Making marine and coastal citizen science matter

TLDR

The study convened a symposium and focus group at the 2014 International Marine Conservation Congress to explore how to mobilize citizen science for marine and coastal conservation. Participants reviewed diverse citizen‑science models and identified six conservation outcomes—policy, education, community capacity building, site management, species management, and research—to guide project design. The authors produced two case studies and developed toolkits summarizing key themes and recommendations, concluding that citizen science is an effective conservation tool that should be more widely adopted for marine and coastal management.

Abstract

Against the backdrop of a dramatic increase in citizen science activity worldwide, we convened a combined symposium and focus group at the 2014 International Marine Conservation Congress to consider the challenges and opportunities for mobilizing citizen science in the marine and coastal environment. Highlighting the diversity of existing models and approaches to citizen science, participants focused on six different conservation-related outcomes that citizen science projects can potentially support: policy, education, community capacity building, site management, species management, and research. We provide two example case studies of projects and summarize the key themes and recommendations associated with each of those outcomes. The result is a series of "toolkits" that can help to guide new and existing citizen science projects that aim to support management and conservation of ocean resources, as well as providing insights and recommendations to stimulate further research on and assessment of marine and coastal citizen science programs. Citizen science is an effective approach to conservation and it is time for this underutilized resource to become a more prominent approach for marine and coastal conservation.