Vodafone IoT takes seal research to new levels
Overview
Vodafone and the Seal Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) have a first-of-its-kind partnership for more than 10 years to learn about the rapid decline of sea mammals
Vodafone’s IoT technology helps track the locations of seals and the environment around them
IoT has also uncovered vital knowledge about the interactions between animals, offshore wind farms and tidal energy sites
Since 2015, Vodafone and the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews have worked to better understand the rapid decline of some UK marine mammals.
The first of its kind partnership specifically came about due to a decline of the Harbour seal, in some areas by up to 90%.
In 1979, three marine biologists joined a study exploring what seals did once they left beaches.
Professor Mike Fedak, a Marine Biologist at University of St Andrews, Bernie McConnell and Dave Thompson, alongside programmers, put computerised, automated tags on the seals to help collect information.
The solution
While mobile technology provided a chance to capture more detailed data, Vodafone’s IoT connectivity introduced at the start of the partnership changed things dramatically.
The tags, which can go down to 2,000 metres into the marine environment, could now track a seal’s location and the environment around it, recording everything from depth and temperature to salinity and detailed dive behaviour.
The IoT connectivity also guarantees the information collected is as useful as possible, by ensuring higher resolution, better quality data, without any gaps in transmission.
“As researchers, we always want to know more…from physiology and behaviour to the environment and the experience of those animals, and how that translates through to population trends and conservation action. So, it’s critical that we have long-term partnerships with trusted organisations that can help us evolve as the technology evolves.”
The benefits
The partnership has been a huge success over the past 10 years, with technology developments resulting in more robust data collection and smaller tags.
It's also expanded to other research organisations worldwide, as well as uncovering about the interaction between animals, offshore wind farms and tidal energy sites.
“During the construction phase, a proportion of individual seals will actually avoid the area,” says Dr. Gordon Hastie, Principal Research Scientist, University of St Andrews.
“But the good thing for us, and the good thing for the seals, is that it’s relatively short-lived. So, within a few hours, the animals seem to be returning to the important habitats that they were foraging in previously.”
75% of offshore wind farms in the UK have used the data directly, and it now underpins consent for 99% of new tidal energy developments.