Marin MPA Watch Volunteer Training
Drakes Beach | Inverness, California
MPA Watch is a network of programs that support healthy oceans through community science.
MPA Watch trains volunteers to observe and collect data on human uses of coastal and marine resources both inside and outside of marine protected areas (MPAs). Volunteers use standardized protocols to collect relevant, scientifically rigorous, and broadly accessible data. The Marin MPA Watch Volunteer Program is managed by the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin (EAC), and in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, and Point Reyes National Seashore.
Marin MPA Watch focuses efforts at Agate County Beach, Corte Madera Marsh, Drakes Beach, Drakes Estero, Limantour Beach, Point Resistance, and the Point Reyes Headlands.
The Marin MPA Watch community science program:
Trains volunteers to collect scientific data on consumptive and non-consumptive coastal and marine resource use by ocean users using specific protocols and a survey.
Surveys are observational only, and collect human activities in and outside of MPAs, such as surfing, kayaking, fishing, boating, running, etc., with the intention of improving our understanding of how people are using our statewide MPAs.
Informs MPA management and supports the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Not only do local volunteers learn about their coastal environment and become community scientists and stewards of the area, but they generate monitoring data that would not be possible without a large community of volunteers.
