Ocean Park Conservation Foundation and local universities team up for horseshoe crab conservation
發佈日期: 2025-06-19 21:18
TVB News
Tomorrow marks the sixth International Horseshoe Crab Day, dedicated to the conservation of one of Earth's oldest species.
Now facing the threat of extinction, the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation has teamed up with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong to develop cutting-edge technology to protect them.
The Ocean Park Conservation Foundation is now halfway through a two-year pilot programme at the Ha Pak Nai mudflat to develop drones and artificial intelligence for horseshoe crab population surveys.
With a size of just 0.5 centimetres, juvenile horseshoe crabs are incredibly difficult to spot by the naked eye, making it hard to monitor population growth and health.
But with the threat of extinction looming, from pollution lowering survival rates to coastal developments contributing to habitat loss, these population surveys are vital to conservation.
The pilot programme has a solution: using drones to first collect images of the mudflats, which are then processed using AI algorithms trained to identify the characteristics of crabs and their burrowing behaviour.
With this method, a single researcher can survey the 100,000 square-metre mudflat in just 30 minutes.
However, concerns over accuracy remain. Assistant Professor for the Department of Chemistry at City University of HK says: "When the crabs are foraging, they actually have half of their body buried in the mud. So, that means you have to train the AI to know actually an animal which is a horseshoe crab but only have half their body stick out from the mud. So that means we need a lot of training."
The team says they hope to continue improving the system's accuracy above it's current rate of 90 percent.
The technology is also helping researchers monitor the effect of environmental factors, such as temperature and chlorophyll levels, on reproduction, in order to target conservation efforts and promote population growth.
International Horseshoe Crab Day serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting this species and their local habitats.
To celebrate the occasion, the Ocean Park Foundation encourages the public to participate in conservation efforts and help ensure the survival of horseshoe crabs for future generations.
