Turn Your Camera Into a Conservation Tool

Whether you’re drawn to placid lakes, rushing rivers, boggy ponds or leaf-dappled streams, you can now help the fish that swim in them with a simple camera click.

But why take pictures of fish? Because freshwater species are one of the most endangered groups of animals on the planet and, given their rapid decline, freshwater scientists have an urgent need to know more about where native species—and the invasive species that sometimes displace them—occur. Such information is critical to making plans to protect them.

That’s where you, your camera, and the Global Freshwater Fish BioBlitz come in.

Here’s how it works: First, snap photographs of freshwater fish you encounter in the wild, then upload them along with date and location to the BioBlitz website. Volunteer curators (who range from PhD students to seasoned scientists) then comb through the images, identify the species and verify selected photos as research-grade for data archives used by scientists around the world.

Call it crowdsourcing conservation; call it citizen science. Whatever the term, the next time you’re headed to a river, stream or lake, bring your camera, capture what you see and feed it to the scientists working to save freshwater fish.

Learn more about how your fish photos can benefit freshwater habitats.