Beluga Bits - Project Design

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 really feel like I am making the researcher's job a little easier by narrowing down the belugas found for them and that is a great feeling. I am interested and excited to be able to further assist with the workflow when the opportunity arises. 

There are many aspects Beluga Bits is trying to cover with the data they are collecting with the snapshots and having the citizen scientists classify. 

• Social structure - Are the same groups of belugas always seen together? They are hoping the sex and age data will help to answer this question.

• Life history - Better understanding the beluga calving rate and estimate the rate of growth in the population; looking at wound or scar data to further investigate the threats belugas are facing; and looking into site fidelity and if individuals return to the same estuary (i.e. Churchill), then managing the population can be done. 

• Habitat use - GPS locations taken from the boat and linking those to the classified images will help determine if certain age class or sex prefer particular depth or substrate within the estuary.

On the Zooniverse Beluga Bits page, there is an area that discusses the results of the project thus far and how things have changed over the years, which you can read about here. This project started in 2016 and that first year over 7,300 snapshots were collected. The second year had a big increase in snapshots to over 9,600! The reasoning behind the increase is not mentioned but I can imagine outreach increased and becoming more comfortable with the equipment used to start the season off strong. In 2018, a delay in permits led to a late start and only over 5,000 snapshots collected. Last year, 2019 was a very exciting year as the first recaptured whale was collected! A snapshot of an adult male with a distinctive black dot pattern (potentially from a pox-virus type infection) was collected in 2016. That same individual was recaptured on a snapshot in July of 2019! This information is a direct result of citizen science at work for this project - identifying the return of an individual!

Image from Beluga Bits. 

In a recent update, Beluga Bits has over 5,500 citizen scientists with over 215,000 classifications for the 2016-2018 seasons! They are now able to grab snapshots from videos, 1 frame every 3 seconds, which provides many more opportunities for snapshots. With more images at different angles, better information for classification of the belugas can be made! It is so interesting to read how the project has progressed and adapted throughout the years since its inception. I think this image grabbing is an excellent adaptation that will provide more citizen scientists the opportunity to be involved in the project as well as increase the possibility of seeing those recapture snapshots of belugas returning to the area. 

I feel like this project is still relatively new and some of the questions by users are being answered by working through them. Right now, I wouldn’t change much of the current set-up, except I would have liked a more training-type activity or event prior to starting. I feel people may enjoy a video to learn about the data being collected, how they are helping, and the set-up of the cameras on the beluga boat. Additionally, it would be nice to make a connection to the researchers and captain. I think this would enhance the connectivity to the project and people may be more inclined to continue year after year. It also makes the project seem more personal when you can say you attended a training or even a Live video chat, to ask questions, feeling like you have the ability to really help with a project like this will further increase your emotional tie. That being said, they are having a Live chat this THURSDAY July 23rd at 3pm Central time about Beluga Bits and their data collection. I am excited to learn more about this project and if you’re interested, join me here for the event! 

Lastly, as previously mentioned, the data being collected is still in the collection phase and results may not be able to be applied to the estuary or population yet. However, I think the interest in the project is showing growth and hopefully in the coming years will be telling of the belugas. Right now, the general results are being shared on the Zooniverse site, but it is unclear where the results will be shared in the future. One of the lead researchers of the project is involved in answering questions written by those participating, which I find helpful to read and learn from. There is a lot of members who have previous years experience and seem to be very interested in assisting us that are newer and are unfamiliar with what we are seeing in the images, of which I am very thankful and appreciative of.