Nunavut caribou survey saved by cellphones

Harvesters, conservationists and scientists have technology and duct tape to thank for the success of the latest survey on the Beverly caribou herd in Nunavut's Kivalliq region.  

In 2023, biologists with the Government of Nunavut were conducting an aerial survey of the herd when their photography plane suffered mechanical issues. 

"We had two choices," said Mitch Campbell, one of the biologists. "We could take the information we had and regroup and try again another year — but these surveys are very expensive — or we could try and come up with an alternative plan." 

The surveyors chose the latter, taping their cellphones inside the plane windows to take videos.

Aerial surveys are generally done with photo planes outfitted with specialized cameras, as well as people acting as observers in a separate aircraft to physically count the animals within a certain strip of land. The phones were mounted in such a way they could scan a strip in the same way an observer would. 

"We didn't know that it would work, but we figured we were there and we would try," said Campbell. "It's remarkable how good quality imagery these phones produce these days."

The results of that survey, published in late May, showed encouraging signs of a growing herd. 

Delayed, but successful 

In addition to cost, Campbell said timing was another factor in jerry-rigging their survey equipment.

"During calving, the window is very short," he said. "It can be five to 10 days, and if you don't catch those animals in the five to 10 days, they start to move out of their calving ground. Then you've kind of lost your window and the survey will not be valid."

After a few days of flying over the herd, the team returned to analyze the footage. That also meant developing new software to accurately count the caribou in the videos. 

"So there was a two stage thing, which is why this survey report took so long to get out," said Campbell. "We were developing new methods to try." 

The software superimposed satellite imagery and the phone footage, using lakes as reference points, to accurately geolocate the caribou. 

The results were surprising, added Campbell, because standard video cameras hadn't worked in the past — either there'd be too much glare or the footage would be out of focus or just poor quality. 

Positive results

The method they developed allowed the scientists to share the good news with the public: the herd now counted about 152,000 animals, an increase from the 103,400 counted in 2018.

"It's actually quite surprising to see a herd come back that quick, in that short a period of time," Earl Evans, chair of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board, told CBC when the results were released. 

According to the board, the herd had been in decline since the mid-1990s. While still far from its peak — 274,000 animals — Evans said the latest results were "encouraging" for the herd. 

Despite their success, Campbell said biologists aren't likely to rely on their cellphones for future surveys. 

"There are a lot of moving parts in using the phones and the software that connects to it," he said.

"But the one bonus is if the photo plane, anything happens to it, we still have this method to fall back on. So we have a backup plan, which when you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a survey, having backup plans is really good."