Artificial intelligence and automated monitoring for Marine Protected Area Management: A case of Chaojing marine protected area in Taiwan

Abstract

In recent years, the fields of artificial intelligence and information technology have undergone rapid and transformative development. Technologies such as machine learning, image recognition, image generation, and big data analytics are now widely integrated into environmental monitoring applications. A critical question emerges: How can these innovative technologies be leveraged to address the persistent challenges facing the management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), thereby ushering in a new era of intelligent governance? This paper, focusing on the case of Taiwan's Chaojing marine protected area, identifies current management issues and proposes a suite of intelligent technology tools. These include the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for the automated analysis of coral reef bleaching and for monitoring the activity of indicator fish species to assess conservation efficacy. Furthermore, the integration of coastal surveillance and aerial drones can enhance environmental monitoring by identifying diver numbers, marine pollution, and illegal fishing activities. Ultimately, by empowering marine citizen scientists, this approach has the potential to reshape Taiwan's marine ecotourism industry, fostering broader public participation in marine conservation. This study provides a context-dependent and modular framework that is transferable to marine protected areas with comparable institutional capacity and technological infrastructure.