BeachCOMBERS 20 Year Report (Living Document)

The Coastal Ocean Mammal and Bird Education and Research Surveys (BeachCOMBERS) program was created in 1997 with the objective to train citizen scientists to collect standardized scientific data within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS). Since then, this citizen science program has greatly expanded: we have trained and coordinated more than 150 volunteers to monitor human and natural impacts to coastal wildlife by documenting the deposition of marine birds, mammals, and sea turtles from as far north as Santa Cruz County to as far south as Los Angeles County.

With the completion of 20 years of survey data and additional surveyed beaches added,our goal was to reexamine trends over the geographic entirety of the program and to examine baseline data for the added survey areas (Santa Barbara through Los Angeles counties). Here, our objective is to provide an overview of carcass deposition trends, to identify species die-offs, examine oiled carcass baselines, and discuss the success of our citizen science program. Detailed review of entanglements, harmful algal bloom events, oiled birds and other events will be added to this report as supplementary scientific publications from our investigators and collaborators as they are produced and become available.