Project completed by Jessica Jorgensen

Research Questions / Objectives

This project explored innovative methods for tracking reef fish and honu (green sea turtles) as ecological indicators of coral reef health. By combining traditional transect surveys with software-assisted animal tracking, the goal was to enhance accuracy and speed in biodiversity monitoring and foster community participation in conservation. The primary research questions were: 

1. How can multi-project tracking software improve accuracy and efficiency of fish surveys compared to manual belt transects?
2. Can individual honu be reliably identified using photographic software, and how can community-submitted data expand long-term monitoring?
3. How does tracking indicator species (fish and honu) inform broader coral reef health assessments? 

Methods

Two parallel tracking efforts were developed:

• Fish Surveys: Standard 30 m belt transects were conducted, with buddy teams waiting five minutes before surveying and tallying fish within a 5 m swath. Difficulties in counting fast-moving schools were addressed by piloting FishTrac, a multi-object tracker designed to record multiple fish along transects in real time with reduced observer error.
• Honu Tracking: The I3S desktop software was tested for turtle identification using the unique scale patterns (scutes) on honu shells, akin to fingerprints. Community involvement was encouraged through the planned “Honu Hawaiʻi” platform, which will allow divers and residents to upload photos for long-term passive data collection.

Results

Initial testing demonstrated the feasibility of both approaches:

• Fish: FishTrac showed promise in reducing observer error and providing more precise counts, though further development and coding support are needed.
• Honu: IS3 successfully differentiated individuals, confirming that honu can be catalogued for long-term monitoring. Community photo submissions represent a scalable avenue for broad participation and rapid data collection. 

Significance

Tracking fish and honu provides a dual lens into coral reef health. Fish serve as indicator species, linking abundance and diversity to ecosystem balance (e.g. butterflyfish as coral health proxies). Honu, as a flagship species facing extinction pressures, connects biodiversity monitoring with public engagement. Together, these approaches expand OAP’s monitoring toolkit, while addressing gaps in reliable survey methods, minimising observer error, and integrating citizen-science.