An environmental crisis is emerging beneath the clear waters of Australia's east coast. Long-spined sea urchins (Centrostephanus rodgersii) are rapidly increasing in number, spreading southward and damaging essential kelp forests. In response, a new initiative in Mallacoota, located on the border of New South Wales and Victoria, is utilizing artificial intelligence to track and potentially eradicate this invasive species.

Divers are photographing the sea urchins to train AI systems to recognize and monitor them. The goal is to gain a better understanding of the damage they are inflicting on the marine ecosystem. Reiner Hurst, a commercial abalone diver involved in the program, emphasized the importance of the marine habitat. "It's extremely important; without that environment, without that weeding habitat, there would be no abalone, rock lobster, or a lot of fish. A lot of fisheries rely on it," he stated.

The proliferation of sea urchins poses a significant threat to the marine ecosystem in southeastern Australia. Originally from New South Wales, these urchins are now migrating south into Victoria and Tasmania in search of cooler waters. Their overwhelming numbers are leading to the creation of "urchin barrens," where they overgraze on kelp, resulting in a loss of biodiversity. Once vibrant kelp forests have been transformed into barren, white rock landscapes.

Hurst, who has been diving in the Mallacoota area for 12 years, has witnessed the destruction caused by the long-spined urchins. He described the altered landscape, saying, "Where Black Sea urchins have moved in and been there for a while, the landscape does look different. There's no weed left because they obviously eat the weed, and it just looks like a moonscape, really. It's down to white rock."

A recent Senate inquiry has urged the federal government to allocate $55 million over the next five years to address this issue.

In the fight against the sea urchin invasion, scientists are employing robotics. Matthew Dunbabin, a researcher at Queensland University of Technology, previously used robots to track and eliminate the poisonous Crown of Thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef. He noted that the underwater photographs provided by divers in Mallacoota will be vital for training AI to detect sea urchins. "To be able to get accurate numbers, you need to have persistent monitoring and accurate monitoring, and that's where robotics can play a big role," Dunbabin explained. "Once we actually train these robots, we can embed the algorithms on board, and they can run faster in real time, which means we have a way of counting them in real time."

Hurst added that the project's objective is to determine the extent of the urchins' movement and the damage they are causing. "That's probably one of the reasons for the project is to figure out exactly how much they are moving in and how much damage they are doing," he said. "Because at the moment, it's all from diver observations."

With the first stage of the project complete, researchers are now focused on ensuring that the robotic systems specifically target sea urchins. They are seeking grant funding for the next phase, which will involve trials using AI-trained unmanned underwater vehicles. Dunbabin expressed optimism about the potential for this technology to monitor and eventually control the sea urchin population. "We can see this being rolled out across the eastern seaboard, where we know there's other issues," he said.