Community Sampling and Ocean Acidification Observations in South-central Alaska
Why we care Southeast Alaska experiences ocean acidification at a faster rate than other regions due to its cold water temperatures and ocean current patterns. Indigenous communities rely on a healthy marine ecosystem and the culturally and economically important species that are impacted. This long-term community science monitoring program brings together scientists, aquaculturists, and seven Alaska Native communities to build capacity. This project brings awareness about the program, ocean acidification, and its impacts through multimedia.
What we are doing The CRRC created a video in partnership with Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery (APSH) to communicate the scientific findings of a long term Native Alaskan community science water quality program south-central Alaska. The goals of the video are educating and raising awareness of ocean acidification and the community science monitoring program to Alaskan Natives and communities the CRRC serves. The video delivers the main findings of the program, highlights the partners and points to current and future impacts to wild shellfish and traditional subsistence food in the Chugach region.
Benefits of our work This monitoring program serves as an example of co-producing science with indigenous communities that can be used nationwide. The video provides long-term water quality and ocean acidification monitoring data in a more meaningful storytelling format for coastal Alaska Native communities impacted by changing ocean conditions. By using different science communication techniques, such as through multimedia projects, the CRRC and APSH can reach more communities that may be interested in starting a water quality monitoring program in their local marine ecosystem.
NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries of the West Coast Region (Olympic Coast, Greater Farallones, Cordell Bank, Monterey Bay and Channel Islands) will partner with Flathead Valley Community College, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NFSC), to increase accessibility and understanding of tools and protocol for ocean acidification monitoring through citizen science and education programs. Humans and the ocean are inextricably interconnected, with all humans relying on ocean ecosystem outputs such as oxygen, water and food. Currently, ocean ecosystems are threatened by multiple global change stressors, including ocean acidification (OA). The development of OA monitoring tools and education curriculum will be instrumental in providing the public with a better understanding of the process of OA and impacts of a more acidic environment to valuable ocean ecosystems. NOAA’s West Coast Region (WCR) sanctuaries will work with external partner Dr. David Long, of Flathead Valley Community College, to pilot a field-based pH-measuring instrument called ”pHyter” with WCR sanctuaries’ OA education and outreach programs, including citizen science, teacher workshops and student field investigations. Dr. Long and his students recently developed pHyter: a hand-held chemical indicator-based spectrophotometric pH- measuring device. OAP funds will support the expansion of pHyter instrument capabilities to permit iPhone and android apps to interface and upload to the international GLOBE Program GIS database, increasing accessibility of pH data.
This project will cross-calibrate citizen science monitoring protocols for ocean acidification among independent organizations in the Northeast by developing a replicable citizen science monitoring training program. This will be accomplished by providing trainings and materials specific for volunteer and citizen science audiences through a series of regional workshops. The project team will (1) develop the first replicable citizen science monitoring program in accordance with recently developed EPA guidance document, Guidelines for Measuring Changes in Seawater pH and Associated Carbonate Chemistry in Coastal Environments of the Eastern United States, (2) provide in-person technical trainings and educational materials through an initial series of three regional workshops in Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut and (3) support the successful use of citizen science participation in research and management by building on the Northeast Coastal Acidification Network’s extensive capacity and stakeholder network.
Ocean acidification science has evolved rapidly over the past decade. This research landscape has shifted in two important directions. First, the scale of investigation, once limited to global or open ocean scale observations, has broadened with focus on resolving local expression and impacts of OA. Second, research that was almost exclusively restricted to understanding and forecasting exposure and impacts is now complimented by studies on the local actions and solutions for OA mitigation and adaptation. These shifts have created new opportunities for a communications arena where the need for local, solutions-based messages have been identified as key barriers to engagement. At the same time, the lack of effective communications tools that make new research knowledge readily accessible to a range of audience groups has also been recognized as a priority area of need. To address these gaps, we propose to develop a series of audience-specific videos that focuses on local actions and solutions that are underway in Oregon to address OA. By telling the stories of 1) a citizen science OA monitoring network, 2) efforts to breed a better (more OA-resistant) oyster, 3) shellfish hatcheries adapting to change, and 4) new benefits from seagrass beds in mitigating OA, we aim to broaden the OA narrative to include messages of positive actions. We will produce videos that are tailored for 3 groups of audiences (estimated numbers reached): high school students that will receive a new OA curriculum module (~200), aquarium visitors on the Oregon Coast (up to 150,000/yr), and engaged stakeholders visiting a new Oregon ocean story map site (~1000) and/or attend public forums on coastal issues (~400). The project team comprises a partnership between Oregon Sea Grant, and representatives from academic research (Oregon State University) and environmental NGO’s (Surfrider Foundation).