Representatives from Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) visited Palawan on February 27 to March 1, to finalize the Collaboration Agreement between the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) through its Staff (PCSDS).
This initiative is part of the Marine Resource Initiative (MRI) Project with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Among the agreements discussed is the use of ReefScan Transom as an innovative remote reef monitoring equipment. ReefScan Transom uses a high-resolution optical imaging system with artificial intelligence (AI) computing capabilities. This system will be used to monitor marine resources located in areas which are difficult to be reached by the staff either due to security concerns brought by strong currents or hard to access areas.
Photos are also geotagged which allows PCSDS to create a powerful and high-resolution record of reef condition for future comparison.
With this new agreement, preparation of the Collaboration Agreement signals the official start of project implementation.