Anacortes Lecture Series: A Healthy Salish Sea Starts With Kelp

Dr. Randell leads the Coastal Climate Resilience (CCR) research program at the Seattle Aquarium, leveraging small, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), equipped with cameras, sensors, and open-source AI tools, to conduct high‑resolution video and photo surveys of kelp forests and other benthic habitats in shallow coastal waters (5–40 m depth). The program’s goals are to expand benthic data collection, efficiently extract ecological data using AI, integrate ROV data with broader environmental datasets (e.g., diver surveys, drones, satellites), and share all protocols and resources openly to foster collaboration.