Natural England has completed a two-year pilot project using drones and AI to monitor the seal population on the coast of Norfolk.
The agency has claimed successful results and said it hopes to be able to deploy the technology on other stretches of England’s coastline.
Traditionally, seal population monitoring relied on manual ground observations and aerial surveys, which posed a challenge in terms of collecting accurate data, particularly in hard-to-reach areas.
Natural England obtained permission from the UK Civil Aviation Authority to fly the drones and equipped them with high resolutions cameras to fly at a height of 110 metres, which minimised disturbance to the seals.
Instance segmentation – a type of AI that can detect objects within an image – was used to automatically detect individual seals and distinguish between adults and pups, even when they were grouped closely together.
The approach has now detected over 8,500 seals, compared with volunteers on the ground counting 6,200.
Natural England said that the technology is less likely than volunteers to count the same pup twice, and it can access areas which the volunteers cannot.
Different perspective
Gabriella Fasoli, Earth observation higher data scientist at Natural England, said: “This difference is likely due to the drone’s aerial perspective, which provides a unique viewpoint from above, allowing for a more accurate count by detecting seals that may be hidden or less visible from the ground.”
Emma Milner, senior marine mammal specialist at Natural England, said: “This project has shown that drones and the use of AI technology can be a cost and time efficient alternative method of monitoring seal populations.
“This cutting edge technology will help contribute to a comprehensive national picture of seal populations, allowing us to better understand population changes over time and to assess the impact of human activity on these crucial habitats, enabling better conservation efforts.
“It is our hope that in the future, the methods from this two-year pilot project can be developed to allow drone surveys at other important sites around the country, and for other species as well as grey seals.”
Role of volunteers
Natural England added that, while the method has the potential to enhance the accuracy of our population assessments for the UK’s seals, volunteers on the ground will remain crucial to documenting and protecting them.
It said the UK is a crucial breeding ground for grey seals, hosting 35% of the global population. Despite their recovery from a worldwide total of 500 seals in the early 20th century to over 160,000 today, ongoing monitoring remains essential to their protection.
