Detecting marine mammals at tidal turbines

Overview — This system uses machine-learning algorithms to detect marine mammals from sonar footage at tidal turbines, with the aim of identifying marine-mammal behaviour near the turbines more efficiently and effectively and using the collected data to better identify species.

How it is used — The Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews is leading a project to monitor fine-scale marine-mammal behaviour around tidal turbines. Its High Current Underwater Platform (HiCUP) collected a year of sonar footage of marine-mammal behaviour at a tidal turbine, which the algorithms are being developed to analyse.

- Increases the speed at which the footage can be analysed by using machine learning algorithms that recognise marine mammals in the footage.