Nelson Natalie G, Ardón Marcelo, Ben-Horin Tal, Herbst Eric, Knollenberg Whitney, Menchú-Maldonado María, Osburn Christopher L
Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7625, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
Environ Monit Assess. 2025 Sep 11;197(10):1109. doi: 10.1007/s10661-025-14560-y.
Aquatic monitoring of estuarine and coastal waters remains limited due to steep maintenance requirements for in situ hardware stemming from rapid biofouling and harsh environmental conditions. Monitoring sites will also ideally span a mix of shoreline and open water locations, and the need to travel to remote locations can strain resources and limit the geographic footprint of coastal monitoring programs. To overcome these limitations, we explored opportunities to partner with aquatic industry professionals who work on the water and may be able to incorporate routine site visits for sensor maintenance as part of their day-to-day routines. We specifically focused on collaborating with oyster growers to collect continuous salinity and water level observations on their farms, as part of a community-enabled monitoring program we named "See Salt." In this short communication, we present the See Salt program as a case study and provide recommendations for others who may be interested in establishing a similar community-supported coastal monitoring program. Our recommendations include the following: (1) establish multi-method evaluation strategies to gain insights on program improvement, (2) invest in hardware that can go long durations without recalibration and cleaning, and (3) provide participants with the equipment and training needed to maintain sensors and validate measurements on their own. While we focus on our experiences monitoring salinity and water levels with oyster growers, the recommendations are not specific or unique to these variables or this partner population; our findings are broadly applicable to aquatic monitoring performed in partnership with non-academic professionals.
由于快速生物污损和恶劣环境条件导致原位硬件维护要求高昂，河口和沿海水域的水生监测仍然有限。监测地点理想情况下还应涵盖海岸线和开阔水域的混合区域，而前往偏远地点的需求可能会耗尽资源并限制沿海监测项目的地理覆盖范围。为了克服这些限制，我们探索了与水上作业的水产行业专业人员合作的机会，他们或许能够将传感器维护的例行现场访问纳入日常工作中。我们特别专注于与牡蛎养殖者合作，在他们的养殖场收集连续的盐度和水位观测数据，这是我们命名为“See Salt”的社区支持监测项目的一部分。在这篇简短的通讯中，我们将“See Salt”项目作为一个案例研究进行介绍，并为其他可能有兴趣建立类似的社区支持沿海监测项目的人提供建议。我们的建议包括：（1）建立多方法评估策略以深入了解项目改进情况；（2）投资无需频繁重新校准和清洁就能长期运行的硬件；（3）为参与者提供自行维护传感器和验证测量所需的设备和培训。虽然我们专注于与牡蛎养殖者一起监测盐度和水位的经验，但这些建议并非特定于这些变量或这个合作伙伴群体；我们的发现广泛适用于与非学术专业人员合作进行的水生监测。
