SEANET (Seabird Ecological Assessment Network) - Powered by Anecdata.org

The Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET) was designed to bring together interdisciplinary researchers and members of the public (i.e. citizen scientists) in a long-term collaborative effort to identify and mitigate threats to seabirds (along the Northwest Atlantic seaboard). http://seanetters.wordpress.com Project goal To highlight that seabirds serve as indicators of the health of the marine ecosystem. What participants do: Walk a section of beach (at least 1 km long) 1-2X/month and record any beached (i.e. dead) seabirds. The Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET) is the only coordinated Beached Bird project on the Atlantic coast of the U.S. It was started in 2003 in Buzzard’s Bay, MA. Now, it consists of a network of volunteers from Maine to Florida. There are many global threats facing seabirds: emerging infectious diseases; interactions with fisheries; harmful algal blooms; contaminants (e.g. heavy metals, pesticides); plastics and overfishing of seabird prey items. The goals of SEANET are to: 1) bring together interdisciplinary researchers and members of the public (i.e. citizen scientists) in a long-term collaborative effort, 2) provide baseline information about bird mortality; 3) help to detect mass mortality events due to oil spills, toxins or disease outbreaks, 4) examine the spatial pattern of bird carcass deposition and how it varies across time, and 5) highlight that seabirds can serve as indicators of the marine ecosystem. The SEANET program does not require expert birding skills or travel to remote locations or specialized equipment. So what are SEANET volunteers asked to do? Read and sign a volunteer agreement, select a section of beach (at least 1 km long) that you can reliably access year-round and walk 1 or 2 times/month. SEANET will provide each volunteer a SEANET kit containing a guide, ruler, calipers, and marking tags. Each volunteer is asked to provide a digital camera (e.g. Cell phone), gloves, pencil and a clipboard. ALL REQUIRED FORMS are HEREopen_in_new: Monitoring manual, field data sheets, beach characteristics form, and the volunteer agreement. SEANET is carried out by both scientists and conservation-minded citizens. Through this program, you can participate in science and marine conservation. For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/seanetters/open_in_new and http://seanetters.wordpress.comopen_in_new