There’s a heated debate ensuing on the deck of Freeranger. The point in question is whether we should be using ‘the big’ or ‘the small’ weight to maximise our chance of success. Around us other boats aren’t waiting around. Bobbing away in the midday sun, whoops of glee and calls of “fish on” can be heard as everyone makes the most of the newly opened Coho season. The fish are biting. The FOMO is real. But we’re not there for the fish. We’re figuring out how to take a depth reading for the Secchi Disk citizen science project – a study of phytoplankton changes in the world’s oceans – and our Secchi Disk won’t sink properly thanks to the current.

“We could just get fishing and tell the Department of Fisheries about the size of anything we catch for their study instead” says our seven-year-old eyeing up his rod and lucky lure hopefully. But conditions are otherwise perfect, and we’re keen to take our first Secchi depth reading as one of many citizen science projects we’ll be contributing to on our world voyage.

Duncan deploys the Secchi Disk from the deck of Freeranger to take a Secchi Depth reading. The depth the white disc disappears from sight between 10-14h on a sunny day is submitted via the secchi disk app.

Our family of four set sail this summer from Oak Bay, Victoria, BC to go cruising. Our plans – shall we say, dreams – to go offshore have been something of a lifetime in the making. But it was in 2022 that they came to life in all earnest with the purchase of Freeranger, our Beneteau 50 Celebration (2005) sailboat.

Freeranger at Pender Island, B.C.

Our motivation to set sail at first was for the adventure. We wanted to: roam the one ocean that connects us all, powered by the wind and curiosity; respectfully and responsibly visit people and places around the world; learn about cultures; experience raw nature; and immerse ourselves, and our kids, in the highs and lows of firsthand experiences that come when you step outside your comfort zone.

But over the years as we went about our careers which have been focused at the ‘pointy-end’ of environmental justice, marine resource management and conservation communications, it seemed clear that beyond having a great adventure we have an opportunity to journey with purpose and to use the privilege of time spent on and by the water to contribute towards what UNESCO describes as the ‘ocean we need for the future we want’.

Duncan, Skye-Elizabeth, Larissa and Eden @thefreerangecrew on instagram – aboard Freeranger in English Bay, Vancouver

​We won’t dive into the myriad of problems impacting ocean health, except to acknowledge that our ocean is vast and to study it, to close knowledge gaps and try to better understand it so effective solutions can be pinpointed, is an enormous, expensive and difficult task.

Professional scientists and researchers can collect and analyse vast amounts of data. But they are limited by time, funding, and manpower. Yet this knowledge is essential in illuminating “the way to reversing the decline in ocean health, conserving marine life, addressing ocean aspects of climate change and using the ocean sustainably to improve people’s lives” according to the 2022 UNESCO State of the Ocean report.

It got us thinking.

It’s easy to wonder if one is too small to make a difference when faced with the scale of the task at hand. But as they say, many hands make light work, and given there’s an estimated 30 million recreational boats around the world, well, that’s some serious people power.

From inshore fishers to offshore cruisers, boaters are regularly in places that researchers and new tech innovators dream of reaching. This means there’s a great opportunity for boaters to act as ‘citizen scientists’ and contribute to the studies of professional scientists by collecting or analysing data relating to the natural world.

Whether you’re a boater sampling seawater for plankton while sailing offshore, a family using beach time to survey for invasive species, an inshore fisher reporting on kelp forest health, or an adventure tourist sharing whale photos of your sightings, there are plenty of projects to get involved in.

A humpback whale on the south side of Malcolm Island. One of many cetacean sightings the Freeranger crew have enjoyed reported to the Ocean Wise’s Sighting Network using the free WhaleReport app to support important conservation-based research.

But where to start!?

We know from our own experience of participating in citizen science projects over the years the first hurdle to overcome is finding a project of interest. With that in mind, we’ve set up a not-for-profit organisation called Free Range Ocean and we plan to use it to inform, inspire and enable others to have their own positive impact on our ocean with an ‘everyone, and every action counts’ philosophy.

Check out the free directory of ocean focused citizen science projects we’ve developed, which you will find on our website. We’ve created lots of filters to help you find projects to take part in online (remotely from anywhere), at the coast, inshore and offshore. There are family friendly projects, local projects, global projects, one-time only and as-much-as-you-can projects. Some need specific skills like diving and others are accessible to anyone with a smart phone.

Left: Eden on a dingy mission to to look for critters and eel grass inspired by BCA member Dr Elaine Humphrey of University Victoria who invited him to send in samples and later join her on zoom to examine and document them using a remote Hitachi tabletop scanning electron microscope (SEM) in an exciting interactive educational zoom session from aboard Freeranger; Bottom right: Skye-Elizabeth on lookout duty for wildlife and marine mammals; Top right: Enjoying cruising life in Laura Cove, Desolation Sound summer 2024

Citizen science makes a difference.

In November, while out cruising in the Gulf Islands we submitted a harbour porpoise sighting to the Ocean Wise Sightings database and WhaleReport App. It only took a minute to do. We heard from the North Coast Coordinator soon after to let us know that our sighting would be added to a database of 330,000 sightings.

These database entries are used not only by their own organisation, but with other agencies, universities, environmental organisations and conservation-research projects. The sightings are analysed to better understand the abundance, distribution, and habitat use of B.C.’s cetaceans. The observers who make reports are the researchers’ “eyes on the water” and help to shed light on cetacean and sea turtle species in the Salish Sea. Plus, the sightings are made available in real time to commercial mariners so they can take mitigation measures to avoid collision and disturbance.

Then we were told, “Much of this data would not be recorded without our valuable observers”, which made us feel pretty good.

Indeed, it was motivating to keep in mind this summer as we figured out which weight would be best to attach to our Secchi Disk. I’m happy to report we worked it out; it wasn’t rocket-science after all.

Many citizen science projects are family-friendly like the Secchi Disk study which has an engaging free app to submit results!

Perhaps you could give it or another project a try, too?

Next time you’re heading out on the water, or down at the beach, check out the project directory and have a think about how you could contribute to a citizen science initiative, because every action counts. We’re adding to the directory daily so if you come across similar projects that aren’t yet included, no matter where they are in the world, please do share them with us so we can add them.

And remember, “If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve never been to bed with a mosquito!” – Dalai Lama

Cruising Plans for Freeranger

We’ve been cruising in Broughton Archipelago Marine Park, B.C., this summer and will be sailing around the north end of Vancouver Island to Ucluelet. We’ll depart from Ucluelet after September 8, whenever the weather is best for heading to San Francisco. The plan is to cruise California until November 4 then depart from San Diego with the Baja Ha-Ha until we reach Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Mexico and Central America will be our cruising grounds from December to March, and April should find us starting our trans-Pacific journey. You can contact us here, and for behind-the-scenes life on board see Instagram @thefreerangecrew.