Reef Life Survey Image Annotation Protocol. Version 2.0.

Abstract

Reef Life Survey (RLS) is a non-profit global citizen science program in which trained SCUBA divers undertake standardised underwater visual surveys of reef biodiversity. The survey data collected includes visual census of fish and macroinvertebrates underwater along 50m transects. At the same time, photographs of the seafloor habitat are taken every 2.5m along each transect. These photoquadrats (PQs) for each survey are available to view, annotate and download via the online platform Squidle+ and the RLS online image server. More information on RLS underwater methods is available via the methods manual, or visit www.reeflifesurvey.com, or email enquiries@reeflifesurvey.com Squidle+ is used by Reef Life Survey (RLS) to access and annotate photoquadrat images in order to document habitat composition at sites and track changes in habitat cover indicators over time. Squidle+ is an online platform to manage, explore and annotate large volumes of underwater imagery in a collaborative fashion. It supports standardisation and translation of annotation data, QA/QC, data sharing, integration of machine learning algorithms, as well as efficient data export and compilation via an API. Although various methods in image annotation are possible, this protocol provides a method of producing standardised habitat cover data compatible with previous work. This allows data synthesis over broad scales, contributing to downstream platforms for reef reporting, such as the Reef Life Explorer, and enhancing the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability (FAIR) of data.