Liveaboard cruisers Larissa Clark and Duncan Copeland on how sailors can get involved with ocean conservation and citizen science projectsThere is a fierce and surprisingly passionate debate unfolding on the deck of Freeranger, our 50ft Beneteau. The question at hand is which weight to use: the big one or the small one?
\nAll around us, other boats are not wasting their time. It\u2019s the first day of coho salmon season in the glassy waters of British Columbia, and everyone else is bobbing joyfully in the midday sun, hauling fish out of the sea with jubilant ease. Cries of \u201cFish on!\u201d echo across the sound. The salmon are biting. The FOMO is real.
\nBut we\u2019re not here for the fish, and this isn\u2019t a conversation about fishing tackle. We\u2019re here for science. Citizen science, to be precise. And the debate is about a Secchi Disk \u2013 a simple white disk on a measuring tape \u2013 and our comic inability to make it behave.
\nUnfortunately, the current isn\u2019t cooperating. Our Secchi Disk is meant to sink smoothly until it vanishes from sight, thereby allowing us to log the clarity of the water and contribute a tiny pixel of information to a planetary picture of ocean health. But instead, it\u2019s being carried sideways like a drunk jellyfish, and everyone has a theory about how to fix it.
\nOur son, Eden, has observed all this with the detached cynicism of a seven-year-old boy. \u201cWe could just start fishing instead,\u201d he suggests, clutching his lucky lure. \u201cThen tell them how big our fish was. That\u2019s data too.\u201d
\nHe\u2019s not wrong, and we\u2019ll do that later. But right now we\u2019re determined to get this right.
\nThis Secchi Disk reading is the first of many small contributions we plan to make on our voyage around the world \u2014 a grand experiment in turning family travel into something scientifically meaningful.
\nLarissa Clark, Duncan Copeland and family are doing their bit for ocean science
\nCitizen science
\nFast forward 10 months, and we\u2019re in the UN biosphere reserve at Fakarava Atoll, French Polynesia, where the Secchi Disk project has by now become so routine that our primary-aged kids lower the disk with practiced flair and log data into the app without adult intervention. It\u2019s one of over a dozen projects we\u2019ve taken part in since leaving Victoria, Canada, in July 2024.
\nAt the beginning, it was all about adventure. To sail off into the big blue yonder. And yes, we wanted our kids to learn from the world, rather than just about it. To swim with sharks and taste fresh mangos and get unreasonably excited about sea cucumbers. But over our decade of planning, another idea started to take shape.
\nWe\u2019ve spent our careers at the sharp end of environmental justice, marine resource management and conservation communications. It became increasingly clear that we couldn\u2019t just sail past the many challenges the ocean faces.
\nA small microscope on board brings home-schooling science lessons to life
\nPlastic pollution, acidification, overfishing, loss of biodiversity, sea temperature rises\u2026 Yet it\u2019s also a place filled with solutions \u2013 or at least, the potential for them. But what\u2019s needed is data, lots of it. So an idea slowly took shape: what if, instead of just observing the world as we sailed through it, we could do a little bit more. We wanted to journey with purpose and, if we could, encourage others to do the same.
\nEnter citizen science \u2013 a phrase that sounds like something dreamed up by an underfunded government initiative but is, in fact, a rather beautiful idea. At its core, it means regular people contributing to real science. In our case, cruisers.
\nMeasuring, sampling, logging, photographing, submitting and analysing data \u2013 all helping researchers build scientific knowledge which will, says UNESCO, illuminate the path to reversing the decline in ocean health, conserving marine life, addressing ocean aspects of climate change and using the ocean sustainably to improve lives.
\nArticle continues below\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat you need to know to sail across the Pacific<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCoffee in hand, I gaze out from our cockpit across the flat lagoon of the palm-fringed coral atoll in Fakarava.\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHome schooling at sea: Top tips for tutoring your kids from 6 liveaboard sailors<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor many, the opportunity to trade a bricks and mortar school for classes on deck or on the beach is\u2026<\/p>\n
Keen to help
\nBluewater sailors are regularly in locations scientists can\u2019t easily get to. As cruisers we\u2019re often, quite literally, in a position to assist, and regularly sail, fish, anchor, snorkel, paddleboard, and putter about in biodiverse or far-flung places that researchers only dream of visiting.
\nLots of sailors, we\u2019ve discovered, would love to help \u2013 if only they knew how. We quickly found out when we started looking for projects that our family could get involved with, that it can be surprisingly difficult to find information on citizen science projects relevant to your region, area of interest, or circumstances.
