The Ocean Research and Conservation Association just recruited 14 new volunteer citizen scientists to help with its mission to identify sources of pollution entering the Indian River Lagoon and stop the pollution before it gets there.
Ranging from retirees to elementary school students living in Vero Beach, Sebastian, Fort Pierce and beyond, the new recruits got an overview last week of the five lagoon-centric projects the environmental nonprofit has undertaken and learned how they can contribute to applied science aimed at restoring the ailing waterway.
At an orientation meeting at ORCA’s citizen science center near Vero Beach Airport, Missy Weiss – director of citizen science and education – encouraged attendees to get involved with whatever they’re most interested in such as field work, lab testing or data entry, and then sign up for training sessions.
“We are a solution-based organization,” Weiss said of ORCA. “We want to be able to empower you and arm you with the things you can do to physically make a difference. You don’t have to have a science background. What are you most drawn to? What is your level of engagement?”
The five projects where ORCA needs help, Weiss explained, are mapping pollution in the lagoon and adjacent waterways; constructing and monitoring living shorelines made of vegetation and fossilized shells to slow erosion; collecting and testing fish to determine if toxins are making their way from fish to people who eat them; deploying oysters in cages as sentinels and analyzing them for toxicity; and participating in “A Day in the Life of the Lagoon” – a one-day science blitz conducted along the 156-mile length of the estuary by students in five counties.
Weiss said citizen scientists might be asked “to collect sediments, take water samples and measure muck depth. You could catch and donate fish, or process those fish to collect tissues and organs, or do lab analysis on the fish – looking for toxins, pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals.”
Volunteering, she said, comes with a commitment: “A big part of this is consistency. I need to rely on you.”
Imagine South Vero charter school fifth-grader Allie Grace eagerly signed up with her mom Katrina Collins.
“I’m interested in the lab,” Allie Grace said. “I want to dissect the fish.”
Fort Pierce resident Katie Davis and her fifth-grade daughter Isabelle likewise are interested in collecting and dissecting fish.
“We live 100 yards from the river and we’re in the river all the time,” Katie Davis said. “We’re heavily invested in the health of the environment we live in.”
