On the occasion of Earth Day, to honour the diversity of the environment of our planet, Accenture, Intel and Sulubaai Environmental Foundation have jointly announced Project CORaiL, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered solution to monitor, characterise and allays coral reef consistency. The project has collected over 40,000 images of the coral reefs from the coral reef beds of the Pangatalan island in the Philippines, where it was deployed a year earlier. The images help the researchers gauge the health of the reefs in real-time. 

"Artificial intelligence provides unprecedented opportunities to solve some of society's most vexing problems," said Jason Mitchell, a managing director in Accenture's Communications, Media & Technology practice. "Our ecosystem of corporate and social partners for this "AI for social good' project proves that there is strength in numbers to make a positive environmental impact," he added.

Traditionally, the most common coral reef monitoring efforts require extensive divings by humans to collect data, video footage and photos to note the abundance and diversity of fish, which serves as an important indicator of reef health. However, human interference can lead to an alteration in wildlife behaviour as well as affect the survey, however unintentionally. Additionally, divers can remain in the water for only a limited time, roughly around 30 minutes. 

Engineers from the three organisations combined their expertise for Project CORaiL with a goal to help researchers overcome these challenges and restore and supplement the existing degraded reed in the Philippines. Firstly, Sulubaai built a concrete underwater platform, a Sulu-Reef Prosthesis, to provide strong support for unstable coral fragments. The platform incorporates fragments of living coral within it that will eventually grow and expand, providing an artificially grown, natural habitat for fish and other marine life. Then, Accenture strategically placed intelligent underwater video cameras. Equipped with the Accenture Applied Intelligence Video Analytics Services Platform (VASP), the cameras detect and photograph fish as they pass. VASP uses AI to count and classify the marine life, with the data then sent to a surface dashboard, where it provides analytics and trends to researchers in real-time, enabling them to make data-driven decisions to protect the coral reef. 

"Project CORaiL is an incredible example of how AI and edge technology can be used to assist researchers with monitoring and restoring the coral reef. We are very proud to partner with Accenture and the Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation on this important effort to protect our planet," said Rose Schooler, Intel corporate vice president in the Sales and Marketing Group. 

Engineers are already working on updating Project CORaiL, which will include an optimised convolutional neural network and a backup power supply. They are also considering installing infrared cameras, which enable nighttime video capture to create a complete picture of the coral system. Additional uses could include studying the migration rate of tropical fish to colder waters and monitoring intrusion in protected or restricted underwater areas.

 "The value of your data depends on how quickly you can glean insights to make decisions from it," said Athina Kanioura, Accenture's chief analytics officer and Accenture Applied Intelligence lead. "With the ability to do real-time analysis on streaming video, VASP enables us to tap into a rich data source—in effect doing 'hands-on' monitoring without disrupting the underwater environment."

Coral reefs are among the world's most diverse ecosystems, with more than 800 species of corals providing habitat and shelter for approximately 25% of global marine life. Coral reefs are also extremely beneficial to humans: They protect coastlines from tropical storms, provide food and income for 1 billion people, and generate $9.6 billion in tourism and recreation each year. But according to the United Nations Environment Programme, coral reefs are endangered and rapidly degrading due to overfishing, bottom trawling, warming temperatures and unsustainable coastal development.