Oceanographic samples have historically been gathered by scientific specialists. Accessible and reliable technology is now putting data-gathering tools into the hands of citizen scientists, opening the door to innovative new approaches to coastal monitoring.
Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC) Community Fishers app offers vessel operators, mariners, and fishers an opportunity to collect water column data by using a conductivity-temperature-depth instrument connected to a mobile device. The app simplifies the collection and transfer of oceanographic data to ONC’s data management portal, Oceans 2.0, for evidence-based decision-making (Figure 1).

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