The Green Scientist

Another couple of busy days with the Beluga Bits project, but I wanted to talk about the public outreach of the project before diving into my time ‘on’ the Beluga Boat! The experience as a citizen scientist and other users is very easy, interesting, and so much fun! Both through Zooniverse and the Explore sites, you can learn about when the boats are going out in Hudson Bay to collect your snapshots, ensure the boat is going out in the comment section, and ask any questions there also. The project is advertised through these sites, as well as on the parent organization of Polar Bears International . While the information on the Polar Bear International site is years old, it is still relevant and informative. They also have posted some information on their Facebook page. However, with social media having such an impact, I think they could reach a lot more participants this way, either through a designated Beluga Bits page or including more information about the project and beluga season...

This was a busy week for me with the Beluga Bits project! Image I really liked taken from the presentation about Beluga Bits. On July 21st, I participated in a Beluga boat ride collecting snapshots of the belugas we encountered. Due to the time difference, it started at 6am. Captain Kieran talked a little in the beginning but it was mostly just a nice boat ride. The underwater camera was still difficult to see any whales, so I mostly watched on the above deck camera. The captain mentioned that the harbor was pretty quiet, he saw only one other boat, so it was interesting to see very little boat traffic out. He added that at this time, there are tours and state agencies out on the water watching for belugas and conducting other research data. Finally, almost returning to the dock, did we see some belugas! They didn’t stay around the slow trolling boat long and so the trip ended just shy of 2 hours. There were about 20 other people watching the ride with me this morning and while we were...

The Beluga Bits project has a very user-friendly design. You can either visit their page through the Zooniverse website and ‘CLASSIFY’ the previously taken snapshots from other citizen scientists. There, the data you are submitting is specific to still snapshots, identifying if there are beluga whales, and if so, if you are clearly able to see the underside of the whale(s), (specifically the genital area), lastly answering if there are any of the beluga have any major wounds or identifiable marks. In a recent discussion, it was asked about further identifying the sex or age class of the whales, it was determined these results were too difficult to decipher when giving them further evaluation. Currently, it is noted, they are working on an easier workflow to continue to classify the snapshots. While classifying these images, I find there are many more snapshots without belugas in them, so finding one with a whale is exciting! Despite the time it takes to go through the snapshots, I real...

Beluga whale season is underway and that means the real heart of the Beluga Bits project is underway! Over at explore.org the captain takes the beluga boat out on the Hudson Bay, weather permitting, to collect video footage of the whales and live streams the video for people to view. Beluga Bits provides the boat calendar so you can logon to watch the videos and capture pictures of the belugas (current calendar below). There are two cameras, one above the deck and a second underwater to watch for belugas. As a citizen scientist, I watch a camera and take ‘snapshots’ when I see a beluga to be further investigated. It has been fun and interesting to see the interest the whales have in the boat as it trolls the bay and learning from those on board. For instance, it was mentioned that the water in the underwater camera was very difficult to see the whales and the captain of the boat responded that the area had received a lot of rain recently and had stirred up the water. Good to know. I s...

Tomorrow is Arctic Sea Ice Day and the start of the beluga whale season in Hudson Bay! You can watch some of the celebrations here ! The Beluga Bits citizen science project is being conducted by a team of researchers, led by Dr. Stephen Petersen and C-Jae Breiter. Dr. Petersen is the head of Conservation and Research for the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Canada. His research concentrated around Arctic marine mammals and their relationship to their ecosystem. C-Jae also works at the Assiniboine Park Zoo and is a Research Conservation Specialist. She has been a member of the Beluga Bits research teach from Day 1, in 2016. Additionally, there are researchers involved with the project as well as the boat captain, who works with all the equipment needed for the underwater cameras. Without these people, this project would not be possible.  The graphic shows a little bit about what I (and my other fellow citizen scientists) will be doing as a part of Beluga Bits. The beluga boats go i...

After trying to decide on the best fit I could provide for my citizen science project, a little bug in my ear was reminding me about the fun I had and knowledge I gained from my summer internship with the Whale Center of New England. Most of my days would be spent on whale watching or research trips conducting marine mammal surveys and collecting data through photo identification and studying behaviors. We focused our efforts on humpback whales, fin whales, minke whales, white sided dolphins and right whales. I really enjoyed determining individual whales and taking note of others they were with along with the behaviors we were seeing in a group.  Image: Myself on a whale watching trip heading out to Stellwagen Bank in 2010 with the Whale Center of New England to take photos of individuals and record their behavior. Therefore, when I saw on Zooniverse a citizen science project using photo identification on beluga whales, called Beluga Bits, I jumped on it! Beluga Bits uses pictures...