Measuring and Minimizing Disturbance of Marine Animals to Underwater Vehicles

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical and practical framework to measure and reduce the disturbance of marine animals caused by underwater vehicles, aiming for unbiased animal behavior estimates, supported by preliminary coral reef field results.

Contribution

It introduces a novel framework combining theory and field experiments to quantify and minimize marine animal disturbance during underwater vehicle observations.

Findings

Preliminary field results indicate measurable animal responses to vehicles.

Proposed strategies can reduce disturbance bias in behavioral estimates.

Framework offers a basis for future unbiased marine animal studies.

Abstract

Do fish respond to the presence of underwater vehicles, potentially biasing our estimates about them? If so, are there strategies to measure and mitigate this response? This work provides a theoretical and practical framework towards bias-free estimation of animal behavior from underwater vehicle observations. We also provide preliminary results from the field in coral reef environments to address these questions.