The Save Our Seagrass Movement Needs You!
The Save Our Seagrass (S.O.S) Movement thrives with its volunteers! We know how crucial community is to our monitoring efforts; after all, the entire FISM Coalition is comprised of dedicated community volunteers! The FISM Coalition has two big priorities: eelgrass health and community involvement. Our S.O.S Volunteers can do both on Fishers Island while making the most out of their time at the beach!
Dock Beach is one of our seven MPA Watch transects dedicated volunteers walk.
MPA Watch:
This fun protocol is essentially a scientific walk on the beach. Our volunteers pick from our seven transects: North Hill, West Harbor, South Beach, Race Point, Flat Hammock, Eighth Hole, and East Beach. Most volunteers are ready to collect data on their schedule after one training session. This is a great protocol to do with a buddy because it is nice to have a recorder and a sighter! Don’t worry if you’re out by yourself, though; this protocol was designed to be user-friendly for individuals and pairs.
We’re looking for volunteers to walk our transects and to boat along transects to collect data. Volunteers can do data collection on their own if they are ages 14 and up; younger volunteers will need a buddy to help them out!
Connor Jones demonstrates URI Watershed Watch water quality monitoring protocol at our Hay Harbor site.
Water Quality Monitoring:
Are you a morning person? Then water quality monitoring is for you! To get the most accurate data on water quality parameters such as chlorophyll and dissolved oxygen, we need to take the water samples before the sun causes the photosynthetic organisms in the water to produce oxygen. Our volunteers take samples around 7 or 8 am and follow procedures to record, process, and store the samples. This protocol might look intimidating, but our project coordinator will ensure all our volunteers are confident in the protocols before they record any data on their own. This is a good monitoring project for groups, so volunteers work together to ensure each task is done correctly.
There are many training videos online that can be found here. We ask that our volunteers be at least 14 to join this project!
Want to join us?
Visit our volunteer page using the button below to learn more about our monitoring projects and to sign up!
