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Counting crabs from the sky
Researchers no longer risk getting stuck in the mud possibly risking their lives surveying marine life in river estuaries in Devon.
They do not need to step onto dangerous muddy river banks at low tide because a drone flying 20 metres above is making safer, faster and more accurate studies than they can.
Estuary surveys are needed in Devon every four years to monitor the numbers of crab “tiles” - old roof tiles, guttering, drainpipes, chimney pots or old tyres - set on river banks to trap soft skinned (moulting) crabs, a prized sea angling bait, Lauren Parkhouse, an environment officer at Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA), said today (October 5)
A 2012 survey of the Exe estuary on the south coast of Devon took 17 officers and volunteers four months during four spring tides.
“In contrast a survey just completed with a drone took six days during two spring tides and only one IFCA officer needed to be present for the first day,“ she told the annual conference of the Institute of Fisheries Management in Norwich.
Crab tiling (sometimes called potting) could change the complexity, diversity and abundance of crabs and organisms in sensitive estuaries and effect bird behaviour over large areas.
The first trials, with a drone operated by Vertical Horizons Media, were on the Taw and Torridge estuary in north Devon a year ago, when it was flown at low water taking photos every few seconds.
Researchers no longer risk getting stuck in the mud possibly risking their lives surveying marine life in river estuaries in Devon.
They do not need to step onto dangerous muddy river banks at low tide because a drone flying 20 metres above is making safer, faster and more accurate studies than they can.
Estuary surveys are needed in Devon every four years to monitor the numbers of crab “tiles” - old roof tiles, guttering, drainpipes, chimney pots or old tyres - set on river banks to trap soft skinned (moulting) crabs, a prized sea angling bait, Lauren Parkhouse, an environment officer at Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA), said today (October 5)
A 2012 survey of the Exe estuary on the south coast of Devon took 17 officers and volunteers four months during four spring tides.
“In contrast a survey just completed with a drone took six days during two spring tides and only one IFCA officer needed to be present for the first day,“ she told the annual conference of the Institute of Fisheries Management in Norwich.
Crab tiling (sometimes called potting) could change the complexity, diversity and abundance of crabs and organisms in sensitive estuaries and effect bird behaviour over large areas.
The first trials, with a drone operated by Vertical Horizons Media, were on the Taw and Torridge estuary in north Devon a year ago, when it was flown at low water taking photos every few seconds.