NESP MaC Project 3.18 – Robust citizen science for reef habitat assessment in support of management, 2023-2026 (UQ)

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub study - Project 3.18 – Robust citizen science for reef habitat assessment in support of management. For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata.

By mobilising tourism vessels and thousands of citizens, the Great Reef Census (GRC) has demonstrated that citizen-based infrastructure can undertake reconnaissance of hundreds of reefs and garner private donor support. While these data are already used by managers, there remain core scientific questions regarding the acquisition, quality, and optimisation of such data for reef management. Here, we create a robust approach to citizen science that can be scaled up to reefs generally. Specifically, our project will (1) maximise the quality of data on key habitats by combining machine and human learning (in partnership with Dell Technologies) while conducting a rigorous testing of data quality, (2), operationalise a field deployment strategy that maximises the value of citizen data for management and mapping and (3) provides annual maps of reef state and ecological importance that feeds into decision-making by marine managers. It specifically responds to MAC Hub priority research areas 2023 (citizen science and/or new technologies in assessing condition and status of marine habitats and species).

Planned Outputs
• Maps of reef habitat type, reef state, ecological importance of reefs [spatial dataset]
• GRC data on reef images and reef state [tabular dataset]
• Final technical report with analysed data and a short summary of recommendations for policy makers of key findings [written]