a project to join

Coastal Explorers Field School is an educational consultancy located on Canada’s east coast and Sao Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal. We design science outreach and education programs for corporate clients and government partners. Our flagship science outreach programs are designed to engage participants in monitoring changes to ecologically important coastal habitats. We design citizen science projects that provide participants with meaningful and authentic experiences that contribute essential baseline data to research scientists and policymakers. Through our training and professional development workshops, participants get fully immersed in the most advanced technology for coastal and marine biodiversity monitoring, from eDNA water sampling and transact intertidal surveys to aerial drone and ROV underwater surveys. Current programs include exploring ecosystems and job shadowing for the Inuit youth in the eastern arctic, aquatic invasive species monitoring in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada.

PA1 - Digital Twins of the Oceans (DTO) at regional sub basin scale
PA3 - Planning and managing sea-uses at the regional level
PA4 - Blue Bioresources

Proposed Citizen Science Project to Engage International Tourists in Playing an Active Role in Stewardship of the Coastal and Marine Environment. We are looking for partners from other EU countries and sea basins to create a series of citizen science packages to engage international visitors in eDNA data collection activities linked to regional research projects in marine biodiversity monitoring and management.
Citizen science packages for international visitors are a vehicle for:
a) Building human resources capacity in the marine tourism sector through training and professional development of local staff to deliver the proposed citizen science product;
b) Enhancing the technological capabilities of local marine tourism operators through the integration of digital collection tools (eDNA field sampling technology, aerial drones, underwater drones) into their product offering for international tourists;
c) Contributing to sustainable tourism goals by enabling international visitors to play an active and meaningful role in protecting the coastal and marine environment they use for recreation during tourism excursions;
d) Amplifying tourists’ awareness of environmental issues and challenges related to the marine environment, mitigating the risks associated with tourism activity, while enhancing its positive impacts;
e) Enhancing scientific knowledge of the marine biodiversity of the region, offering a low-cost data source for scientists, researchers and policy-makers.

citizen science, sustainable marine tourism, edna, human resource capacity, ocean literacy, sustainable innovation, engaging civil society, scuba, aquatic invasive species, coastal ecosystems

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