Capacity Building with Volunteers: Divers and Boaters Collect Data on Southern California Bight

Abstract

“The science we need for the ocean we want” (IOC, 2020) may be more science than we can afford unless we devise additional cost-​effective ways to produce it. Much of the science we need may require local knowledge and skills that are difficult to generate at scale. Global problems, such as ocean acidification, may be lessened by using site-specific solutions that require knowledge of local oceanography. Similarly, implementing solutions to local problems, such as pollution and fisheries sustainability, will require local knowledge and skills that cannot immediately be drawn from global capacity. Supplying the know-how for inexpensive staff and scientific gear to achieve these solutions may be part of capacity building and sharing in the UN Ocean Decade.