What Animal Can Divers See In The Salish Sea
Hundreds of fish species live in the Salish Sea, and many face a number of threats. Monitoring the health of these fish populations is crucial. Just with almost 5,000 miles of coastline and more 400 islands, it's no small-scale job.
Historically, monitoring fish populations has included fishery grab data, active trawl surveys, underwater video, satellite imagery, hydroacoustics and more than. Merely citizen scientists are increasingly playing crucial roles, according to a study from the Academy of California, Davis.
The study, published in the periodical Ecology Monitoring and Assessment, revealed that in just over two decades, volunteers with Reef Environmental Didactics Foundation (REEF)'due south Volunteer Fish Survey Project helped monitor more than half of the full fish species known to occur in the Salish Body of water.
The study establish that the project's surveyors also expanded the known range of multiple species within the ecosystem and documented the presence of a fish species not previously known to occur in the Salish Body of water — the striped kelpfish (Gibbonsia metzi). This brings the full number of fish species known to use the Salish Bounding main to 261.
The research was led by SeaDoc Gild, a program of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Wellness Centre at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. SeaDoc has partnered with REEF for almost ii decades to aid railroad train volunteer divers in the Pacific Northwest.
Citizen scientists survey Salish Body of water
REEF is a marine conservation organization with a worldwide network of recreational defined and snorkelers who provide data to improve empathize status, trends, and distribution patterns of marine fishes and selected invertebrates and algae in oceans around the world. REEF citizen scientists have been surveying the Salish Sea since 1998. The region encompasses Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands and the waters off of Vancouver, British Columbia.
The study was also informed past a list of species published by fisheries biologists Theodore Pietsch and James Orr.
"I had and so much fun exploring the REEF database and published compilation of Salish Sea fishes," said lead author Elizabeth Ashley, a UC Davis research assistant with SeaDoc Society. "This report highlights that the incredible biodiversity of the Salish Sea claim the utilize of a diverse set of tools, wielded by both professional person and citizen scientists, to fully sympathize and protect these fishes."
Ashley and her co-authors compared information from xiii,000 REEF surveys collected from about 800 sites in the Salish Sea over 21 years (1998-2019). Volunteers observed 138 of 261 recognized fish species in the Salish Sea and expanded the range of 18 species, significant they were spotted in an area where they previously had not been documented to be.
Not all fish species have an equal run a risk of existence spotted by a scuba diver. Some might alive hundreds of feet deep, expertly hide themselves, or simply rarely venture into the Salish Sea. The authors took this into business relationship and categorized each fish based on its potential for encounter by a diver.
REEF divers sighted 85% of fish species that lend themselves to visual observation. For these fishes, experienced citizen scientists can expand what scientists know most range, life history, population status, size, historic period, behavior, and more.
Denizen science monitoring is simply minimally invasive since it relies purely on human being ascertainment. Trained divers tin can certificate what they see and enter it into the free international database housed at www.REEF.org.
"It'south exciting to come across that the expertise inside our community of citizen scientists has expanded what is known nearly fish assemblages of the Salish Sea and yielded a new discovery," said co-author Christy Pattengill-Semmens, REEF's co-executive manager. "Across providing much-needed data that can be used past researchers and management agencies, participating in citizen science programs similar REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project creates an authentic connection to nature and empowers participants to make a difference."
Source: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/citizen-divers-aid-understanding-fish-salish-sea
Posted by: hinesthessfy63.blogspot.com
0 Response to "What Animal Can Divers See In The Salish Sea"
Post a Comment