Advancing Citizen Science for Coastal and Ocean Research

Abstract

n Citizen Science, members of the general public collaborate with scientists to generate and use data relating to the natural world. For the many fields of marine research, this is a particularly powerful approach which should not be overlooked. The sheer scale of coastal and ocean environments mean that it would take several lifetimes for scientists to study them alone. By collaborating with citizens, a much greater number of people can be mobilized to gather a wealth of data and develop new scientific knowledge and understanding. The variety of data types which are amenable to Citizen Science, as outlined in the position paper, are great, meaning that there could be a project to suit everyone. Citizen Science can also enable participants to improve their Ocean Literacy, gain new skills and experiences, and can also empower them to participate in the process of delivering future marine policy.Now, more than ever, marine science research is needed to understand the impacts of a world undergoing change. The rise of Marine Citizen Science to help address this need is therefore timely. This paper highlights opportunities, challenges and best practice in Marine Citizen Science, and sets out a list of high-level strategic recommendations for the future development of Marine Citizen Science in Europe. It presents examples of existing Marine Citizen Science initiatives in Europe to illustrate good practice. Common concerns such as data quality and maintaining engagement are discussed, as are future opportunities such as increased use of technology and potential role of Marine Citizen Science in informing marine policy and conservation. The paper closes with a list of high-level strategic recommendations for the future development of Marine Citizen Science in Europe.

Social licence through citizen science: A tool for marine conservation

“…education, data collection), as well as coordinators’ perceptions of European marine management and conservation. The sample of projects was obtained from the EMB (Garcia-Soto et al 2017) and was further supplemented by sharing the survey online amongst colleagues in wider networks to disseminate it to other potential respondents. Of the initial n=60 project coordinators approached, 35 (58.3%) coordinators responded to the online survey (conducted using Lime Survey GmbH).…”

“…Marine citizen science provides an interface between marine science and ocean literacy and offers a platform for the public to connect with science and policy and promote collaboration and partnerships between marine science and society. Consequently, in 2017 the European Marine Board (EMB) outlined a need to formally incorporate marine citizen science into EU research and policy (Garcia-Soto et al 2017).…”

“…ECSA aims to promote sustainable development through citizen science, on the premise that environmental sustainability and stewardship are intrinsically linked to research, innovation and empowerment (Storksdieck et al 2016). The expansion of European citizen science has also seen increases in the number and diversity of marine projects (Garcia-Soto et al 2017). Community networks can play a strong role in enhancing policy support (Dean et al 2016) and citizen science presents an ideal tool to explore this.…”

An integrated approach for cetacean knowledge and conservation in the central Mediterranean Sea using research and social media data sources

“…A characteristic of social media data is the absence of a designed sampling scheme on a geographic scale, so the observation density over both space and time is more representative of observer concentration than of the targeted data points themselves (Garcia-Soto et al, 2017).…”

Social license through citizen science: a tool for marine conservation

“…The initial research phase consisted of an online survey of marine citizen science project coordinators, through which we aimed to obtain information on the extent of projects in Europe and their objectives (i.e., education, data collection), as well as coordinators' perceptions of European marine management and conservation. This sample of projects was obtained from the European Marine Board's report on marine citizen science (Garcia-Soto et al 2017) and was further supplemented by sharing the survey online among colleagues in wider networks to disseminate it to other potential respondents. Of the initial (N = 60) project coordinators approached, 34 (56.67%) coordinators responded to the online survey (conducted using Lime Survey).…”