WILDLABS logoWildlabs.net : The conservation technology network

WILDLABS logoWildlabs.net : The conservation technology network

Group

Sustainable Fishing Challenges / Feed

This group welcomes those in our marine conservation tech community to collaborate together on challenges related to sustainable fishing practices. Inspired by this thread focusing on minimising the impact of trawling gear on seafloor environments, the Sustainable Fishing Challenges group is a place to share resources, pose challenges, brainstorm creative solutions, and begin collaborative projects.

discussion

I WANT TO TELL YOUR STORY

Barny Dillarstone

29 June 2025 10:22am

I create ocean exploration and marine life content on YouTube, whether it be recording nautilus on BRUVs, swimming with endangered bowmouth guitarfish, documenting reef...

3
See full post
event

Design-led innovation for nature

Catherine Greene

20 September 2024 2:24pm

How can space-enabled data and services be translated into information that is trusted and actionable, fuelling responsible behaviours towards nature? A new programme where SMEs will be paired with design consultancies...

0
See full post
discussion

WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 - FinDrop: Accessible Acoustic Monitoring for Mesophotic Marine Environments

Matthew Duggan

5 April 2024 10:22pm

Hello everyone! I am honored to introduce our interdisciplinary team, which has experienced exponential growth over the past year, comprising individuals such as @...

4 10
Matthew Duggan

10 August 2024 6:47am

This opportunity is what got me started in deep reef fishes! The grant is for predoctoral students and is due September 30, 2024!! Happy to help or collaborate with anyone interested :)



Eligibility: STRI seeks a diversity of applicants and encourages students from institutions throughout the neotropics to apply. Awards are based upon merit, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age or condition of handicap of the applicant.

Xavier Mouy

23 August 2024 1:58pm

Really great project @MattyD797 and team. Looking forward to seeing your progress. What is the target price of the FinDrop?

Matthew Duggan

27 August 2024 5:40am

Hey Xavier! 

Thank you for your interest and question!! 

The overarching goal of the FinDrop v1 for the WildLabs award is to characterize an instrument and make it as, if not more, sensitive than a ST600 Ocean acoustic instrument at a fraction of the price. While I can’t at this stage provide an accurate estimate of final price, it will be a substantial price decrease over an ST600 while providing the same duration and depth expectations. That decrease in price does exponentially decrease with the number we can expect to sell/interest and may increase with additional features the beta testers suggest. 

This award only gets us to the actual building of the prototype v1 by December, but we are already scheduled to have a completed product v2 built by March/April through additional collaborations that will be manufactured and sold through Sexton Underwater Housing Co. 

Please let me know if you have any other questions!  

See full post
article

New WILDLABS Funding & Finance group

Frank van der Most

5 June 2024 3:24pm

WildLabs will soon launch a 'Funding and Finance' group. What would be your wish list for such a group? Would you be interested in co-managing or otherwise helping out?

3 4
Alex Rood

5 June 2024 4:14pm

This is great, Frank! @StephODonnell, maybe we can try to bring someone from #Superorganism (@tomquigley ?) or another venture company (#XPRIZE) into the fold!
Paul Edonga

6 June 2024 1:38am

I find the group to be dope, fundraising in the realm of conservation has been tough especially for emerging conservation leaders. There are no centralized grants tracking common...
See full post
discussion

Drop-deployed HydroMoth

Sol Milne

2 April 2024 10:20am

Hi all, I'm looking to deploy a HydroMoth, on a drop-deployed frame, from a stationary USV, alongside a suite of marine chemical sensors, to add biodiversity collection to our...

4 1
Sol Milne

15 April 2024 6:53am

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for your advice, this is really helpful!

I'm planning to use it in a seagrass meadow survey for a series of ~20 drops/sites to around 30 m, recording for around 10 minutes each time, in Cornwall, UK.

At this stage I reckon we won't exceed 30 m, but based on your advice, I think this sounds like not the best setup for the surveys we want to try.

We will try the Aquarian H1a, attached to the Zoom H1e unit, through a PVC case. This is what Aquarian recommended to me when I contacted them too.

Thanks for the advice, to be honest the software component is what I was most interested in when it came to the AudioMoth- is there any other open source software you would recommend for this?

