Monitoring Aqaba reefs, watch the video

Coral reef monitoring, the Swiss way: watch the video (link below) and discover the groundbreaking approach to coral conservation that the Transnational Red Sea Center and its partners at EPFL and ETHZ have developed, and how it is now being fully implemented in Aqaba, Jordan.

The Coral Reef Monitoring Toolbox (CRMT) is a set of scientific programs using cutting-edge technologies such as AI-driven 3D mapping and e.DNA metabarcoding designed to revolutionise coral reefs conservation policies, not only in the Red Sea but on a global scale.

It aims at supporting local scientific and environmental practitioners to autonomously produce robust and comprehensive coral reef health data, readily usable by decision-makers to support more efficient science-based conservation policies. Hence the series of training workshops the TRSC has organised in Switzerland and Aqaba - including the one last May featured in the video - over the past few years.

This new approach and low-cost, scalable technologies are now being implemented in partnership with the Aqaba Marine Reserve (AMR) with the support of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority as part of their global conservation strategy.

At this stage, the CRMT is composed of:

The DeepReefMap programme, led by Prof. Devis Tuia, head of the Environmental Computational Science and Earth Observation Laboratory at EPFL. It consists in using low-cost cameras and innovative AI technologies to map reefs in 3D and rapidly quantify coral cover and health across meaningful spatial and temporal scales. As an exemple, it enables to map 600m2 of coral reef per dive by two divers only.

The Environmental DNA metabarcoding, led by Prof. Loïc Pelissier from the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETHZ. It consists in using seawater filtrates and low-cost sequencing to characterize marine biodiversity with high resolution and standardized methods. This non-invasive, time-saving method applicable to all habitats helps detect and monitor both common and rare species of fish, corals and echinoderms.

The Environmental parameters recording programme, led by TRSC at EPFL. It consists in using innovative and cost-effective in situ data loggers to monitor environmental conditions of reef waters at multiple depths such as temperature, salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, net productivity, etc.

Marine Pollution programme, led by the Central Environmental Laboratory at EPFL. It consists in using cutting-edge technologies to detect and quantify marine pollutants – including inorganics (e.g. heavy metal), organics (e.g. crude oil), and microplastics at high resolution by sampling seawater, sediment and marine sponges.

Thanks to all the contributors in Switzerland and Jordan to this major achievement:

At the AMR: Abdullah Al-Khoja, Ahmad Njadat, Ahmad Qarallah, Attiya Tarabeen, Ayman Qarar'ah, Eyad Al-Zgool, Farah Al-Soqi, Dr Jafar Al-Omari, Mais Al Sawalha, Maysoon Kteifan, Naser Al-Zaweidah, Saleem Al-Nawisah.
At the University of Jordan, Aqaba branch: Dr Zeinab Abareyyat.
At the Laboratory of Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution & WildInSync , ETHZ: Dr. Camille Albouy
At the Central Environmental Laboratory, EPFL: Dr Florian Breider, Sylvain Coudret.