Driven by the concerning number of marine species illegally discarded at sea, Dr. Chang’s proposal seeks to develop an Artificial Intelligence solution to tackle pressing challenges such as overfishing, pollution, and climate change.
While vessels currently use video recording systems, these are reviewed manually, causing significant delays in detecting and penalizing illegal fishing discards. To address this, Dr. Chang proposes an AI system designed to identify anomalous behavior in real-time and transmit immediate satellite alerts regarding illegal discards on industrial fishing vessels.
The project’s unique strengths, Dr. Chang explained, stem from its AI model. Key differentiating elements include a self-supervised approach and the multimodality of data used for inference—combining online video with associated metadata. This, she added, is further enhanced by task-specific training and online response capabilities.
The researcher further emphasized that this project’s outcomes will significantly contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change. By preventing the recurrence of illegal fishing discard behavior, the research offers crucial new perspectives on how automation and current technologies can inform the formulation of public policies by state agencies.
Dr. Violeta Chang is leading this project as Principal Investigator. She is joined by Dr. Gonzalo Acuña (Diinf academic) as Alternate Director, along with Dr. Manuel Villalobos (Diinf academic), Analí Alfaro (Diinf hourly professor), and Dr. Felipe Hurtado (academic at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso).
For Dr. Chang, this award marks a significant milestone in her professional career. It not only underscores her leading role in research but also signifies the third Fondef Idea R&D project she has led successfully. “The timing of this award as principal director is perfect,” she stated, “as my group of students and research assistants is well established, has extensive experience, and possesses the knowledge ready to be applied to this new work. I am fully confident that we will have a successful and impactful project. Additionally, we are very motivated to get started and work collaboratively with IO-SAT Chile and Sernapesca.”