2019 monitoring of fish populations on 3D reefs
Marine Protected Areas
As in 2018, a new campaign to monitor fish populations on 3D reefs recently took place. These fish censuses take into account all the individuals present on each reef, species by species. The size of the individuals of each species is also estimated in order to be able to calculate the biomass present on the reefs in addition to the specific richness and the density.
In addition, a new automated photo tracking was carried out by installing Go Pros programmed to take photos every 30 seconds for 7 to 8 hours and identify species that could evolve inside or near the 3D reefs in the absence of divers. This complementary approach to traditional fish censuses makes it possible to identify the most fearful species that escape divers.
The analysis of the data collected in 2018, 2019 and the following years will make it possible to follow the progressive colonization of the submerged artificial reefs.