New app uses facial recognition to tell you what marine mammal you’ve spotted

Delwyn Dickey/StuffCritically endangered Māui dolphins are one of the world's smallest and rarest dolphins in the world, with only 54 left. New mobile app SeaSpotter aims to help

marine experts better understand their movements and behaviours by recording the public’s sightings of them.In a “first for New Zealand”, keen animal spotters can photograph

and record when they see a dolphin or whale on their smartphone and share that information with marine wildlife experts instantly. The newly launched SeaSpotter app uses special

face recognition technology which tells the photographer exactly what animal they’ve spotted. Tane van der Boon, co-founder of MAUI63, the not-for-profit group that led the

app’s development, said the findings are expected to be revolutionary for experts in the field and a lot of fun for animal spotters. “You can become a citizen scientist and

really help people understand where these animals are, what they’re doing, and who they are,” van der Boon said. READ MORE:* Whale stranded on West Auckland beach saved thanks

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in their boats in New Zealand can make a really big difference to the data that we have and help us give back to the ocean, understand them better, and have some fun at the same

time.” Growing up with a keen passion for marine life and also artificial intelligence, van der Boon has combined the two to create SeaSpotter, which records and recognises

marine wildlife with a core focus on critically endangered Māui dolphins, but also other species. “We want to know any data about any whale, any seal, sea lion – any marine

mammal essentially.” SeaSpotterSeaSpotter is a mobile app that lets the public record their marine life sightings and helps experts collect data. Maui63 worked in collaboration

with Christchurch City Council, Department of Conversation (DOC), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Ministry for Primary Industries and Microsoft to create the mobile app.

Christchurch City Council said more than half of the marine mammals in DOC’s threat classification system are listed as data deficient, meaning nobody knows exactly how many of

them there are, let alone if they are endangered. Van der Boon said their mission is to build a platform of “very valuable data” for experts that remains free and readily

available for “everybody that needs it”.SUPPLIEDCo-founder of Maui63 Tane van der Boon says the app is “a first for New Zealand”. “For research on specific species,