Citizen Science in Fishery Stock Assessments: Review and Recommendations

Citizen science, where individuals or groups voluntarily contribute to the scientific process, is a growing field of interest within fisheries science in the U.S. When designed and applied appropriately, citizen science has the potential to address data gaps limiting stock assessments while simultaneously building relationships with stakeholders like the commercial or recreational fishing communities. To better understand the extent to which citizen science is being used to support stock assessments and best practices for its successful application, we applied a mixed methods approach. The four methods included: (1) A literature review covering domestic and international studies; (2) semi-structured interviews with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) citizen science project leads; (3) analysis of stock assessment documents for mentions of citizen science; and (4) a survey of NOAA Fisheries stock assessment scientists. The results provide insights into how often data from citizen science projects are used in stock assessments, the types of data used and how they are applied, and an overall set of recommendations and best practices for both citizen science practitioners and end users (e.g., stock assessors) to guide the successful application of citizen science in stock assessments.