Salmon Steward

salmon Steward magazine 7 T he Salish Sea Marine Survival Project's Citizen Science Program is based on the concept that citizens can play a valuable role in scientific research. This summer, the Program began engaging passengers on BC Ferries in answering a vital question: How does light affect the ocean's organic and inorganic matter? While satellite surveillance and water testing is being undertaken to understand the productivity of the Salish Sea and the health of salmon, the University of Victoria's Remote Sensing and Spectral Lab uses sensors installed on BC Ferries' Queen of Oak Bay, which shuttles passengers between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo. Professor Maycira Costa, who developed the Spectral Lab, explains: " We got the idea to use BC Ferries passengers to help us collect data, via tablets with an app that guides users on how to take photos of the sea and sky and calculates the light reflection in the process; that information informs us about ocean productivity and turbidity [water murkiness]." This summer, a presenter from BC Ferries' educational Coastal Naturalist Program "shared with passengers information about the ocean and what our research is about," Costa continues. "Then she distributed the tablets, and off the passengers went to snap photos of the ocean." After witnessing their enthusiasm, Costa and the Spectral team hope to continue engaging ferry passengers in the future. "It's a great way to foster environmental stewardship," she says, "as well as advance our understanding of light in coastal waters." u Ferry Passengers Become Salmon Scientists For a Day CITIZEN SCIENCE UPDATE Passengers collect ocean data onboard the Queen of Oak Bay. Left: UVic geographer and project lead Dr. Maycira Costa tries out the tablet and app. Right: A Coastal Naturalist presenter explains the Citizen Science Program to passengers. An innovative new program lets seafaring citizens use tablets for something other than killing time

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