Seadrones: Sensing Oceancultures. Issue 2 (1st July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fish, Adam
• Is Part Of: Journal of environmental media. Volume 1:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 139
• Page End: 144
• Publication Date: 2020-07-01
• Subjects: Digital media -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Digital media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.231
• DOI: 10.1386/jem_00012_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2632-2463

Abstract

Drones are airborne sensing technologies that transform how we see from above and respond to crises on the ground. Nowhere does the drone revolution have more potential applications than in Australia's ocean sciences. Drones give oceanographers fast, safe, mobile, high-definition and affordable ways of seeing, identifying and monitoring endangered marine species such as sharks, whales and corals. They are used in Australia to document the rate of coral death in the Great Barrier Reef, the health of humpback whales and the presence of great white sharks near swimmers. However, scientific data collected by drones has, thus far, failed to translate into effective environmental policy. Understanding how seeing informs science – and why or why not science influences policy – has serious consequences for how Australia's oceans are sustainably managed. This is not only important for the survival of marine species but also renovates central debates about sensing and political action within science and technology studies. I will briefly outline a research agenda that would hope to make contributions to the seeing and management of the sea and advance our knowledge of seacultures – the convergence of the sea and the culture.