A conservation specialist said on Thursday that drones and artificial intelligence could help researchers study horseshoe crabs and implement more targeted conservation measures in Hong Kong.

Judy Wan, conservation and community partnerships manager of the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, said the technologies have assisted researchers in conducting a horseshoe crab population survey in Ha Pak Nai, the largest breeding and nursing ground for the arthropods in Hong Kong.

The foundation has been collaborating with the Chinese University and City University to research horseshoe crabs with AI for the first time.

"if we use the unmanned aerial system to take pictures of the mudflat, there is no need to send people,” Wan said.

“After collecting the images, we can teach the machine to identify horseshoe crabs through the segmentation system. This makes the counting more effective and efficient."

She added that researchers could obtain valuable information from the AI system, including the distribution, age and population structure of the horseshoe crabs in Ha Pak Nai. The foundation is also planning to expand the system’s application to other local habitats.

“We are thinking to conduct a trial on other hotspots of horseshoe crab distribution, for example, Shui Hau and on Lantau Island,” she added.