Great Citizen Science Opportunity at Your Fingertips

Fellow Master Naturalists! Here’s a great Citizen Science opportunity that you may not know about. It’s the South Carolina Aquarium’s Citizen Science suite of tools, available online and as a free smartphone download from the App Store and Google Play. Developed by MDI Biological Laboratory, these tools invite members of the public to easily observe, gather, and submit data to open access databases that are critical to understanding environmental trends, and a natural fit (no pun intended) for Master Naturalists like us. Check these out by clicking the blue links below:

Litter Journal
Introduced in 2017, the Litter Journal is a widely used litter tracker in South Carolina and holds over three million pieces of data submitted by over 2400 users to date. These data are being analyzed and used to support such efforts as academic grant proposals, single-use plastic and beach smoking bans in coastal municipalities, and in-water litter capture devices in the Upstate, among other successes.

SeaRise
This tool enables citizens to submit data and photos wherever flooding or erosion are observed to document flooding events in our community and to help flood modelers refine their models. This information is critical to better understand trends over time and make more accurate predictions for the future. Although not a citizen science app, the SeaRise Viewer is an interactive map with viewable layers showing where and how much flooding occurs at increments of 1-10’ of sea level rise. We can enter our own address and check to see how we’ll be affected!

Good Catch Seafood Survey
How about seafood tonight? Let’s ask what’s local before we order to determine if it’s harvested along the southeastern coast from North Carolina to Florida where fishing regulations are the most stringent. When we enter the name of the restaurant or seafood market and the type of local seafood they sell, we support sustainably harvested seafood, help each other find local seafood and help the Aquarium identify new Good Catch Partners.

Tangled in Trash
Here’s our chance as Master Naturalists to help wildlife harmed by marine or land debris anywhere in North or South Carolina or Georgia. This newest project in the Aquarium’s Citizen Science app was developed by the Wildlife and Habitat Impacts Working Group of the NOAA Marine Debris Program. Designed for sharp observers like Master Naturalists out in the field, this project not only allows us to report and photograph wildlife alive or dead that have interacted with debris, but it also provides us with a direct line to report and call for help.

What I like most about joining these four projects is that the ability to support conservation research and data-based solutions to serious environmental problems is literally at my fingertips, as close as my smartphone. It’s a fast, fun, and easy way to have an impact as a Master Naturalist, and as a citizen scientist.

The South Carolina Aquarium’s Conservation Department is seeking volunteers to help with community conservation efforts. It’s not only fun to volunteer and has great perks, but it could fulfill requirements for your Master Naturalist certification! To learn more about volunteering with the Conservation team, visit www.scaquarium.org/volunteer.