Lloyd Center to hold SEANET Volunteer Workshop Saturday, November 2

Dartmouth, MA- The Lloyd Center for the Environment is seeking volunteers to join the SEANET (Seabird Ecological Assessment Network) program which involves using patterns of beached bird deposition along coastal shorelines to help detect the impact to our shores, seabird life, and the offshore marine environment. If you are a casual environmentalist, avid birder, and/or simply enjoy walking the beach and want to use your time to help provide important information for use in various marine initiatives, then this project could be for you. 

research-seanetA volunteer training workshop will be held at the Lloyd Center’s Bond House located at 430 Potomska Road in Dartmouth on Saturday, November 2 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. The workshop will feature an indoor session and weather permitting, a beach walk where attendees will put their knowledge to use. Volunteers will leave the workshop with a site, materials and the background information needed to start surveying. 

Volunteers will conduct monthly surveys for both beached and live birds at their site of choice and collect basic environment conditions data during their walks. When volunteers find beached birds, they will take measurements and photographs, mark the specimens, and document other findings from the walk. 

The Lloyd Center’s Buzzards Bay volunteers remain, historically, the most longstanding network in SEANET’s history. They currently seek new volunteers living near or frequently visiting any walkable shoreline (existing volunteers also urged to attend) in the Buzzards Bay region (Westport to Wareham), beach vacancies exist throughout the region.

Requirements are willingness to walk a beach a minimum of two times per month, collect data according to the protocol that will be presented at the workshop, and commit to the project for at least one year. See SEANET information for further details about the program with links to a variety of SEANET related information.

Participants should wear layered clothing and footwear suitable for beach walking, bring a lunch, and if available, binoculars and a camera (digital preferred). Pre-register online or call the Center’s event line at 508-558-2918. Pre-registration is required by Friday, November 1, 12:00 pm. Space is limited to 20. 

If you have specific questions regarding the program, please contact Jamie Bogart at 508-990-0505 ext. 23 or jbogart@lloydcenter.org.

 

Contact: JoAnn Bernier Cornell, Director of Communications, jcornell@lloydcenter.org