LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO STRENGTHEN CONSERVATION

SEAlly© is a mobile application launched in 2019 by MEDASSET and iSea under the financial programme of the Greek Green Fund and the support of Softweb. The application is a citizen science technology tool, which can deliver to the scientific community valuable data about sea turtle, shark and batoid observations. SEAlly© is the first mobile application that allows multi-taxa recording and consists of a comprehensive Mediterranean species list for all taxa. Its “target group” are fishers, port authorities, divers, sailing community and all sea users interested in the conservation of marine ecosystems. All recordings are validated by the SEAlly© team before uploaded to the app’s map. The user apart from the occurrence can provideinformationaboutthebehavior,the state, the gender, the size and the if the animal was bycaught, making the application’s use broader with potential to be used as a management tool. Furthermore, the app provides open access data to its users as every published record hasallthe aforementioned information available. Since its inception, the app has been developed further to include batoid species observations (2021) and as of 2022 is now available in 4 languages; English, Greek, Arabic and Turkish, expanding its reach across the Mediterranean region. To date, 247 observations have been reported by 89 registered users, of which 79% (n= 197) have been validated from 82 contributors and uploaded to the App’s map. In total 17 species have been recorded, three sea turtles, 10 shark species and four batoids, with 25.9% listed between Vulnerable to Critical on the IUCN Red List with decreasing population trends. Unsurprisingly, the most commonly reported taxa are sea turtles (88.3%, n=218) with 83.9% (n=183) recordings validated, followed sharks (7.7% n=19), with 33.3% (n= 6) recordingsvalidated,andrecentlyadded, batoids (4.0%, n=10), with 80% (n= 8) validated.

Poster Presentations

SESSION 6: Outreach, Conservation & Management

"CARAPACE RACE”: SNEAKING AWARENESS &AND INFORMATION INTO PURE ENJOYMENT

StamatiouA.1,2

1, MEDASSET; 2, Chios Nature

This poster introduces "CARAPACE RACE", a new and highly interactive game developed for use in either outreach educational work or at facilities such as aquaria or rescue centres that host school groups.Using a large, (2m x 2.5m) playing matandacastof3Dcharacters,playersmust each help' their' turtle avoid threats,findfoodandgrowassheprogresses along the pathway of her life cycle. Each loggerhead will encounter dangers and opportunities, finally arriving at a nesting beachasanadulttolayherowneggs.Turtles gain or lose ping pong ball 'eggs' along the way and the Winner is whichever turtle has the most with her when she reaches the nesting beach!The concept provides for an adult leader or 'animateur' who adjudicates disputes, explains the way things work, and maintains order - because in the battle to collect more eggs or place a threat in an opponent's path, young players can get abitover-excited!42different"Chance Cards"provide opportunities to affect the outcome of the game while dropping nuggets of additional knowledge about sea turtles into the experience. (We like to think of this as "stealthlearning").The physical engagement the game offers is an important element of it. Players get to handle not only their own sea turtle but also a ghost crab, seagull, shark, octopus, hermit crab, jellyfish, and squid. They will also see some of the competing turtles become literally entangled in fishing gear, making the experience very real. They'll have to make decisions about whether to use a precious 'Chance Card' to free a struggling turtle or let her carry on unaided. Suspense and the power to influence outcomes engages the emotions, resulting in a thoroughly memorable experience. MEDASSET launched the game in Greece in 2018 and continues to use it during its educational outreach work. Our poster will fully illustrate it in use and provide images of someofitsdetails.

1. ORIGINS

SEALLY©: LEVERAGING THE POWER OF APPS TO STRENGTHEN CONSERVATION

Amerssa Tsirigoti1 Eleana Touloupaki1 , Ioannis Giovos2, Roxanne Naasan2, Vicky Rae1

Considering the vastness of the ocean, the heterogeneity of habitats and species, the limited economic and human resources hinder the collection of all the data required to carry out marine science research, the contribution of Citizen Science is highly valued within marine research Marine Citizen Science is especially helpful in answering questions that have a large spatial or temporal scope such as mapping and monitoring species ranges across extensive geographic areas

3. USE

SEAlly© is available on android & iOS and users are able to download it for free The easy-to-use and interactive design of the application enables the user to input information and data about the geographic location of sea turtle, shark and since 2021 batoid sightings, their species, the condition in which they were found or other specific features, such as gender, size and behaviour of the individual Species lists refer to the Mediterranean sea, yet the application is functional for global recordings All recording are validated by the SEAlly© team before being uploaded and displayed, so that they are true and precise Furthermore, the application allows the use of the mobile’s camera to instantly capture images of the observations In addition, the user has the ability to view other users’ records apart from his or her own It is currently available in 4 languages; English, Greek, Turkish and Arabic

2. AIM

SEAlly© is a mobile application launched in 2019 by MEDASSET-Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles, in cooperation with iSea, to actively involve and engage citizens

The application aims to collect data which will enhance existing knowledge about sea turtles, sharks and/ or batoids, can be combined with other datasets and be incorporated into maps

Multi-taxa approach – A Comparative Advantage!

SEAlly© is the first mobile application, which allows multi-taxa recording thus provide valuable primary data Sea turtles, sharks and batoids have long lifespans, slow growth rates and migrate large distances Thus, data collection through this application will increase the scientific knowledge about sea turtles, sharks batoids

Types of Users

Fishers, port authorities, divers, sailing community and all sea lovers are able to record sea turtle and/or shark sightings in the Mediterranean Sea

4. INTEGRATED TOOL

Not just a citizen science reporting app BUT an integrated tool, as it offers important information about sea turtles:

“Sea Turtle Handling Guide for Fishers” regarding practical advice for incidentally caught individuals

The interactive “Sea Turtle Rescue Map” regarding all known rescue facilities in the Mediterranean for injured individuals

Statistical data extracted from the app’s backend system database Majority of recordings from the Mediterranean region, but some recordings reported from USA and Mexico

Charts indicate the type of users, the recordings per taxa and sea turtle recordings in detail

In total, 309 users have registered accounts in the app and recorded 245 observations So far, 179 sea turtle recordings have been validated and are displayed, where as 35 recordings failed to meet the criteria and hence assessed as non reliable The latter observations are kept and stored in the backend database

Sea Turtle observations are by far more recorded than Sharks and Batoids This is probably because of the low population density and the special life history strategy of sharks

Sea Turtle recordings show an increasing trend between 2018-2019 with highest frequency occurring during spring and summer months This is due to three reasons:

1. The application was launched in 2019, thus it is more possible to receive current and most recent recordings than historical ones (the oldest one concerns the year of 2014);

2. The human presence near or in the water increases during spring and summer, which coincides with sea turtle behaviour in coastal waters because of mating and nesting Increases of beach users within these months are so more likely to record any dead stranded individuals;

3. The number of people that use smartphone has increased during the last years, so more people are able to make use of citizen science applications Furthermore, increases in awareness about sea turtles and citizen science is a key factor

NOTES

SEAlly© is an ongoing project and all results presented in this poster are up to the date this poster was created, September

Acknowledgments

SEAlly© was developed through the financial programme of the Greek Ministry of Environment “Green Fund” and the support of Softweb Thanks to all users of SEAlly© for their participation and support ‘environmental art warrior’ Memuco (aka Guillermo Munro) for the sea turtle graphics used in the application and Selini Kyriazidou, Mobile Developer at Softweb, for her continuous support of the app’s maintenance