What If We Could Help Marine Conservation by Listening to Fish?
Our marine bioacoustic technologies are making it possible to:
-
Classify individual fish sounds
-
Create an extensive fish-sound library
-
Improve underwater recording technologies
-
Use AI to provide insights on key marine habitats and species
What’s Our Mission?
We are developing better tools and techniques for decision-makers to manage critical natural resources in marine protected areas and nearshore habitats like coral reefs. To do this, we are advancing passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) technologies to help regulators discover biodiversity hotspots, breeding grounds, and areas of fish abundance.
What Is FishEye Collaborative?
FishEye Collaborative is an emerging conservation technology non-profit specializing in marine conservation bioacoustics. In collaboration with other organizations, we do research and development on non-invasive listening technologies that can help evaluate and protect ocean habitats. Our collaborators include the Cornell University Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the FORTH Institute, and the Curaçao Sea Aquarium and Substation.
Did You Know That Over 80% of Fish Species Likely Make Sounds?
Sound is vital to many animals’ communication, and for underwater animals like fish it is even more important. When we know the sounds specific species make, we can use listening as a conservation tool. Are you curious about how fish make sounds and what they are communicating? You can find out about that and more on the field of marine conservation bioacoustics in our Learning Hub.
Slightly humorous mashup of sonorous fish, with a slightly humorous caption.
How Can You Tell Which Fish Is Making Which Sound?
We are creating a new technique using 360° video and audio visualizations to identify which fish species make which sounds. Once we identify a sonorous fish species and collect enough recordings, we can train AI systems to recognize these sounds in other underwater recordings. Our innovative approach would allow people to gain useful data from long series of recordings with inexpensive hydrophones (underwater microphones). This is a significant improvement over other methods of monitoring fish populations.
Want To Delve into Our Science? Here’s Our Research.
FishEye Collaborative’s research focuses on developing methods, tools, and a sound library to enable bioacoustics for a wider range of marine habitats and species.
See more of our team members’ marine conservation bioacoustics research
Heading 4
Collapsible text is perfect for longer content like paragraphs and descriptions. It's a great way to give people more information while keeping your layout clean. Link your text to anything, including an external website or a different page. You can set your text box to expand and collapse when people click, so they can read more or less info.
Few Fish Sounds Have Been Verified–Here’s How We’re Solving The Puzzle
Until recently, scientists had documented fewer than 5% of fish sounds from an estimated 20,000 species—and few of these are natural sounds in natural settings. Fewer still are available to researchers and conservationists. With our UPAC-360 technology, we have begun building an open species ID library that we are working to grow into a global resource.
What Is FishEye Collaborative Doing in the Field?
Partnering with local organizations, we thrive on the adventure that marine fieldwork brings.
In collaboration with Cornell University Lisa K Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, we deploy our underwater passive-acoustic cameras to capture details of underwater soundscapes better than ever before. We've pushed boundaries by having technical rebreather divers take our systems beyond the reach of traditional scuba. Using the submersible from Substation Curaçao, we are venturing even deeper, driven by our passion for scientific discovery and the need to continuously improve our designs.
Currently, working with the substation and The Smithsonian Deep Reef Observation Project, we are recording sounds all the way to depths of 1,000 feet. These PAM devices, placed using a submersible, have been collecting invaluable data since 2022, unveiling mysteries of deep reefs.
Every dive, deployment, and discovery reaffirms our commitment to marine protection, driving our mission to develop new conservation technologies to safeguard our oceans.
Our Team
Marc Dantzker, PhD
Founder and Executive Director
Marc Dantzker is founder and executive director at FishEye Collaborative, where he leads the team in developing cutting-edge underwater video and acoustic technologies to advance marine conservation. Marc’s early research focused on bioacoustics and courtship display behavior in birds, frogs, and fish. He continued bioacoustic studies while at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where he was the founding video curator of the Macaulay Library. Marc focused on natural history film production for over 10 years, with credits including the PBS|Nature documentary Sagebrush Sea, exhibit films for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and the NSF-funded Sea of Sound, which, with its companion K-12 curriculum, illustrates how improving our understanding of the world of underwater sound is critical for protecting our oceans and their inhabitants. He earned a master’s degree in zoology from Duke University and a doctorate in integrated biology from the University of California, San Diego.
