The Editor says: As someone who loves the sea, have you ever joined a beach cleanup or ocean cleanup event? When you do, you're quietly becoming part of the "marine citizen scientist" community! Citizen scientists often know the waters near their homes far better than lab-based scientists do — and they have far more freedom to act on that knowledge. We hope to harness the power of everyone to bring the citizen scientist spirit to more and more people. Come take a look with BlueTrend! <Full article reprinted from the Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation; Author: 温珮珍2022.11.28>
The 7th International Marine Debris Conference (7IMDC) was held from September 18 to September 23 in Busan, South Korea. The first Marine Debris Conference was organized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1984, and from the 5th edition in 2011 onward it was co-hosted with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The 2022 edition marked the first time the conference was held outside the United States. The year the conference began tells us something important: the problem of marine debris was already drawing scientific attention well before 1984. This edition covered nine major themes, 110 sub-topics, and over five hundred short presentations — encompassing virtually every dimension of marine debris, from survey research and biological science to economics and social science. Among all the sessions, the topic that most captivated the Kuroshio team and that they attended most frequently was the application and discussion of citizen science — a survey approach that Kuroshio itself uses to investigate marine debris issues.
In 2022, the Kuroshio team traveled to Busan, South Korea to participate in the 7th International Marine Debris Conference (7IMDC).
What Is a Citizen Scientist?
When it comes to citizen scientists, I'll be honest — I didn't hear the term until after I joined Kuroshio. Before I even learned what it meant, my very first assignment was to plan the sea-surface microplastics survey for the 2018 Island Voyage project. After taking stock of the hardware and software resources available, I was flooded with astonishment: "Wow, all the equipment is borrowed!" "This sampling method is so makeshift." "Wait, nobody's actually done this before?" I could understand all of that — a passionate NGO with big ambitions and a tiny budget made sense. But then I realized that my working partners might be completely different people every single day, and a flurry of question marks appeared over my head: "If the operator changes daily, won't the sampling introduce errors?" "Won't that cause huge variance in the final results?" "Should I give each new partner a detailed briefing to minimize error?" "Meeting new people every day and talking non-stop — will that trigger my social anxiety?" "The Island Voyage is planned for over ten days; how many times am I going to have to explain the same sampling method?" By the time the voyage ended, I had slipped back into my habit of processing all the samples myself.
Then one day I came across the term "citizen scientist," and those question marks instantly turned into lightbulbs. Something clicked — and I found it much easier to accept working with different people on each survey. At the marine debris conference, I met others who were also using citizen science methods to monitor the environment and collect data on marine debris, and I realized: the challenges we face are exactly the same! It felt like finding kindred spirits and finally grasping the true meaning of what we do. For example, the NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring Program highlighted that citizen science surveys encounter freedoms that are hard to imagine in conventional scientific research — the choice of survey location, the survey interval, and the scale of investigation are often left entirely to the participants. This naturally increases spatial variability. When a monitoring program runs for several years, it becomes very difficult to retain the same personnel throughout, causing data reports to be frequently delayed and data quality to be inconsistent. And that's before even mentioning the challenge of uncertain or nonexistent long-term funding.
In 2019, the Kuroshio team conducted a coastal microplastics survey and posed for a group photo with the captain, crew, and citizen scientists at Nanfang'ao.
At the same time, I came to understand that citizen science survey methods represent a fusion of ecological research and social science. This approach yields not only scientific data but also the added value of citizens engaging in public affairs — an added value that organizations like Kuroshio prize even more than the data itself. And when you think about it carefully, coastal debris surveys are genuinely well-suited to this kind of approach. Starting from a desire to participate in public affairs and improve the quality of the environment around them, ordinary people are actually very willing to join such efforts. A survey of volunteers by the European organization The SeaCleaners found that over 50% of volunteers joined because they wanted to understand and reduce the impact of marine debris on the ecosystem; about 30% joined out of personal curiosity or to combine it with a hobby; and only 3% joined for professional or career-related reasons. Based on past work experience, conducting similar surveys within government agencies or academic research institutions involves many constraints — the biggest being overthinking: what instruments to use, what equipment to bring, where the coastal access points are, how to plan the route, and so on. Faced with the same stretch of coastline, a citizen scientist's familiarity with the coastal environment at their own doorstep, the ease with which they can reach it, and the freedom to just go whenever they want are things a laboratory scientist simply cannot match.
