The Seychelles is a good example of an area where it is almost impossible to conduct surveys using piloted planes, and therefore only few surveys have been conducted there prior to now.
The remote Aldabra Atoll UNESCO World Heritage Site is the only known location where dugongs still occur in Seychelles. The Seychelles Islands Foundation, managers of the Aldabra Atoll, have used drones for the first time to surveys dugongs and used WISDAM to process the imagery. We were able to provide remote assistance include advice on drone systems, the survey design and training to use WISDAM. With this remote assistance, SIF were able to conduct a robust standardised dugong survey.
Aldabra Atoll has been protected from human influence and is regarded as a focus for many conservationists. Located southeast of the continent of Africa, it is the world’s second-largest coral atoll.
SIF are now discussing ideas about utilising drones for monitoring other marine species on Aldabra atoll such as rays and sharks.

For more on this project you can check out SIF’s website and their social media pages. There is also a little post about their dugong project on the page of SeyCCAT.
