Scientists Are Teaching Computers to Hear Illegal Fishing Underwater

Did you know scientists can catch illegal fishing without ever seeing the boat?

Researchers studying coral reefs in Indonesia have developed a system that uses underwater microphones and machine learning to detect the unmistakable sound of blast fishing from miles away.

And after listening to thousands of hours of ocean noise, they discovered the problem was happening far more often than anyone realized.

Listening for Explosions Beneath the Waves

Blast fishing is exactly what it sounds like.

Fishers use explosives underwater, creating a shockwave that can kill or stun large numbers of fish at once.

It’s effective at catching fish.

It’s terrible for almost everything else.

The explosions can shatter coral structures that took decades or even centuries to grow, damaging the habitat that countless other animals depend on.

The problem for conservation teams is catching it happening.

The ocean is huge, patrol boats are expensive and an explosion can be over long before anyone arrives.

So researchers decided to listen instead.

The Ocean Has Security Cameras. Sort Of.

Scientists placed underwater microphones, called hydrophones, around reefs in Indonesia’s Spermonde Archipelago.

Those microphones recorded the surrounding ocean continuously.

Researchers then trained a machine-learning system to recognize the acoustic signature of an underwater explosion, allowing computers to scan enormous amounts of audio much faster than a human ever could.

The result was essentially a listening network for the reef.

And it worked.

Researchers detected blast fishing across the region, including explosions happening in places and at times that traditional patrols could easily miss. 

Why That’s a Big Deal

Knowing blast fishing happens is one thing.

Knowing where and when it happens changes what conservation teams can actually do about it.

Acoustic monitoring can help authorities identify hotspots, understand patterns and send patrols where they’re most likely to make a difference.

And unlike a boat patrol, an underwater microphone can keep listening day and night.

The technology could eventually give marine protected areas around the world a relatively inexpensive way to keep tabs on enormous stretches of reef.

Sometimes Protecting the Ocean Starts With Listening

There’s something pretty incredible about this approach.

No satellites searching for boats.

No diver waiting underwater.

Just a microphone sitting on the reef, listening to everything happening around it, and a computer learning which sounds shouldn’t be there.

Coral reefs can be difficult places to patrol.

But they’re apparently much harder places to keep secrets.

Sources: Mongabay