The present disclosure relates to methods to monitor and control of a fine tailing flocculation process using image capture of the fine tailings and processing the light-related data with an inter quartile range (IQR) trimmed estimator to quantify the degree of flocculation, which can be used for process control. The IQR method includes processing the light-related data such that the indicator of the degree of flocculation is independent of tailings density, tailings clay content and/or image brightness. The determined degree of flocculation can then be used in a process for flocculating and dewatering oil sands fine tailings, such as mature fine tailings (MFT), by controlling parameters such as flocculant mixing and dosage.