Citizen Science: Involving local communities and citizens into marine mammal research and conservation using mobile App in Cameroon

There are very limited available data on marine mammals in Cameroon as aquatic research requires enormous resources and skills which are absent in most low income countries. Without an effective monitoring system the... [ view full abstract ]

There are very limited available data on marine mammals in Cameroon as aquatic research requires enormous resources and skills which are absent in most low income countries. Without an effective monitoring system the populations might go under a stealthy extinction. In our first attempt to cost effectively address the data scarcity, we established in 2012 the Siren network of about 30 fishermen along the Cameroon coast that has been successfully reporting on marine mammal sightings and carcasses using datasheets and phone calls. However this report system was time consuming and bore less accuracy and details as it did not provide ways for reporting on GPS locations, time, dates and eventual pictures for identification purposes. The objective of Siren App is to empower fishermen to easily and quickly collect more accurate data including Date, time, GPS location, species photo, species name, number seen, habitat, behavior, animal life status, weather status and effort and remotely send them over a server to be automatically analyzed and shared for view with public and decision makers on our interactive web map         (http://www.ammco.org/index.php/template/add_sighting) as soon as the user’s phone is connected to internet. Smartphones with integrated Siren App were distributed to 20 fishermen. To date, more than 300 sightings including several species of whales, dolphins, marine turtles and sharks and ray has been clearly reported in Cameroon using SIREN App. Confirmed collected data will provide reliable information on the distribution and trends of the populations. Furthermore, identified hotspots will be used for ecotourism and education purposes.