Anne Linja

App: Collect eelgrass sampling data.

Seagrasses, such as eelgrass, can be used to signify estuary health. According to scientific studies, they enhance biodiversity, attenuate wave energy, stabilize sediments, sequester carbon and nutrients, oxygenate sediments and filter the water column; eelgrass is an integral part of coastal habitat, as it provides shelter and forage for many marine fish species. Massachusetts Bays National Estuary Program (MassBays), local experts, and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheriess (MA DMF) has teamed up to develop a protocol (see Appendix A) to track the perceivably declining population of eelgrass. The application we've been to create is part of a comprehensive effort to collect data that will supplement mapping programs and enhance understanding of the embayment.

As outlined in "Eelgrass Monitoring: Development of a Citizen Scientist Monitoring Method" (Carr, 2018) would like to proceed to the next phase of data collection, an app where data collectors would find a simple interface with which to enter the data.