June 2, 2025 — A new publication authored by NOAA Fisheries scientists is taking a closer look at the role of citizen science in informing fisheries stock assessments. The research reveals that while citizen science does sometimes inform NOAA Fisheries stock assessments, there is a great deal of potential to expand this use. The authors also outline data gaps that could benefit from citizen data and provide recommendations to increase the likelihood of citizen scientists’ data being incorporated into assessments.
Citizen Science Plays an Important Role
A citizen scientist is a volunteer who participates in one or more aspects of the scientific process, such as data collection. Citizen scientists have a long history of important contributions to marine science. For decades, they have collected information on water quality, marine mammal sightings, and fish size and health, all of which contributes to effective marine resource management.
Stock assessments are the scientific processes that we use to estimate the population sizes of fish and other marine organisms. They help us to evaluate the impacts of fishing on these populations and develop management strategies that support sustainable fisheries. The authors of this new publication were interested in examining the role of citizen science in NOAA’s mission to produce stock assessments for management.
“A common question we receive, often from members of the fishing community, is ‘How can NOAA Fisheries use our information, in particular to inform assessments?’” says co-author and scientist Laura Oremland. “To best answer that question, we needed to understand the big picture. We started by investigating whether citizen science had been used in assessments and, if so, what the common elements of successful projects were.”
Current Uses of Citizen Science in Stock Assessments
The paper’s authors used multiple methods to better understand how NOAA Fisheries and similar agencies are currently incorporating citizen science into stock assessments. One method was a survey of NOAA Fisheries stock assessment scientists about the current and potential uses of citizen science. Of the 35 stock assessment scientists that the authors surveyed:
- 28.6 percent directly incorporated citizen science data directly into an assessment or intended to do so in the next assessment
- 14.3 percent used citizen science data to inform assessment or management decisions, but did not directly incorporate data into assessments
- 11.4 percent considered using citizen science data, but ultimately did not incorporate
- 45.7 percent had not considered using citizen science data
All methodologies demonstrated that there is minimal direct incorporation of citizen science data into U.S. stock assessments. The authors also found that data collected through fish tagging programs had the broadest utility for stock assessments. These data help to define stock boundaries, estimate growth, and document fish habitat preferences.
“The primary mechanism through which we’re seeing citizen science contribute to stock assessments is through the support of fish tagging efforts,” notes Jeffrey Vieser, co-author and data product manager for ECS in support of NOAA Fisheries. “But that’s challenging, because citizens’ contributions require that they land a tagged fish. It’s almost like asking them to win the lottery in order to contribute.”