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PS 49-150 - Applying video technology to improve the accuracy of biological data collection for monitoring anadromous river herring: Challenges and opportunities

Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Exhibit Hall CD, Midwest Airlines Center
Matthew K. Burak1, Marthe E. Mather2, John T. Finn1, John Kim3 and Robert M. Muth1, (1)Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, (2)Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, MA, (3)Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, OR
Background/Question/Methods
Environmental monitoring is crucial to the success of ecological research and restoration efforts.  Due to their decline throughout the eastern United States, two species of anadromous fish, blueback herring, (Alosa aestivalis) and alewife (A. pseudoharengus), collectively referred to as river herring, are considered important indicator species. Sustainable management of these species will require a monitoring effort to collect accurate data on the status of and trends in their populations. During their annual spring spawning migration, river herring ascend freshwater streams. Fishways deployed in these streams provide an opportunity to establish digital video camera monitoring stations. During their 8-week migration an adult river herring can pass through any monitoring station in minutes and most of the run will pass on any given day. Under these circumstances, conducting accurate counts is highly problematic.  Digital video cameras, coupled with wireless data-transmission technology, provide a low-cost, accurate, automatic monitoring system. The digital format enables automated computer image analysis. We implemented such a system for monitoring the movement of river herring, and evaluated the system’s performance in four coastal rivers in eastern Massachusetts.
Results/Conclusions
In 2007, at the Charles River, we recorded video from 18 September to 23 October during daylight hours, at 4 to 6 frames per second. The system recorded data to a hard drive at 0.5 gigabytes/day (GB/d). We used solar power and reduced the total system power requirements to 5W. In addition, our monitoring system used wireless internet technology to allow a single researcher to check the performance of each monitoring station and transfer data from the local hard drive to a server located off-site. We observed four challenges of implementing an automatic video-counting system. 1) In remote locations power is limiting. 2) The video monitoring system must be low maintenance. 3) Space requirements for continuous monitoring are substantial, i.e. 24-hours a day for an 8-week migration period, recording at 8 or 20 fps, requires 1.1 to 2.8 terabytes of disk space, respectively. 4) All system components (originally designed for other functions) may not be compatible. Successful use of a digital video system represents a significant advance in timely, accurate data collection for monitoring purposes, as well as an excellent opportunity to use video imagery to engage the public in conservation and restoration efforts.
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