flukebook can process
high volumes of information and identify
individuals in the photographs.
Species that are individually identifiable
can greatly benefit from A.I. and machine learning.
If a human can take a catalog of photographs
and be able to match individual animals from a study population
then we can train machine learning and A.I.
to repeat that process.
And whereas it might take a human 9 hours
to go through thirty thousand photographs to find a match.
With A.I. and machine learning, that's a five minute process.
With citizen science, we have more eyes on the water,
be it industry representatives, boaters,
agency representatives from the government,
or citizen scientists on whale watch tours
or snorkeling or diving with whale sharks and manta rays
in the Gulf of Mexico.
By enabling contributions from scientists
and the boating public, Flukebook’s functions
are saving time and enabling cost effective research
while unraveling the secrets of our oceans
Increasing our knowledge of marine life
helps support science informed decision making.
That's the real value of combining technology
and citizen scientists.
Making every sighting matter.