KITES, CAMERAS & CORALS
Gregg Yan
I'm on a boat floating right over one of the richest coral reefs
in the Coral Triangle - Tubbataha. The same reef that both a US naval
vessel and then a Chinese fishing boat managed to plough into in 2013.
Until recently, the only way to properly assess the health of a coral
reef system like this one was by getting in the water. But here we are,
lowering a weird looking gadget into the water and remaining
conspicuously dry in the process. The contraption is in fact a rod
attached to an array of five Go Pro cameras and above it is a colourful
kite. It's a simple innovation that is transforming the way we analyse
coral reefs.
Low Cost, High Returns
The DIY invention is an
Automated Rapid Reef Assessment System, or ARRAS for short. “This camera
array has five GoPro cameras, each taking a continuous video of the
seafloor,” explains ARRAS Engineer Francis Corpuz. “Since they’re spaced
a meter apart, the videos overlap, allowing us to stitch the images and
rapidly generate a large picture of the damage.” We’re done in three
hours – far more efficient than jumping in with measuring tools and
slates.
Anchoring the northern tip of the Coral Triangle, the Philippines hosts
27,000 square kilometers of coral reefs. No one’s sure what the exact
figure is because like forests, coral cover fluctuates yearly. Beset by
half-a-century of overfishing, coastal development and pollution, 40%
of Philippine reefs are in poor condition, with just 1% rated excellent.
Monitoring them has always been difficult. But ARRAS is changing all
that.
“We developed ARRAS in 2010 to make marine fieldwork faster and more
cost-effective,” explains ARRAS head Dr. Maricor Soriano. “We needed
tools that were inexpensive, easy to build and durable. The recent surge
of sturdy sports cameras like GoPros have greatly accelerated our work –
allowing us to study reefs at a fraction of the cost. Images can be
reviewed to minimize observer errors.”
A collaboration between a number of government departments, NGOs and the
Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), ARRAS was instrumental in assessing
Tubbataha’s twin grounding scars last 2013. WWF has been working to
protect the Tubbataha Reefs since 1996. While a typical square kilometer
of healthy coral reef annually generates 65 metric tons of fish
biomass, Tubbataha generates over 200 and constantly seeds the Sulu Sea
with fish and invertebrate spawn. It's a shining example of how healthy
reef ecosytems support livelihoods and economies if they're allowed to
flourish and as such, it requires constant scrutiny. “Technology-based
tools like ARRAS give us an unprecedented glimpse of the state of coral
reefs. This provides science-based data to guide our conservation
efforts.”
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