ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A federal wildlife agency studying the Steller sea lion decline in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands is looking for help from citizen scientists. Volunteers don’t need raincoats or rubber boots to pitch in, just eyeballs and a computer screen.
Fisheries researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration want them to sort through 500,000 images captured by 20 cameras at six remote sites. The job is simple: Flag photos that show sea lions.
NOAA Fisheries biologist Katie Sweeney is specifically looking for 256 Steller sea lions captured starting in 2011 that were permanently marked by branding, allowing them to track movement patterns. The image sorting tells researchers which photos are most important to review.
“If we see these animals over time, we can estimate their survival,” Sweeney said from her office at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.
Steller sea lions are the largest members of the eared seal family. An average adult male grows to nearly 11 feet and more than 1,200 pounds. Adult females average almost nine feet long and weigh about 580 pounds, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.