The Northern Branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) surveyed fucoid seaweed beds around the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) this past summer.
Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery said that the work had produced the first detailed digital map of the beds and an assessment of their stocks.
“This will make it possible to move from approximate calculations to scientifically based harvesting and rational use of the unique resource base of the Russian North,” the agency said.
Flights followed the southwestern coast at altitudes of 30 and 100 metres. Researchers timed the aerial photography for low water in the tidal zone, allowing them to record the boundaries of the seaweed beds as the tide receded.
The agency said the long, irregular coastline, with its many inlets and bays, had made surveying difficult.
Scientists also collected fucoid samples for analysis, determining species composition and biomass. The agency described the archipelago as one of the White Sea’s most productive areas for these algae, which are used in industry and medicine.
VNIRO’s June fieldwork took place from June 1 to 15 on the coast of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island. The institute said this was the first use of a drone for its monitoring there, gathering information on fucoid distribution and density.
A further series of flights took place along the island’s southern coast in August.
Researchers recorded the distribution of the beds and measured the algae’s morphometric characteristics. At that stage, VNIRO said the collected material would be used to prepare orthophotoplans and maps for assessing stocks.
Sergey Lutsyk, a junior specialist in the VNIRO Northern Branch Coastal Research Laboratory, said that a UAV took an image every two seconds and assigned coordinates to each photograph. Researchers could then stitch the images into orthophotoplans and terrain models during processing.
The June research also examined the age and reproduction of fucoid and kelp populations. Researchers collected water and bottom sediment samples as part of the wider monitoring programme, which VNIRO said would inform recommendations on sustainable harvesting.
