Who are Baywatchers?

Illustration: Daniel Vasconcellos

Baywatchers are volunteers that monitor water quality and long-term ecological trends in the Buzzards Bay’s harbors and coves from Westport to Woods Hole. Each year approximately 100 volunteers measure water quality at 200 locations Baywide.

All volunteer Baywatchers participate in a training session to learn the proper sampling techniques and receive a sampling kit, a handbook of procedures/protocols, and data sheets.

Once properly trained, Baywatchers monitor their assigned site once a week between 6-9 am for one hour from May through September. The sites are monitored for basic parameters such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, and water clarity. Four times during the sampling season Baywatchers also collect more detailed water samples to be analyzed at the Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory for nutrient concentrations, (nitrogen and phosphorus).

A strong science background is not necessary. A good Baywatcher is someone who can consistently commit one hour each week from May through September, follow scientific instructions, and be agile enough to work on docks and piers along the waters edge.

Involving citizen volunteers allows the Coalition to achieve the ambitions goal of monitoring all of the Bay’s major embayments—an area covering more than ¼ of the Massachusetts coast. Such a program has the dual benefit of collecting comprehensive water quality data while education and empowering people. This encourages citizens to get involved and fosters sound management and restoration of the Bay’s resources at the local level. Between 1992-2004, 500 citizen volunteers from throughout the Bay's watershed have contributed time and energy to monitor 180 stations.