SeagrassSpotter was established in 2016 and allows people to upload point data showing the presence of seagrass with photo evidence. Since its initial launch, it has gathered over 10,000 sightings of seagrass from over 5,000 users across 118 countries and has recorded 68 species of seagrass. It also records absence data to track where seagrass may have once existed but is now lost.
SeagrassSpotter seeks to expand the number of people studying seagrass from a handful of scientists to hundreds and potentially thousands of ‘citizen scientists.’
As part of efforts to build a sustainable monitoring network, and by leveraging the enthusiasm of everyone from fishers to SCUBA divers to people on vacations at the beach, we’ll create a more comprehensive picture of seagrass meadows around the globe. This in turn will inspire new scientific research and practical conservation measures that can help protect ocean habitats.
Working together with citizen scientists all over the world, we’ll accomplish big things for seagrass and other vulnerable marine species, but only with your help.
To monitor, identify and stop the loss of seagrass all over the world, we are calling for more people to engage in citizen science and not only record where seagrass meadows can be seen, but where they once were and now no longer are.
To monitor, identify and stop the loss of seagrass all over the world, we are calling for more people to engage in citizen science and not only record where seagrass meadows can be seen, but where they once were and now no longer are.
