For my Shark Chat topic I would like to speak about citizen science and how people, regardless of age, major, or qualification can participate and become citizen scientists themselves. Citizen science is when local residents contribute to data collection of their environment without having to be actual scientists. I first learned about citizen science through Key Biscayne's Citizen Scientist Project, which is a non-profit organization that promotes citizen science among the community with free lectures that focus on a variety of scientific topics, beach cleanups, waters testing events, and youth fishing clinics. Through my internship with them, I have experienced first hand why citizen science is so important to environmental sustainability.
