Request for submissions: Atlas of community and citizen science initiatives contributing to marine mammal research

We are working to collate all examples of ways citizen and community scientists have contributed to marine mammal research globally, and are collating this into an interactive map and a peer review publication. The aim of the ‘atlas’ is to showcase the variety of ways citizen science contributes to our understanding of many species of marine mammals, to inspire other projects/help find similar projects, to let us learn about the variety of work going on for each species etc. Further, a secondary purpose of the map might be for travellers to use when visiting new places, to find and read more about projects that are occurring locally (and perhaps understand how they can contribute at a local level e.g. submitting sightings).

We have developed an interactive map to show the examples collated so far (link: https://bit.ly/CitSciMap  Atlas of Citizen Science Contributions to Marine Mammal Science – Google My Maps). The examples mapped already have been collated through a systematic mapping process (conducted in April 2025) and via a workshop, held in May 2025 at the European Cetacean Society. We expect there are still MANY projects missing from the map, and so we now ask the global marine mammal community to help us build the atlas, by submitting any further examples of projects or ways citizen scientists contribute to marine mammal research, so they can be included in the final map!

You can submit examples by emailing Emily Hague (emily.hague@uhi.ac.uk) with information on the project(s) to be included. Where possible, please include title, short description, location, URL and species of focus. Please send your submissions by 31^st July 2025. Also, if you spot a project on the map and would like to edit the information shown (e.g. description) please feel free to reach out with the preferred information. Following submissions, the current map will be updated, and the final map will be published hopefully later this year, within an open access peer reviewed publication. By submitting examples, you agree for them to be featured in the maps and publication.

Note, the interactive map linked here is a working draft (and therefore should not be used or cited) and is just presented for illustrative purposes to show progress so far and help you identify missing projects that are not yet featured.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, or submissions. No project is too big or small to be featured!