Best wishes,

Sol
 

Matthew Duggan

21 April 2024 7:10pm

Hey Sol, 

No problem at all. Depending on your configuration, the Audiomoth software would have to work on a PCB with an ESP32 chip which is the unit on the audiomoth/hydromoth, so you would have to make a PCB centered around this chip. You could mimic the functionality of the audiomoth software on another chip, like on a raspberry pi with python's pyaudio library for example. The problem you would have is that the H1A requires phantom power, so it's not plug and play. I'm not too aware with the H1e, but maybe you can control the microphone through the recorder that is programmable through activations by the RPi (not that this is the most efficient MCU for this application, but it is user friendly). A simpler solution might be to just record continuously and play a sound or take notes of when your 10 min deployment starts. I think it should last you >6 hours with a set of lithium energizer batteries. You may want to think about putting a penetrator on the PVC housing for a push button or switch to start when you deploy. They make a few waterproof options. 

Just somethign else that occured to me, but if you're dropping these systems, you'll want to ensure that the system isn't wobbling in the seagrass as that will probably be all you will hear on the recordings, especially if you plan to deploy shallower. For my studies in Curacao, we aim to be 5lbs negative, but this all depends on your current and surface action. You might also want to think about the time of day you're recording biodiversity in general. I may suggest recording the site for a bit (a couple days or a week) prior to your study to see what you should account for (e.g. tide flow/current/anthropogenic disturbance) and determine diel patterning of vocalizations you are aiming to collect if subsampling at 10 minutes. 

Cheers, 

Matt

Alex Rogers

3 May 2024 12:55pm

Hi Sol,

If the maximum depth is 30m, it would be worth experimenting with HydroMoth in this application especially if the deployment time is short. As Matt says, the air-filed case means it is not possible to accurately calibrate the signal strength due to the directionality of the response. For some applications, this doesn't matter. For others, it may.

Another option for longer/deeper deployments would be an Aquarian H2D hydrophone which will plug directly into AudioMoth Dev or AudioMoth 1.2 (with the 3.5mm jack added). You can then use any appropriately sized battery pack.

If you also connect a magnetic switch, as per the GPS board, you can stop and start recording from outside the housing with the standard firmware.

Alex

See full post
discussion

Species ID Needs?

Nadya Mamoozadeh

19 February 2024 7:55pm

Hi all! New to the WILDLABS space and interested in learning from others about species identification needs in fisheries and wildlife, ranging from monitoring and enforcement to...

2 0
Scott Allee

23 February 2024 2:10pm

Hello Nadia,

A forensic genetic challenge  exists when DNA is destroyed by processes used in manufacturing of derivative animal products, preventing law enforcement in identification of protected species.  Alternative methods such as lipid profiles or isotope analysis unique to certain species may be possible but require voucher specimens that may or may not be available and methods that have not been tested or peer reviewed. Examples below:

  1. derivative products made from endangered shark squalene (eg. Liver oil capsules).
  2. derivative products made from lion bone and tiger bone (eg. lion bone cake and tiger wine).

    This is a law enforcement issue and would like to discuss possible solutions. 
See full post
careers

Senior Software Engineer, Skylight

Alex Rood

21 February 2024 3:44pm

Join the mission to help tackle IUU fishing with cutting-edge tech! The Allan Institute for AI is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to accelerate efforts to make sure those working to restore our ocean have the tools...

1
See full post
discussion

Hydromoth for coastal & offshore surveying

Sol Milne

16 November 2023 7:36am

Hi all! I'm interested in deploying a Hydromoth on an Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV) to collect acoustic data for biodiversity analysis, for coastal and offshore marine surveys....

3 0
Harold Tay

18 November 2023 1:47am

Hi Sol,

I think your concern is well placed.  The pros typically tow an array of hydrophones, in its simpler configuration it looks like a long fat rubber hose containing maybe a dozen transducers feeding their electrical signals to a recording unit back on the ship.  All this is done to reduce noise from the ship, from waves crashing, and flow noise.  The multiple transducers can also be electronically tuned to be directional so that it can be "pointed" away from a noise source (like the ship).

In your position, I would just try the simplest thing that could work, then fix the problems as they arise.  It could be you may need to be dead in the water while recording.  To address surface noise (slapping waves, wind), you could mount the hydromoth low down on a spar buoy, which you tow into position.