The Challenges of Marine Citizen Science
Once we understand these strengths and weaknesses, the key design question becomes: how do we make the most of citizen scientists' advantages while meeting the challenges — reducing data variability and maintaining consistent data quality? Organizations such as NOAA, Ocean Conservancy, the EU's OSPAR, the United Nations Development Programme (PNUD) in Panama, and South Korea's KOEM and OSEAN have each drawn on years of survey experience to develop coastal debris survey operation manuals, beach cleanup record forms, and similar tools. These help participants understand the purpose of monitoring while giving everyone a basic set of guidelines to follow.
In addition, as smartphones have become ubiquitous, NGOs in different countries have developed mobile apps so that enthusiastic citizen scientists can launch a beach cleanup at any moment, or plan longer-term marine debris monitoring activities on their own. NGOs also use these forms to review and manage data during analysis. The resulting datasets reveal not only the types and quantities of debris along coastlines, but — because a consistent set of survey principles is applied — also allow comparison of marine debris data across different seasons, different coastal regions, and even different countries.
And of course, all that data is meant to be put to practical use in coastal management! OSEAN in South Korea has been monitoring marine debris since 2008, and the results of their long-term monitoring have shaped policy decisions and measurable changes in debris quantities through collaboration with the government. For instance, after the ban on single-use plastic bags was enacted in 2019, the number of plastic bags recorded in marine debris monitoring data dropped significantly. Through collaboration with fisheries-related agencies, they also developed a foam buoy recycling scheme, worked on environmentally friendly buoy alternatives, convened discussions with all relevant stakeholders, ran workshops, and built fishers' awareness of the risks posed by marine debris. This multi-pronged approach successfully reduced the plastic pollution caused by foam buoys.
By participating in citizen science surveys, you too can become a guardian of the ocean!
The added value of citizen participation in scientific surveys is another dimension that Kuroshio deeply values. Every time we join different citizen surveyors for a beach cleanup using ICC forms or head out to sea for sampling, we can feel their genuine care for the environment and their enthusiasm for taking part. Knowing that each of these surveyors understands that small individual actions can create real change — and that they will carry that feeling into their daily lives, practicing "reuse and reduce single-use waste" and in turn influencing the family and friends around them, making the Earth just a little friendlier each day — that thought alone is enough to get anyone fired up. Beyond proving that collaborating with citizen scientists doesn't cause social anxiety, I've slowly gone from "How many times do I have to explain the same sampling method?" to "I can explain the same sampling method as many times as you need!" For Kuroshio, this achieves the long-term goal of environmental education leading to behavioral change. For the individual, it's like leveling up after defeating a boss monster — and getting your HP fully restored at the same time.
Before heading to the marine debris conference, I had many doubts. My biggest worry was figuring out which sessions to prioritize among so many topics. In the end, I chose to focus mainly on the citizen science and environmental education themes, in line with my own work. After exchanging ideas with speakers engaged in similar work, I could not only reflect on what adjustments might make my own work better — improving the completeness of the data and its application to public affairs and environmental education — but also gained a stronger appreciation for the importance of feedback and interaction with citizen science surveyors. Emotionally, there was that bittersweet feeling of "If only I'd met you all sooner — it would have been so good to have people to talk this through with." The whole experience truly embodied the three goals of the conference: Inform, Connect, and Inspire. Over five days, the sessions covered education, monitoring, and the social and natural sciences — from the microbiome living on microplastic particles to massive mega-debris floating on an ocean without visible edges. It became clear that marine debris is not a problem faced by any single region or country. And regardless of which aspect of marine debris was being discussed, the solutions may have varied, but everyone agreed on one thing: after the exchange and mutual inspiration of the conference, it was time for even more action. So whoever you are — come join the citizen science movement that's taking the world by storm, and let's change the world together!
This article is reprinted with permission from the Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation. Original title: 集眾之力的守護行動：你也能成為說走就走的「海廢」公民科學家！
Editor-in-charge: Jenny Tsai
Further Reading:
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Coastal Debris Survey Manuals and Beach Cleanup Forms
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Mobile Beach Cleanup Apps
