COLLECTING FISH DATA WITH A ‘SMILE’ REEF UNVEILS NEW CITIZEN - SCIENCE PROJECT

Size matters, especially when it comes to fisheries management. A new collaborative, known as project SMILE, or Size Matters: Innovative Length Estimate, is underway in the Florida Keys to help collect information about fish lengths. This data is critical for fisheries stock assessments, which are used to manage ecologically and economically important marine species.

Funded through NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), the SMILE project involves volunteer divers, innovative underwater camera technology and the expansion of a citizen-science approach to collect length data for reef fish in the South Atlantic.

The SMILE project team includes Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF), the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s (SAFMC) Citizen Science Program, Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) and Axiom Data Science.

Launched in 1993, the REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project has successfully worked with trained recreational divers to create one of the largest citizen science-based marine life databases in the world. The SMILE project will incorporate diver-collected fish length data, through the use of stereo video technology, as a companion to the REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project.

“We appreciate the opportunity to be part of this collaborative effort supporting citizen-science,” said Carolyn Belcher, chair of the SAFMC. “Generating length distribution data for key species across a broad geographic range will better inform population assessments, leading to more effective conservation and management strategies.”

Fish length data traditionally require a fish in-hand to make measurements, and it can be difficult for scientists to collect this information. By leveraging trained REEF citizen-scientist divers, this collaboration will provide valuable fish length data for fisheries stock assessments and ecosystem-based management.

Citizen-science programs, such as the REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project and the SMILE project, empower the public to generate monitoring data and promote active participation in resource management science. Divers and snorkelers are in a unique position, as they can serve as the “eyes” of scientists in marine ecosystems by reporting their findings.

The camera technology for this project is being developed by a team of engineers at the University of California San Diego, Engineers for Exploration program. Field testing and camera technology development was previously supported by UCSD Kastner Research Lab and the Nature Conservancy California, and a grant from the nonprofit Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida from proceeds from the “Discover Florida’s Oceans” license plate. A stakeholder panel will provide expertise throughout the project on survey methodology, fish species of interest, and site selection for image collection. All video, images, species abundance and length data will be made publicly accessible for current research and management needs and future advancement of machine learning technologies.

Through the funding support of NOAA CRCP, the partnership between REEF, SAFMC’s Citizen Science Program, SECOORA and Axiom Data Science will bring new data sources into stock and ecosystem assessment processes and increase communication to the dive community about fisheries management issues. Visit www.reef.org/smile-project for more information.