Automatic mapping of aquaculture activity in the Atlantic Ocean
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Accurate and up-to-date information about current usage of marine areas for aquaculture is crucial for marine human activities planning and ecosystem-based management. However, this data is often limited to national authorities, and discrepancies between planned and real practices can arise. In this study, propose a novel methodology to automatically map and verify current activity of aquaculture crops across European regions based on freely available satellite data is proposed. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Sentinel-1 mission provides Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, which serve as the basis for the analysis. Multiple SAR images of the same locations are processed using ESA Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) software and merged to remove temporal noise-like artifacts caused by factors such as ships and waves. Next, the iDPolRAD algorithm is employed to detect potential aquaculture sites, which initially include noise from coastal zones and unwanted human and natural structure that passed through the filter. The aquaculture sites are classified using a ResNet18 model with 93% of the sites correctly classified. This implies that it is feasible to monitor marine areas using satellite radar data to track aquaculture areas. However, generalization power across regions is poor likely due to diversity of types of structures used and species cultivated. Contrary to other real-world applications, non-pre-trained neural networks outperform pre-trained ones. Further studies are needed to investigate factors influencing the detectability of different aquaculture sites such as cage geometry or SAR image resolution in order to enhance the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the mapping process. This study highlights the potential of SAR data, coupled with image processing and classification techniques, as a viable means to map large marine areas dedicated to aquaculture.
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDGs: Life below water, Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,820
Awards: G1105844351, G1175115578, G1338257350, G1622782223, G1953161149, G210041235, G2262748287, G2601397997, G2975900969, G300979063, G340608594, G34346518, G3480869486, G3681454997, Optimisation of digital catch monitoring and reporting in European Fisheries, G4042783231, G410571670, G411834204, G425668148, G434337789, G451917667, G4668838594, G491712853, G5080475149, G5195188938, G5404395142, G5539308778, G5967599077, G624877701, Towards the Sustainable Development of the Atlantic Ocean: Mapping and Assessing the present and future status of Atlantic marine ecosystems under the influence of climate change and exploitation, G6479444938, G7084143925, Climate Change and Future Marine Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity, G7162266856, G7805626310, G7863371703, G8497050386, G929308097
OpenAlex ID: W4401382030