ABSTRACT
Marine mammal research is ideal for citizen science efforts since most studies require extensive data collection and the animals have an inherent appeal that can attract motivated participants. Major threats include incidental mortality from fisheries bycatch and vessel strikes, pollution, noise, and climate change. While marine mammal research can benefit greatly from the use of citizen science, many researchers in the field are reluctant to embrace this approach. Typical concerns relate to the accuracy and validity of the data, but these can be addressed with well-formulated programs and sufficient training. An important consideration for any citizen science project is recruitment and retention of volunteers. Citizen scientists help in all aspects of data collection, data entry, and preliminary analysis. The research group is often split into teams with a few citizen scientists per researcher to expand our coverage.