Aaron Rice, PhD
Chief Scientific Advisor
Aaron Rice is the chief scientific advisor and collaborator for FishEye Collaborative. Aaron is a leading expert in marine conservation bioacoustics and principal ecologist at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University. His research focuses on the sounds produced by fish and whales to understand their social behaviors and population dynamics, contributing vital data for coastal ecology and resource management. Aaron’s innovative work has significantly influenced marine spatial planning and conservation policies, including critical habitat expansions for endangered species. With FishEye Collaborative, he applies his expertise to develop advanced acoustic monitoring tools to protect marine biodiversity. He earned a master’s in marine biology and biological oceanography from Boston University and a doctorate in organismal biology and anatomy from the University of Chicago.
Matt Duggan, BS
Collaborating Research Scientist
Matthew Duggan is a PhD student at Cornell University and co-affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. As collaborating research scientist at FishEye, Matt works with us on fish identification and classification efforts and leads our development of low-cost PAM technology. His interests include discovering and constructing accessible, generalizable approaches for assessing coral-reef-associated fish populations and behavior, especially within the deep reef. As the first Fulbright scholar of Curaçao, Matt is collaborating with the Curaçao Sea Aquarium and Substation and other local institutions for marine conservation and education.
Erika Berlik, BS
Research Technician
Erika Berlik is a Duke University graduate who majored in marine science and conservation with a double major in biology. At Duke, she focused on the relationships between foundation species and reef fish. Her undergraduate thesis examined how the use of remote underwater video improves our ability to accurately survey marine biodiversity and inform conservation efforts. As a research technician at FishEye Collaborative, she employs her knowledge of fish behavior and expertise in identification to analyze video and acoustic data. Erika also oversees our open-access library.
Brent Miller
Communications Consultant
Brent Miller is a communications consultant who helps make complex scientific and technical concepts accessible to broad audiences. As a team member at FishEye Collaborative, he develops and refines the organization’s messaging, including its content strategy and website, ensuring that its bioacoustic research is communicated clearly to scientists, policymakers, and the public.
Aldemar Rodriguez
Field Technician
Aldemar Rodriguez is a dive instructor and a former aquarist with the Curaçao Sea Aquarium. As a field technician, Aldemar uses his diving skills and knowledge of the fish and reefs of Curaçao to assist data collection.
Board of Directors
Dan Ardia, PhD - Chairman
James Boyd, PhD
Marc Dantzker, PhD
Diji Chandrasekharan Behr, PhD
Heather Dantzker, PhD
Our Collaborative Network
Cornell University - Lisa K. Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics Ithaca, New York
Global leaders in bioacoustics, including passive acoustic monitoring of birds, elephants, whales, and more.
The Sexton Corporation Salem, Oregon
Sexton is a world leader in custom underwater housings. They are our go-to engineering partners.
FORTH: The Foundation for Research Technology Crete, Greece
FORTH is a premiere technical institute in Crete, Greece. We rely on their expertise in electrical and software engineering, as well as acoustics and image processing.
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Washington, D.C.
Home to the largest scientific fish collection in the world, the Smithsonian DROP team are our deep reef exploration partners.
Aalto University Helsinki, Finland
A top-tier University with a world-class acoustics program, Aalto research formed the foundation of our spatial audio work.
Curaçao Sea Aquarium and Substation Curaçao Willemstad, Curaçao
The Curaçao Sea Aquarium and Substation are key partners in deploying our marine conservation technologies, thanks to their resources, including shore access to deep water, a healthy reef, field specialists, and strong conservation outreach potential.
Funders
Schmidt Marine Technology Partners
Wild Labs
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Oceankind
Volunteers
Brent Miller, Communications Consultant
Aaron Adams, Designer
William Palmer, Website Developer
Molly Kaplow
Assistant Video Editor
Molly Kaplow is an undergraduate at the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas. Much of our data workflow involves tools usually used by filmmakers and sound designers. Molly has helped us refine these workflows and prepare data for scientific analysis.
Brayden Zee
Software Developer
Brayden Zee is a high-school student in Arlington, Virginia. Brayden is transforming the custom software needed for our acoustic analyses.