Human bycatch (or human by-catch) is a term for people who are unintentionally caught on film, in photos, or acoustically recorded on equipment used to monitor wildlife or habitats for the purpose of conservation, or environmental law enforcement. It comes from the term bycatch, which is used in fishing practices to designate non-target species that are caught in a fishing net. Nearly every remote monitoring study contains human by-catch, yet there are no standardized rules or policies regarding what the researchers can or should do with their data.
Camera traps
Description and uses Camera traps are typically a large network of cameras that are set up in the environment to capture images of wildlife. Most camera traps have some sort of sensor to trigger the shutter; usually by movement or heat (infrared). They are used widely in conservation work, by field biologists, and, to a lesser extent, by hobbyists, and hunters. Camera traps end up with many false triggers, such as moving vegetation, false heat reading from warm wind, and accidental human capture. These types of monitoring systems will, by design, capture and retain many photos of people. Camera trapping is still very human-intensive work, requiring a lot of effort to go through the thousands of images that are collected. Camera traps are useful tools for both land and marine conservation, environmental and wildlife management, and environmental law enforcement. By placing high resolution cameras along the shoreline, a network of cameras are able to monitor illegal fishing practices in protected, no-fish areas. Camera traps are not limited to the land; they are even used underwater, and, similar to land-based camera traps, use an automatic trigger when movement is detected in view of the frame. They are utilized at airports to help prevent incidents of wildlife collisions with aircraft. Camera traps are even used in elementary education settings, helping to bring young students closer to the natural world around them. By taking advantage of night vision technology, the students can learn about and see wildlife in their school yard that they never would have been able to see, before. Field research biologists generally try to locate their cameras away from areas of high human traffic, because increased presence of humans generally has a negative correlation with presence of wildlife.
Privacy concerns Most people associate going "into the wild" with a reasonable expectation of privacy. It is not uncommon for hikers and backpackers to engage in private behavior, as in, something they would not want others to see, such as urinating. Private behaviors such as this have been caught on many camera traps. In fact, because humans are so abundant, and the areas that need conservation focus are usually areas in which humans share with the target species or habitat, nearly every study using camera traps has ended up with human by-catch. It is not uncommon for researchers to end up with more photos of humans than of their target species. There are instances of a by-catch photo of a coworker urinating, or similar situations, being saved and posted publicly as a joke. By-catch photos of people engaging in activity that may or may not be illegal, but undesired, has been posted publicly to influence the people in the study area to act differently. The line between a joke, a well-intentioned push for better behavior, and invasion of privacy, is thin. There are already potential solutions on the market. The technology to automatically flag, blur, or remove photos containing humans exists, and will only improve with time. While there are no broad requirements to do so, individual organizations could make this policy.
Drones
Description and uses Drones are unoccupied aircraft vehicles that are remotely controlled by a person. While often associated with military use, the decreasing cost of the technology has allowed for civil use of drones to grow. Drones are being increasingly used in the fields of resource management and conservation because of their light weight and small stature, and their speed. They also have reduced risk of injury and death when compared to traditional field biologist aerial surveys, and are less invasive than humans in the field. Drones are beneficial in a variety of environments, including marine. Because of their speed and ease of setup to take off, they can quickly be launched to record identifying data of boats illegally fishing in protected areas. The altitude at which drones fly allows nearly non-invasive observation of marine wildlife. Because of the ability to follow quick moving wildlife and take very high resolution images, drones are very beneficial in both species identification and individual identification of whales and dolphins. Similar to marine environments, forests are vast areas that can be difficult and slow to patrol on foot, or even by vehicle. Forests are one of the most exploited environments on earth, and due to their large, widespread nature, are difficult to manage. Drones allow observation of vast areas in a relatively short amount of time, and can produce aerial imagery to identify a multitude of activities, including illegal logging, fire activity, trespassing, and wildlife tracking. Drones are not only used for forest conservation, but also by timber companies.
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