The West Country Rivers Trust are conducting an estuarine citizen science feasibility study as CEFAS Coastal Health aims to review existing estuarine citizen science schemes and learn from them to propose our own methodology. In consultation with project partners CEFAS and the Natural History Museum, the Westcountry Rivers Trust will recommend water quality metrics suitable for citizen science in estuarine environments, with the aim to monitor baseline health of coastal habitats, organisms and the relevant stressors.
Appetite for estuarine citizen science is widespread within our volunteer network and coastal communities, and has been for some time. A key aspect of this feasibility study is to engage with communities to determine levels of understanding and engagement. This includes defining what communities are hoping to get from the survey data, what people think are important variables to test for, their motivations for sampling and general understanding of the ecosystem - including complexities in sampling tidal areas.
The area for the feasibility study is the Taw and Torridge, with a lot of groups engaged in the Biosphere expressing interest, the most key step is to obtain feedback on what people want to get from their data, whilst educating the community on the complexities of sampling such a dynamic ecosystem. Following this scoping study, there is potential to have a pilot study dependant on funding etc.
The scoping study is to be handed in soon so any responses before the end of February would be incredible. Hopefully this co-design aspect of the project can engage a variety of demographics. You can acees the survey form at https://forms.office.com/e/SdyBeeksTy.