This past September Nicole Yamase, OneReef Impact Director, Colin Hyatt, OneReef Impact Coordinator, and two of our partners from the Sandin Lab at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography traveled to both Yap and Pohnpei to train local community members that partner with OneReef to use technology to create large area imaging which assists in evaluating both coral reef health and fish biomass data.
The technology creates 3-dimensional replicas of natural landscapes using digital photography. After our teams collect large numbers of images, those images are stitched together to create a high definition 3-D model of the reef, which can be compared over time to identify changes to coral reefs and fish biomass. This data then informs our conservation and adaptation efforts.
In Pohnpei, there were three full days of training with seven community partners. In Yap, the team was able to get in two days of training with thirteen training participants from six communities. We are excited to share some of the results from these coral reef mapping efforts in our 2024 Impact Report.
