Animals

Crowdsourcing Meets Conservation in Taiwan’s AI Sea Turtle Monitoring Effort

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By Andy Hsueh/Ted Chen/Yvonne Yang

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Taiwan’s Ocean Conservation Administration is tapping AI to help protect sea turtles. Through the Turtle Finder platform, members of the public can upload photos and sighting information to help researchers identify and track individual turtles using facial recognition technology. Since every sea turtle has a unique facial scale pattern, the system can match animals across sightings and build long-term records of their movements. Officials say the platform reduces the time needed for identification and improves research reliability. Future additions, including data from rescued and released turtles, could further support international conservation efforts.

Facial recognition technology has long been used to identify people. Now, Taiwan’s Ocean Conservation Administration is using that tech to track sea turtles.

Every turtle has its own facial scale pattern, as unique as a fingerprint. On the Turtle Finder platform, people can upload clear photos of a turtle's face, head and body along with where it was spotted. AI matches the features, confirms whether the turtle has seen around Taiwan before, and users can even name a newly registered turtle.

FONG CHIA-LING, CO-FOUNDER, TURTLESPOT TAIWAN:
"Xiaoliuqiu Island currently has the most data. Hengchun and Green Island also have plenty of turtles. Local volunteers at Chaojing Park on the northeast coast also keep sea turtle records."

The platform cuts down on time-consuming manual identification. It also reduces uncertainty in research. But officials remind turtle watchers to keep a respectful distance.

LU HSIAO-YUN, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OCEAN CONSERVATION ADMIN.:
"Through the platform I can know where the turtle is and how it’s doing. I know not to touch it or disturb its habitat in any way."

The platform will soon add data on stranded and rescued turtles. That could reveal where rehabilitated and released turtles head next, making cross-border conservation easier.

With every upload, researchers hope to find out more about these ancient sea nomads.

Andy Hsueh, Ted Chen, Reporter for TaiwanPlus