\nWe decided to do something about that. With the help of some incredible volunteers, we started collecting details of as many ocean-focussed citizen science projects as we could find. We established a small not-for-profit called Free Range Ocean. We built a website and created the Ocean Citizen Science Directory: a one-stop shop for curious ocean lovers looking to pitch in. From whale sighting apps or microplastics sampling to seaweed beach surveys, there is something for everyone.
\nA Neuston Net survey aboard Freeranger resulted in a haul of fascinating marine
\nOver time, we\u2019ve found that the easiest projects to get involved with are the ones that build on our interests and skillsets and what we\u2019re already doing day to day. If you see a whale, fantastic: watch it, and then enter the data into one of the many projects that need it.
\nIn British Columbia we logged sightings into the WhaleReport app, which adds to a database of over 330,000 observations that is used by universities, environmental organisations and conservation-research projects. The data is also used to alert commercial ships to whale locations to avoid collisions. We got an email thanking us for our \u2018invaluable contribution\u2019 which, frankly, made our week.
\nMarine life being carefully recorded to be shared with researchers
\nNetting data
\nOn our Pacific crossing this March between Bahia Banderas in Mexico and Henderson Island in the Pitcairn Islands, we deployed a Neuston Net \u2013 a device used to sample surface biodiversity. The project is part of the Neuston Net Research Collective in collaboration with Dr Rebecca Helm and The International SeaKeepers Society.
\nThis required more precise planning: receiving the net to an address in Mexico, storing it, waiting until we were far offshore in international waters, hoping for calm weather, slowing the boat to a crawl, and then towing the net for 30 minutes.
\nWhen hauled in it was teeming with strange and wondrous life: translucent shrimp, alien jellies, and even a Halobate, the only truly marine insects. The kids were beside themselves, and they weren\u2019t the only ones. Science had never been so squishy or so thrilling. All the findings were carefully recorded to be shared with researchers.
\nEden (8) and Skye-Elizabeth (6) help out too
\nWe now participate in around half a dozen citizen science projects on a regular basis, depending on where we are and what\u2019s feasible. In the Directory, there are dozens more. Some require internet access, others just a notepad. Some want photos, others want actual samples.
\nA few are so low-effort that it feels like cheating. One simply requires you to plug a dongle into your depth sounder and collect depth data as part of a global effort to better map the seabed.
\nThe ocean we need for the future isn\u2019t going to restore itself. It\u2019s going to take data, commitment, and a little curiosity from a whole lot of people. Whether you\u2019re recording manta rays, scanning for seagrass, or just watching a white disk vanish quietly beneath the waves, you\u2019re helping.
\n6 citizen science projects to get you started
\nWhaleReport App
\nWhat \u2013 Help rescuers, researchers, and mariners reduce vessel strikes on whales.
\nHow \u2013 Report sightings into a handy app
\nWhere \u2013 Canada, US, Mexico,
\nContact \u2013 freerangeocean.org\/projects\/whale-alert
\nSecchi Disk Study
\nWhat: Help researchers understand the impact of climate change on phytoplankton
\nHow: Use a simple scientific tool to map the ocean\u2019s phytoplankton and submit your findings via a free app. Order one online or build your own.
\nWhere: Global, all seas
\nContact:\u00a0freerangeocean.org\/projects\/secchi-disk-study
\niNaturalist
\nWhat: Help researchers grow a global dataset of biodiversity observations
\nHow: Share your observations via the website with a network of naturalists, scientists and biologists.
\nWhere: Global, all seas
\nContact: freerangeocean.org\/projects\/inaturalist
\nSeabed 2030
\nWhat: A global Citizen Science initiative to map the world\u2019s oceans by 2030
\nHow: Privately-owned vessels can share depth measurements from navigation instruments while out at sea
\nWhere: Global, all seas
\nContact: freerangeocean.org\/projects\/seabed2030
\nNeuston Net Research Collective
\nWhat: A project to conduct plankton surveys
\nHow: Conduct survey-style transects by trawling a fine mesh net
\nWhere: North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean
\nContact: freerangeocean.org\/projects\/neuston-net-research-collective
\nBig Seaweed Search
\nWhat: Learn more about Britain\u2019s sealife
\nHow: Take a 5m transect of UK shoreline, identify living seaweeds using the field key, send in photos and a recording form.
\nWhere: United Kingdom
\nContact: freerangeocean.org\/projects\/the-big-seaweed-search<\/p>\n
If you enjoyed this\u2026.<\/p>\n
Yachting World is the world\u2019s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.<\/p>\n
Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.<\/p>\n
Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/p>\n
The post The ocean citizen science being carried out on yachts appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liveaboard cruisers Larissa Clark and Duncan Copeland on how sailors can get involved with ocean conservation and citizen science projectsThere is a fierce and surprisingly passionate debate unfolding on the deck of Freeranger, our 50ft Beneteau. The question at hand … <\/p>\n