Marine Metre Squared is a new nationwide citizen science project that supports and involves communities in the monitoring of their local seashore .
The project has been designed to provide meaningful, valid environmental baseline data on the state of seashores around New Zealand. It will enable us to not only take a snapshot of seashore biodiversity, but to form a baseline against which future change may be measured.
The aims of the Marine Meter Squared project are for participants to:
learn more about the animals and plants that live between the tides around New Zealand
collect valuable scientific information that will help build a picture of the biodiversity, distribution and abundance of seashore animals and plants in New Zealand’s marine environment
monitor change in this habitat over time and investigate what might be causing the change
make connections between scientists, educators, schools and community/Iwi groups who care about their local seashore environment and want to look after it.
The NZ Marine Studies Centre, University of Otago, is encouraging everyone to participate in long term monitoring of their marine environment – the Marine Metre Squared. Anyone can take part – individuals, families, schools and community groups.
Here you can find everything you need to get involved in this exciting nationwide Citizen Science project, start surveying your local seashore, and find out where plants and animals that live between the tides are found around New Zealand.
Take a moment to join the Marine Meter Squared project – it's easy and free.
As a registered member you can get full access to our online MM2 database where you can add your own survey data to show others what’s living between the tides on your local shore, and compare your shore with others in New Zealand to find out which species live where using our simple mapping and analysis tools.
Registered members can also join our online community where you can connect with other members of the MM2 network, get help with species identification, take part in new projects and challenges and suggest mini-projects of your own.