A breakthrough has been reached in the fight against Eurasian watermilfoil. Bishop's University, in partnership with RAPPEL (Regroupement des associations pour la protection de l'environnement des lacs et des bassins versants), has put forth the world's first application of an aquatic drone to improve the efficiency of critical efforts to control against invasive aquatic plants.
A project led by the Undergraduate Bishop's Earth Research Group (UBERG), specifically by Steven Poulin, a master's student in Computer Sciences at Bishop's, the aquatic drone has criss-crossed lakes in the Estrie and Outaouais regions in the past year. The goal: to build a bank of images for its deep-learning system. As such, over 60,000 images of aquatic plants have been integrated within the drone which can now autonomously recognize twelve aquatic plant species with over 95% efficiency, surpassing human performance in this area.
RAPPEL, a group of strategy experts in the control of Eurasian milfoil, proceeded, in recent weeks, to the concrete application of the drone for its operations. In collaboration with the Association pour la protection de l'environnement du lac O'Malley (APELO), RAPPEL used the aquatic drone for its work in Austin at O'Malley Lake. The drone first surveyed the waters, then RAPPEL used the type of data collected, such as mapping and identification of Eurasian watermilfoil unit plans. The result: operations for the manual removal based on precision geofencing, a world's first.
"L'Association de protection de l'environnement du lac O'Malley wished to congratulate the Bishop's University team and the team from RAPPEL for this important step in combatting Eurasian milfoil. Our association is proud to have participated to this research project and to continue being at the forefront in controlling this invasive exotic plant."
- Michèle Lafond, APELO President.
This advance is significant because it will reduce the cost of controlling invasive exotic aquatic plants. Indeed, the mapping produced using the drone provides an accuracy of 10 to 15 cm, reducing the positioning time of the divers who carry out the uprooting under water. The applications of such technology to improve knowledge of an aquatic environment and to carry out floristic inventories are also very encouraging.
Building on this promising momentum, the research team now hopes to obtain the necessary funds to produce other drones of the same type and benefit a greater proportion of water protection stakeholders.
