Landings monitoring

What is ‘landings’ monitoring?

In order to protect seahorses, we need to know how and where different species are being caught, as well as how the number of seahorses being caught is changing over time.

‘Landings’ surveys involve interviewing fishers, wholesalers, retailers, and others at ports, docks, and markets — any place where fish are landed. They can be done as a standalone initiative or as part of ongoing work for other species.

Who can help?

We’re looking for people with a basic knowledge of local fisheries, such as researchers, government officers, conservation groups, and fishers.

If you don't have a fisheries background but want to help out, consider becoming a seahorse population trends monitor.

How do I get involved?

1. Get in touch. Tell us a little bit about yourself — where you’re based, your scientific background (if you have one), where and how often you’d like to do seahorse monitoring. Feel free to ask questions, too.
2. Download the iSeahorse Landings Toolkit. The toolkit has everything you need to get started, including important technical information about choosing a survey site, surveying seahorse populations, identifying individual species, measuring for survey “effort,” and recording your data.
3. Enter your data into the Landings site and survey datasheets. (They're also included in Appendix A and B of the toolkit.)
4. Submit your data to iSeahorse via this spreadsheet [link coming soon]. We will be launching a web tool and smartphone app to make uploading your seahorse landings data as easy as possible, but for now you’ll need to submit your completed datasheets to iseahorse@projectseahorse.org.

IMPORTANT: To ensure data accuracy, please make sure to read through all of the toolkit components before you start any seahorse surveys. Also note that the toolkit and supporting material are updated and expanded on a regular basis, so please check back for new versions, and contact us with any suggestions for improvement. We want to hear from you!