CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. (June 4, 2025) – UF/IFAS Extension Florida Sea Grant Charlotte County is recruiting volunteers for the 2025 season of its Eyes on Seagrass citizen science program. This initiative invites community members to play a direct role in monitoring the health of critical seagrass habitats within the Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves and expanding into Lee County.
The Eyes on Seagrass program, operational in Charlotte County since 2019 and expanded to Lee County in 2024 through a collaboration spearheaded by the Calusa Waterkeepers, trains volunteers to collect data essential for environmental health assessments. This summer marks the second that volunteers will be asked to monitor sites which will shortly thereafter monitored by professional staff from the Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves. This will allow for direct comparison of volunteer-collected data with professional data, significantly increasing the validation and credibility of the citizen science efforts within the scientific community.
Participation is free and equipment required for complete monitoring will be provided. Participants typically form teams of at least three people and are responsible for their own transportation to monitoring sites, which can be accessed by boat, kayak, canoe, or paddleboard.
New volunteers are required to attend in-person training to learn the monitoring protocols. An in-person training session for Summer 2025 surveys is scheduled for 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Saturday, June 28 at the Centennial Park Recreation Center located at 1120 Centennial Blvd., in Port Charlotte. An online training option is available for repeat volunteers or those unable to attend in-person sessions. While individuals are welcome to attend training, placement on a sampling team for monitoring is not guaranteed.
For more information on the Eyes on Seagrass program, contact Kate Rose at 941-764-4346, kate.rose0210@ufl.edu or visit https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/charlotte/sea-grant/.