What is stewardship? Stewardship refers to the position, duties and responsibilities of a steward.
For the purpose of Scuba-Eco, a steward is an active and concerned scuba diver who has no higher legal standing than other citizens, but has taken on the role of steward out of moral grounds and concerns for the underwater environment.
What do environmental stewards do?
- Data collection for statistics that can be used to build a case.
- Observing, recording and reporting violations of regulations concerning the underwater environment.
- Hands-on projects such as clean-ups, removal of ghost nets and so on.
- Educating the general public about the underwater environment.
- And much more.
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What is community science? Scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists.
For the purpose of Scuba-Eco a nonprofessional scientist is a curious diver who engages in the systematic collection and analysis of data. Where “normal science” is mainly interested in the final data-set and conclusions, community science is about the process. The goal is learning by doing.
What do nonprofessional scientists do?
- Formulate questions based on their curiosity.
- Study literature and internet to find out what is already known.
- Design a method to find data that could answer the formulated question.
- Implement the project and collect data.
- Inform others about the findings to increase environmental awareness.
- Learn throughout the entire project.
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Community Science - Nutrient loading
The nutrient loading program is designed to train divers in measurement of nutrient levels and to provide them with a platform to share their data with others around the world. Active involvement increases the understanding of the problem. With the awareness gained by participation in this program, divers can become true ambassadors for the local underwater realm and inform the local population and authorities on possible actions.
Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear is impacting marine life. These nets continue “fishing”. This is referred to as ghost fishing. The nets are referred to as ghost nets. Scuba divers can play an active role to reduce the impact by timely removal of the nets. Obviously it would be an advantage to go beyond the point of removing nets that were spotted by chance. The ideal would be if a team of divers could find a way for cooperation with local authorities and fisherman. If lost nets are reported, a timely removal becomes a possibility. Such cooperation was established by Peter and Kathy of Rendezvous Dive Adventures in Barkley Sound, Canada
