Citizen science and marine policy

This chapter provides a broad overview of the value and challenges of scientists and the public contributing to marine policy development and implementation. One area where coastal and marine citizen science especially holds promise is in support of policy and legislation. Marine legislation is increasing in complexity, and large data sets and evidence base are generally required to support decisions about marine policy and management because the questions that need addressing are at large spatial and temporal scales. The environmental areas in which citizen science was most embedded were non-marine biodiversity, with embeddedness in marine biodiversity much lower. Citizen science can make use of many different types of technologies, and as new technologies become available, the application of citizen science will continue to change and adapt. Citizen science data may also be used to monitor changes in the environment caused by climate change by providing information to which policy makers can respond.