Integrating marine citizen science with traditional research: a case study on Solenocera choprai distribution and growth in the Southeastern Arabian Sea

Abstract

The use of ‘Citizen Science’ in marine fisheries research has facilitated public participation in natural resource management, resource conservation, environmental preservation, and decision-making worldwide. The potential of a ‘Marine Citizen Science’ platform, incorporating expertise and data provided by innovative, well-trained commercial fisherman organizations, rekindles a feasible opportunity for academics to monitor the fishery with low financial investment. The current study demonstrates the value of combining geo-tagged ‘Citizen Science data’ on the Solenocera choprai fishery with traditional landing data to illustrate its significant potential for obtaining extensive spatial information on the resource. Growth data derived from the traditional von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) were compared with in situ mode shifting in the natural fishing ground, using this data for support. The current study concludes that a well-organized scientific research program that incorporates ‘Citizen Science’ data analysis can pave the way for extensive research in marine fishery resources and fishing grounds that have been put on hold due to a lack of financing.