In a significant advancement for marine conservation, the open-source application MERMAID is set to enhance its capabilities for monitoring coral reef health, thanks to sponsorship from EnterpriseDB (EDB). This initiative, developed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), aims to leverage advanced technologies such as Postgres and artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize the identification and monitoring of coral reefs, with the ambitious goal of conserving a connected network of climate-resilient reefs by 2030.
Harnessing Technology for Coral Conservation
MERMAID serves as a cutting-edge platform that facilitates the collection and management of real-time data pertaining to coral reef ecosystems. By integrating the capabilities of Postgres, recognized as the world’s most advanced open-source database, the application is poised to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of coral reef monitoring. EDB’s support will enable MERMAID to incorporate AI algorithms capable of analyzing extensive datasets, identifying patterns, and predicting potential bleaching events before they escalate into critical situations.
Coral reefs, which support approximately 25% of marine life, are facing unprecedented threats due to climate change. Recent data indicates that around 54% of all reefs have experienced bleaching-level heat stress, threatening the survival of countless species and the livelihoods of over a billion coastal inhabitants who depend on these ecosystems for sustenance, medicine, and tourism.
Dr. Emily Darling, Director of Coral Reef Conservation at WCS and Co-Founder of MERMAID, emphasizes the dual approach needed to tackle the crisis: “Urgent policy action to halt climate change, coupled with the utilization of underwater monitoring data, is essential to identify and conserve climate-resilient coral reefs.” She notes the complexities involved in data collection and management, which is why the development of MERMAID was crucial.
Kevin Dallas, CEO of EDB, highlights the importance of democratizing data access in an era dominated by AI. He states, “With over 35 years of active development, Postgres is the most extensible and flexible database, trusted by millions across various sectors. Its role in safeguarding our oceans is becoming increasingly vital.”
Since its inception in 2018, MERMAID has garnered participation from over 2,000 scientists across 40 countries, yielding more than 50,000 transects from 5,000 coral reef sites globally. The integration of PostgreSQL has significantly enhanced data collection efficiency, achieving improvements of three to five times compared to traditional methods. This collaborative effort among scientists and volunteers will empower local communities and government partners to take proactive steps in protecting these invaluable marine environments.
EDB’s recent announcement of EDB Postgres® AI, an intelligent platform designed for transactional, analytical, and AI workloads, further underscores its commitment to breaking down data silos and facilitating new AI initiatives across diverse cloud environments.
For more information about EDB and the MERMAID initiative, please visit enterprisedb.com/mermaid-edb.
