Hello people.
Welcome to the very first Nature Venture newsletter 💚
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Off to the actual newsletter:
I am on the way to Lima, Peru, to the International Conservation Technology Conference.
[Disclaimer: I wrote this a week ago, so I was on the way to the conference, the conference already happened. I will share an update about the conference next month, hopefully.]
I've been to quite a few (tech) conferences in my life, and to be at one that is exactly what I do and what I want to do is a big joy. It is so special to be part of the community and work on projects I am excited about, in awe of and inspired by.
On top of that, I will also be giving a talk and a workshop. I am especially excited about the workshop, as I'll get the participants to share their thoughts on what happens in the space between technology development and its use in the field. What works, what doesn't, all that, and get people to talk to each other.
[ICTC was amazing!]
Photo credit: Department of Conservation New Zealand
Spyfish Aotearoa is the main project I've been working on over the last year.
The point is to automate MPA reporting, or at least make some more cumbersome bits faster or streamlined. So, instead of watching many hours of videos and filling endless Excel sheets, humans can do things like go into the field or interpret the numbers and learn more about the health of the marine ecosystems and then use those numbers to advocate for the creation of more.
The project originated as "let's use machine learning to count fish" to now being a way bigger project, that involves standardising incoming data (also historical), to then having citizen scientists and experts review some of the footage, and a dashboard to show insights.
If you want to learn more, here is an article that talks about the work we did last year: https://wildlife.ai/how-spyfish-aotearoa-is-automating-marine-protected-area-monitoring/