Openness and in particular, co-created research, challenges traditional scientific practice, institutions and power-relations. Co-creation allows stakeholders to have an equitable stake in the research and is more likely to lead to evidence-based policymaking when policymakers are involved. Our authorship team is comprised of academic researchers, industry partners, marine managers, policymakers and citizen scientists. DNA Divers is a citizen science project engaging with volunteer scuba divers to collect environmental DNA (eDNA), producing molecular data of coastal UK fish communities. We established partnerships with Seasearch, which has an extensive volunteer network who have been performing traditional visual surveys of the UK coastline for over 30 years, and have successfully generated data used in special areas of conservation (SACs) reporting. DNA Diver volunteers sampled eDNA using a novel low-fuss sampling strategy; by deploying ‘metaprobes’, 3-D printed hollow spherical probes filled with gauze designed to collect trace DNA. Concurrently, they made Seasearch observations and we now have the first ever (to our knowledge) data overlapping molecular eDNA with Seasearch visual census reports. Co-creation of this project with multiple stakeholders has paved a foundation for the future of marine biodiversity monitoring in the UK.

Primary Presenter: Erika Neave, Liverpool John Moores University (e.f.neave@ljmu.ac.uk)

Authors:

Erika Neave, Liverpool John Moores University  (e.f.neave@ljmu.ac.uk)

Karen Boswarva,   ()

Fiona Crouch,   ()

Bob Halton,   ()

Sarah Meek,   ()

Wendy Northway,   ()

Natasha Yates,   ()

Peter Shum, Liverpool John Moores University  (p.shum@ljmu.ac.uk)

Stefano Mariani, Liverpool John Moores University  (s.mariani@ljmu.ac.uk)