Visual Marine Mammal Detection is Improved by Using Infrared Technology

SMM 2024 Biannual Conference Scientific Poster Presentation

Marine Observer by Toyon Research Corporation presents recent research, along with its partner LGL Limited, and with funding partners Hibernia, Equinor and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and support by Energy Research and Innovation Newfoundland and Labrador, at the 2024 SMM Conference in Perth, Australia.

Marine Observer was deployed on survey and support vessels conducting scientific and geophysical research. The Marine Observer system, which consists of an infrared camera and AI-powered software, was tasked to provide recorded data of marine mammal detection alongside marine mammal observers (MMOs) stationed on board three different vessels in 2022. The following is a summary of the data collection along with the poster for download.

Authors: Sarah Penney-Belbin1, Christina Tombach Wright², Valerie D. Moulton¹, Meike Holst¹, Kevin Sullivan², Mike Wiatt², Jon Waltman², and Kochise Bennett².

¹LGL Ltd. 1655 Topsail Road, Paradise, NL, A1L 1V1, Canada, ²Toyon Research Corporation: 6800 Cortona Dr. Goleta, CA 93117 USA.

Use of an Infrared-Camera System to Detect Marine Mammals from a Seismic Vessel

Introduction

• Toyon developed a long-wave infrared (LWIR) camera to detect blows from large whales.
• Toyon created the Whale Spout Detector software which uses a trained deep neural network (AI)
  classifier to automatically detect and classify whale blows and other targets.

Methods

•  In 2022, the LWIR system was deployed on three vessels – two in North Atlantic and one in North Pacific.
• A total of 1,921 hours of LWIR video were collected over 87 days.
• Independent review of the data was performed by LGL (~63 hours of IR video).
•  LGL compared data: auto detections -manual IR video review – marine mammal observers (MMOs).

Results

• LWIR system successfully detected whale blows during:
• Daylight and darkness.
• Patchy fog and minor to severe glare.
• Calm to rough sea states.
• Estimated detection ranges to blows were similar for the LWIR system and MMOs.

Poster Abstract:

Use of a Vessel-Based Infrared Camera System to Detect Whales: Visual marine mammal detection is improved by using infrared technology

There is much interest in the use of thermal (Infrared, IR) technology for marine mammal detection as part of monitoring and mitigation efforts for offshore industries including seismic exploration. In 2022, a commercially viable thermal IR camera system was deployed from a seismic vessel and a supply vessel offshore Newfoundland and Labrador and a scientific research vessel offshore British Columbia, Canada, to test its ability to detect large whales. The IR camera system consisted of an uncooled longwave IR six-camera module with a 90° azimuthal field of view, connected to a laptop running customized software that incorporated deep machine learning, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), to automatically detect whales. To assess the performance of the IR camera system, automatic detections were human confirmed or denied, manual review of IR videos was conducted, and comparisons to visual sightings made by Marine Mammal Observers (MMOs) were performed. Blows from baleen whales and sperm whales were routinely detected by the IR camera system in variable environmental conditions, including periods of darkness, high sea states, glare, and patchy fog. Overall, the IR camera system detected whales at distance ranges of several kilometers, similar to those estimated by MMOs during this study. Currently, the IR camera system is not able to automatically classify true positive detections by species or marine mammal group but produced IR video clips can enable a trained biologist to make limited classifications based on a manual review of the video. Our results support the concept of improved whale detection – including within a safety zone for seismic surveys – using IR technology in conjunction with visual observations by MMOs. With further advancement, the IR camera system has demonstrated potential to serve as an effective monitoring tool for marine mammals, including species of conservation concern.

Interested in learning more about our data? Contact our team at marineobserver@toyon.com