Quantification of Harvestable Seaweed using a Topographic-bathymetric Lidar System

澳大利亚海洋植物有限公司（ASL）是国际公认的海洋植物产品行业的领导者。ASL总部位于新斯科舍省，从大西洋和芬迪湾海岸的潮间带收获海藻（岩藻）。ASL目前在70多个国家销售其产品，在海洋时代创造了近600个就业机会，并为当地经济带来了超过4000万美元的收入。ASL致力于经营一个负责任的、可持续的海藻产业，因此在研究确定最佳实践方面有着悠久的历史。为了确保对这种可再生资源的适当管理，他们沿着沿着其租赁的海岸线监测收获和生长情况。目前，这项任务是利用地面断面和准确记录收成来执行的，尽管这一过程是劳动密集型的，而且偏向于更容易到达的海岸线。利用卫星遥感绘制海藻地图依赖于在退潮时海藻暴露在外且没有云或雾时获得的数据，因此限制了获取时间段。新斯科舍省社区学院的应用地理信息学研究小组（AGRG）将探索一种新的遥感技术-机载地形测深激光雷达-以协助ASLin对岩藻资源进行新的和创新的测绘和监测。具体而言，AGRG将在收获后立即和收获后一年分别在低潮和高潮时为新斯科舍省西南部的ASL租赁海岸线获取多年地形-测深激光雷达数据集，以确定资源评估，收获的生物量和增长率。NSCC的新传感器可能消除了低潮采集的要求，以获得海藻的测量。此外，还将运行该场地的流体动力学模型，以调查可能影响场地内任何生长率变化的流速和其他动态特征。这项创新研究的结果将有助于ASL更有效地监控现有资源，更准确地评估新领域的资源，并帮助ASL转向更具空间整合性的工作流程。新斯科舍省渔业和水产部负责租赁和确保捕捞作业的可持续性，并为该项目提供财政支持。

Acadian Seaplants Limited (ASL) is an internationally recognized leader in the marine plant product industry.Based in Nova Scotia, ASL harvests the seaweed (rockweed) from intertidal areas on the Atlantic and Bay ofFundy coasts. ASL currently sells their products in more than 70 countries, creating close to 600 jobs in theMaritimes and bringing more than $40 M to the local economy. ASL is dedicated to running a responsible,sustainable, seaweed industry and as such has a long history of conducting research to determine best practices.To ensure proper management of this renewable resource, they monitor harvesting and growth along its leasedcoastlines. Currently, this task is executed using ground transects and accurate recording of harvests, thoughthis process is labour intensive and biased to more accessible coastlines. The use of satellite remote sensing tomap the seaweed relies on data acquired at low tide when the seaweed is exposed and no clouds or fog present,thus limiting acquisition time periods. Nova Scotia Community College's Applied Geomatics Research Group(AGRG) will explore a new remote sensing technology - airborne topographic-bathymetric lidar - to assist ASLin new and innovative mapping and monitoring of the rockweed resource. Specifically, AGRG will acquiremulti-year topographic-bathymetric lidar datasets for a section of ASL leased coastline in Southwest NovaScotia at low and high tide, immediately post-harvest, and one year post-harvest to determine resourceassessment, harvested biomass, and growth rates, respectively. NSCC's new sensor potentially eliminates therequirement for low tide acquisition to obtain measurements of seaweed. In addition, a hydrodynamic modelfor the site will be run to investigate current speeds and other dynamic features that may influence any growthrate variance within the site. The results from this innovative study will assist ASL to more efficiently monitorpresent resources and more precisely assess resources in new areas, and help ASL move to a more spatiallyintegrated workflow. The Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture is responsible for permittingthe leases and ensuring the harvest operations are sustainable, and are financially supporting the project.