What is the Automated Species Identification technology?

Humans have tirelessly disturbed nature’s inhabitants by bulldozing natural landscapes, overexploiting resources, and creating an overflowing amount of pollution. By 2018, wildlife populations were reduced by 69 percent. Laws were published promptly to prohibit the abovementioned acts, yet people neglected one activity that also disturbed nature: scientific research. Scientific studies can disrupt the environment by injuring wildlife. For example, marine researchers would haul fish out of the water with a trawl for observation, harming fish by brutally pulling them with the trawl and keeping them out of water. Fish returned to the sea are usually dead or infertile due to injuries, reducing the fish population and damaging the local biodiversity.

To prevent scientific research from harming wildlife, Automated Species Identification technology was invented. The core components of this technology are camera sensors and software. The software can analyze an organism’s location, species, and other characteristics, and cameras are placed at target habitats to collect information during research. Hence, the technology erases the need to capture animals and the potential to injure them.

Automated Species Identification technology was specialized for marine research by a company named Deep Vision, providing a great case study to analyze its potential. The specialized technology used cameras with a sub-sea vision that could be attached to a trawl, allowing researchers to collect statistics about investigated species as they swim in the trawl without pulling them out. Thus, more fish will survive, reproduce, and help restore biodiversity. Many renowned research cruises, such as the REDUS Cruise, purchased this technology for research on fish distribution. Automated Species Identification technology significantly contributes to biodiversity by preventing many research cruises from disrupting fish populations, and thus the technology is a blessing to the environment upon its invention.