Citizen Science Case Studies

The case studies below demonstrate the data journey for specific marine citizen science projects, covering their planning, collection, processing, preservation, sharing and reuse.

CollectCollect section of Guidance

The Shark Trust Great Eggcase Hunt

Data collection has moved on from paper records that were transferred to spreadsheets to the use of The Shark Trust app and online recording forms.

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Method

Volunteers collect eggcases at the beach and submit their findings using an online recording form or through The Shark Trust mobile app. Data collection is ad hoc, allowing volunteers to be as involved as they want to be, there is an outlined methodology that people can follow on setting up a timed or distance surveys but this is optional.

Location

Eggcase hunting has taken off in a big way! What began as a British project has now expanded around the world. Records have been collected from Ecuador to South Africa to Australia, and many places in between with 49 species reported from 30 countries.

Training

No level of experience is needed and online training resources are designed to be self-led for people to engage with. Online resources include an ID guide, step by step ID key that takes you through the different features of a shark, training videos, a training pack and more recently, information on the differences between easily confused species has been published.

[The Shark Trust Great Eggcase Hunt collect image] — Great Eggcase Hunt

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