Marine Citizen Science and the Conservation of Mediterranean Corals: The Relevance of Training, Expert Validation, and Robust Sampling Protocols.

Marine Citizen Science (MCS) has emerged as a promising tool to enhance conservation efforts. Although the quality of volunteer data has been questioned, the design of specific protocols, effective training programs, and data validation by experts have enabled us to overcome these quality concerns, thus ensuring data reliability. Here, we validated the effectiveness of volunteer training in assessing the conservation status of Mediterranean coral species. We conducted a comparative analysis of data collected by volunteers with different levels of expertise, demonstrating improvements in data precision and accuracy with only one training session, thereby achieving values equivalent to those obtained by scientists. These outcomes align with the feedback received from volunteers through a qualitative survey. Finally, we analysed the data generated by volunteers and validated by experts using the developed protocol in the Coral Alert project from the Observadores del Mar MCS initiative. Our findings highlight the importance of proper training, expert validation, robust sampling protocols, and a well-structured platform to ensure the success of long-term MCS projects. Overall, our results stress the key role MCS plays in enhancing the conservation and management strategies designed to mitigate the ongoing environmental crisis.