Here’s a great way to mix science and adventure on your next Hawaiin vacation. The Coral Reef Alliance has developed a web portal that integrates citizen science and reef monitoring to protect the ecological health of Hawaii’s reefs.
The new website is intended to provide a one-stop shop for volunteers to enter data that corresponds to a variety of community-based monitoring efforts. This includes water quality monitoring, herbivore grazing surveys, and special observations reported by divers and snorkelers regarding the presence of large, terminal parrotfish and large schools of herbivorous fish.
There are a number of opportunities across the Hawaiian islands. The data collected will assist efforts to better understand Hawaii’s coral reef ecosystem.
Volunteers who are interested in participating in the web portal project are encouraged to sign up for a membership by emailing monitoring@coral.org.