Shark fins on a plane, seahorses in your bag and sea cucumbers in the post – these are just a few examples of illegal marine wildlife trafficking.

This crime can be hard to detect. But in a new study, published in the journal Frontiers in Ocean Sustainability, we show how artificial intelligence (AI) can be harnessed as a complimentary detection tool to help stop marine wildlife trafficking at international airports and mail facilities.

A global crime

The cross-border trade in live animals, animal parts or products is a global crime, facilitating the flow of billions of illicit dollars each year. It’s known to converge with other criminal activity, including the trafficking in drugs, arms and humans.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime identifies five sources of demand for wildlife trafficking: food, medicine, pets and ornamental plants, specialist collection and adornment.

In some cases, such as pet prestige, people are motivated both by the desire to have a pet and the perceived status it brings to own an exotic animal.

People traffic marine animals too

Wildlife trafficking affects around 4,000 species. Many of the more well-known examples involve land-based animals – ivory from elephant tusks, horns from rhinos and scales from pangolins – the world’s most trafficked mammal.

Closer to home, we also see native Australian reptiles and birds, sometimes shoved in tins, put in socks and packaged up live to be sent overseas.

Marine creatures, unfortunately, are targeted too. This can include live animals such as fish in people’s bags, or dried marine life such as the rise of the seahorse trade and demand for shark fin.

We have small pockets of knowledge of this activity. But the reality is we don’t fully understand how widespread it is.

AI to detect marine wildlife trade

Currently, the best means of detecting illegally trafficked wildlife is humans. And then there are our four-legged friends: biosecurity dogs.

Recently, Australia has also been working to develop the use of AI as a potential means of detecting land-based wildlife in illegal wildlife movements – building on existing detection pathways using 3D X-ray machines fitted with algorithms.

For our latest study, we built on these efforts by developing world-first marine wildlife algorithms. We taught computers to look for shark fins, seahorses and sea cucumbers.

We did this by collecting a total of 68 samples of dead marine animals, which we scanned in a 3D X-ray machine to create a library of images. We then used this image library to develop algorithms to enable computers to search for what we taught it to look for – in this case, shark fins, seahorses and sea cucumbers.

Samples were scanned alone and then in more complicated scenarios to reflect how people actually traffic marine life. This means if a bag or mail item is hiding a shark fin, seahorse or sea cucumber, the algorithm will be able to flag this to an operator, prompting them to inspect the item.

Out of a total of 298 scans and a training data set derived from these samples, our algorithm had success rates of 95%, 95% and 85% for shark fins, seahorses and sea cucumbers, respectively.

Humans and biosecurity dogs still needed alongside AI

While technology fitted with computer algorithms may help people inspecting luggage or mail, we still need people to verify what computers see. Sometimes the algorithms get it wrong and may miss items.

Despite this, the broader implications of having AI as a second set of eyes searching for trafficked marine life will aid in identifying key trade routes to potentially stop this activity. The next step is relying on implementation of these algorithms at the front lines.

Like computer algorithms and AI, the more we learn, the better we get at detecting and potentially stopping this harmful crime.

Vanessa Pirotta received funding from Rapiscan Systems for this research.

Justine O'Brien receives funding from the San Diego Zoo and Wildlife Alliance; NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water; the Australian Research Council; Institute of Museum and Library Services; Great Barrier Reef Foundation; and the Taronga Foundation.

Phoebe Meagher receives funding from San Diego Zoo and Wildlife Alliance and the Taronga Foundation.

Zara Bending serves as a Resident Expert for the Jane Goodall Institute Global and is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Macquarie University Environmental Law Research Centre.

When a whale dies, a very special natural phenomenon can come alive. The carcass might float at the surface for some time, attracting sharks and other predators. As it becomes weathered it may start to sink, falling through the water until it eventually settles on the seafloor where deep sea scavengers feast upon it.

The scientific record of “whale falls” is sparse and fragmentary. But a team of researchers, led by Xiaotong Peng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has discovered a vast and ancient whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone in the southeastern Indian Ocean.

The site, described in a new paper published in Nature, dates back more than five million years and is one of the deepest known whale fall ecosystems in the world.

A whale-sized find in the middle of the ocean

During a special dive mission in February 2023 using a submersible called the Fendouzhe, the team of scientists discovered extensive whale skeletons and fossils partially buried in sediment on the seafloor.

Following the initial discovery, the team made 32 more dives to the seafloor over the next month, mapping the extent of the necropolis.

It stretched roughly 1,200 kilometres along the seafloor at depths of between 4,200 and 7,000 metres. It contained 476 whale fossils as well as five active whale falls.

These active whale falls were teeming with many strange-looking creatures, including jellyfish, brittle stars and bone-boring worms – many of which may be new to science, according to the researchers.

From the 43 fossils the team recovered, they identified five beaked-whale species, including the Andrews’ beaked whale (Mesoplodon bowdoini) and the strap-toothed whale (Mesoplodon layardii) which are known to inhabit the region, and one species of baleen whale – the sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis).

The largest find was a dead Antarctic minke whale, five metres in length, which the team identified from its distinct ear bone shape, as well as genetic analysis. The team also identified a new whale species – Pterocetus diamantinae – which is now extinct.

Isotopic dating, where scientists use the decay of radioactive isotopes, revealed that the oldest fossils from the site are about 5.3 million years old.

The high concentration of whale remains in the region raises the question of how exactly this graveyard was formed. The authors suggest the reason probably has to do with the V-shaped topography of the Diamantina Zone which funnels carcasses onto the seafloor, plus the fact that many deep-diving beaked whale species are known to inhabit this part of the ocean.

A reminder of how little we know

This work deepens our our understanding of whale falls and the incredible ecosystems they support. It also deepens our understanding of beaked whales – usually offshore species which routinely dive up to 1 kilometre and hold their breath for more than an hour.

The finding of five million-year-old fossils provide an evolutionary window into the history of beaked whales from the Pliocene epoch to the present day.

This research is also a humbling reminder of how little we know of the deep sea – and how when we look for something, we may just find it, and so much more.

Vanessa Pirotta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.