On the 2nd of May, BioMARatona marked the start of their third edition with a webinar titled How BioMARatona works. The event took place in the evening and was entirely online and free to access. Its main insights were to introduce what the project is and how participants can easily upload their observations and share them with the broader citizen science community  on the MINKA observatory. 

BioMARatona is an initiative in Northern Portugal, part of the ANERIS project, that aims to include citizen scientists in monitoring marine and coastal biodiversity. It organises friendly competitions between the participants to encourage active collaboration in scientific research and set goals for achievement (e.g., max species observation). You can find out more on what BioMARatona is on their website here. 

The project gives the chance to citizen scientists to explore and document marine and coastal biodiversity, as well as join a community of enthusiastic and adventurous observers. Organising a BioMARatona normally takes place between May and mid-October each year and it starts simply by signing up to the MINKA app (Apple Store/Google Play). Read more on how to organise your own BioMARatona here.  

The online webinar created an educative and encouraging environment for citizen scientists by giving them detailed information on what BioMARatona is and how to get the most from the events. Learn more about the project and how to take part on their website.

The full webinar is streamed on ANERIS’ YouTube channel. Follow the link here to watch it.