The Adopt-A-Beach program is a new initiative led by CPAWS-NL and aimed to recruit volunteers as Stewards in key communities to monitor birds washing up on their local beaches on a weekly basis.
Beached bird surveys are a valuable tool to monitor various sources of mortality occurring in the marine environment, which can otherwise be difficult to assess. They provide information on mortality occurring in the offshore marine environment, such as:
Having volunteers monitor local beaches will increase public awareness and appreciation of these types of surveys, birds as an indicator species, the marine environment, oil pollution, etc. Awareness will lead to public support and ownership for local beach surveys and will result in volunteer stewards providing valuable high quality data on beached birds.
The data collected will be used to provide scientific-based information that will help with management decisions at various levels. Monitoring mortality rates is critical in ensuring our marine environment and its resources are health, sustainable and available for future generations.
Interested participants will be provided with survey kits and trained by a Wildlife Biologist from Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service.
Never miss your chance to make a difference! Enter your e-mail address here to get CPAWS news and actions delivered right to your inbox.