 

Best of luck, it sounds like an interesting project (c:

Jamie Macaulay

19 December 2023 2:20pm

Hydromoths are great for the price but they do not have the most streamlined housing and audio quality won't be as good as something like a SoundTrap or really any recorder with a proper hydrophone and 16-bit +DAQ system.

If you can afford it, this is an excellent SoundTrap based towed autonomous system NOAA have been using. It might work towed behind an autonomous vehicle

Alternatively, if you can have something inside the vehicle, a simple tape recorder (e.g. Tascam DR40X) and hydrophone on cable  will provide excellent sound quality. You could also use something like a Raspberry Pi with audio focussed ADC hat to record but that would require a bit more programming. Even consider a standard AudioMoth and plug a proper hydrophone into the audio jack - this would still have a 12-bit ADC but would provide better sound quality than a hydromoth (hydrophones are more omnidirectional and there's no air filled causing reflections and attenuation)

https://swfsc-publications.fisheries.noaa.gov/publications/CR/2021/2021Barlow3.pdf
Kim Hendrikse

20 December 2023 6:57am

If you are considering an external microphone and a towed system, then you would also be in a position to consider a raspberry pi with an external microphone with sbts-aru. Another option:



 

See full post
Link

Using an AI-based Warning System to Protect Whales in South Africa

Esther Githinji

28 July 2023 11:01am

Working with WWF, Vodacom is using cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) technology and infrared cameras to help minimise whale entanglements in mussel farming ropes off the southwest coast of South Africa in Saldanha Bay.

1
careers

Fisheries Analyst (Pacific) 

Global Fishing Watch

15 June 2023 12:15pm

With a focus on using and combining vessel tracking data, other satellite derived datasets and big data methods and AI generated estimates related to vessel identity and activity, the Fisheries Analyist with Global...

0
See full post
Link

Global Fishing Watch's Marine Manager Raises the Bar on Ocean Monitoring

Carly Batist

13 January 2023 12:09am

An online portal to help governments, researchers, conservation advocates & others monitor activity throughout the world’s marine environment, as well as design & implement protected areas. The Marine Manager is now open to anyone. Marine Manager provides users with a...

0
Link

Crowdfunding Aerial Baseline Study of Ghost Gear in Koh Phangan, Thailand

Sol Milne

18 December 2022 11:06am

We are developing a project in Thailand, using drones to locate lost & discarded fishing gear across Koh Phangan, Thailand. We're 86% there & only need $1500 to get us over the line. If you can help us, we would really appreciate it! This project uses drones to create...

0
Read "Using drones to find ghost gear in Koh Phangan, Thailand & study the impacts on marine megafauna | Experiment" on https://experiment.com/projects/using-drones-to-study-ghost-gear-amp-marine-megafauna-in-koh-phangan-thailand

Using drones to find ghost gear in Koh Phangan, Thailand & study the impacts on marine megafauna | Experiment

crowdfunding science research funding crowdsourcing experiment openaccess

https://experiment.com/projects/using-drones-to-study-ghost-gear-amp-marine-megafauna-in-koh-phangan-thailand
discussion

Sea turtle monitoring

evelynbritez

11 February 2021 11:44am

Hello everyone. I would like to know if anyone has suggestions on techniques to monitor sea turtles in areas where the density might be low and the sites are hard to access...

9 0
Nida Al Fulaij

13 December 2021 6:19pm

Hi Evelyn

 

Not sure if you've come across this paper about green turtles in Turks and Caicos

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00690/full

Frank van der Most

18 March 2022 11:53pm

Hi Evelyn,

I learned of the torsooi database to collect sea turtle data. The database per se may not be that interesting as an asnwer to your question but I know they have developed software that recognizes individual sea turtles based on pictures of their heads. The pattern of the head segments allows this.

If you manage to make pictures remotely, by land-based cameras or drones or whatever, this may help monitoring the individuals.

In my humble and non-expert opinion, this software has the potential to do away with metal tags.

cheers

Frank

Aadithya Prakash

18 May 2022 6:03am

Hey Evelyn,

 

I work on building self-powered buoys that collect various sensor data (sea surface and sub-surface) that can be sent back to mainland over cellular/satellite comms. Are these nesting sites close to shore or are they relatively far out at sea?

 

Best,

Aadu

See full post