Optical data sets under consideration have generally been broken out into the following categories:

1. •Still or Video Imagery
   

2. •Mono or Stereo
   

3. •Static or Dynamic Background
   

4. •Natural or Artificial Lighting
   

Survey Targets generally include:

1. •Benthic Habitat
   

2. •Benthic Fish and Invertebrates
   

3. •Fish coming through a trawl
   

4. •Fish in their natural environment
   

5. •Fish on the deck of a commercial fishing vessel
   

6. •Seals on ice floes
   

The following image datasets are provided by NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service) to encourage development, testing, and performance assessment of automated image analysis algorithms for:

1. •detection of animals (fish or invertebrates) from controlled or complex underwater environments;
   

2. •tracking of multiple animal targets in video image sequences;
   

3. •recognition and classification of animal species;
   

4. •measurement of animals in stereo image pairs;
   

5. •characterization of seabed habitats.
   

Each dataset includes images of fish, invertebrates, and/or the seabed that were collected by imaging systems deployed for fisheries surveys. Also included is a data file (comma-separated text) that describes the key attributes of the images (e.g. presence of fish, species, size, count, location in image).

Credit for use of these datasets should be provided in publications, as described in the “how-to-cite.txt” documents included with each. The NOAA scientists who are stewards of these data may have archives of images that can provide additional opportunities for collaboration to apply and assess algorithms.

Individual data sets are password protected to prevent unauthorized download.  Please email the chair to request access permissions.

Labeled Fishes in the Wild

The labeled fishes in the wild image dataset is provided by NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service) to encourage development, testing, and performance assessment of automated image analysis algorithms for unconstrained underwater imagery.

The dataset includes images of fish, invertebrates, and the seabed that were collected camera systems deployed on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for fisheries surveys. Annotation data are included in accompanying data files (.dat, .vec, and .info) that describe the locations of the marked fish targets in the images.

The manuscript (Cutter et al., 2015) demonstrates methods for automated detection of fish based on classifiers developed using the training image dataset, and evaluated using the test set. This dataset is offered for further development of detection of fish or invertebrates in complex environments; tracking of multiple animal targets in video image sequences; recognition and classification of animal species; measurement of animals in stereo image pairs; and characterization of seabed habitats.

PIFSC BotCam

Stereo-video imagery of demersal fish assemblages, in various combinations of abundance and diversity, collected using the “BotCam” stationary stereo-video camera system by University of Hawaii and Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. Video files are provided that exemplify the range of assemblage and environmental conditions often encountered. (Several mpg videos, totaling 68 GB).

AFSC Pollock CamTrawl

Still stereo-image pairs extracted from stereo-camera image sequences from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center trawl camera system "camtrawl”. Images include fish and invertebrates (Pollock, salmon, eulachon, jellyfish, shrimp, and squid).

SWFSC Rockfish ROV

Images of rockfish (Sebastes spp.) and other species near the seabed, collected using forward-oblique-looking high-resolution digital still camera on remotely operated vehicle (ROV) by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Still stereo-image pairs extracted from stereo-camera image sequences with rockfish (Sebastes spp.), ocean whitefish, and other species near the seabed, collected using obliquely mounted digital stereo video camera (Videre 9-cm) on remotely operated vehicle (ROV) by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Still images extracted from video images of rockfish (Sebastes spp.) and other species near the seabed, collected using obliquely mounted analog video camera on remotely operated vehicle (ROV) by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Still images extracted from video images of rockfish (Sebastes spp.) and other species near the seabed, collected using obliquely mounted HD video camera on remotely operated vehicle (ROV) by the Benthic Group of Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Video image sequences with rockfish (Sebastes spp.) and other species near the seabed, collected using obliquely mounted HD video camera on remotely operated vehicle (ROV) by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Benthic Images from Coral Reefs

Benthic photoquadrat images and Coral Point Count (CPCe) annotation data from the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division’s fall 2013 mission as part of the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP)