(Describer) Under a round logo of a wave, title: Ocean Today.
♪
(Describer) Ripples of ocean water reflect golden light.
(Describer) The moon shines above.
(Describer) A few people wearing headlamps walk on a beach, one carrying a frame.
(woman)
We really do have
a crab line tonight.
This is so exciting.
(Describer) Dozens of horseshoe crabs are in the mud.
One woman writes on a clipboard.
Maggie Pletta:
Okay.
Twelve and three.
(woman)
Here in the Delaware Bay,
in Delaware and New Jersey,
we complete
spotting surveys every year
from May into June.
It's so important
to do these surveys
to know how many
horseshoe crabs we have
to manage them
for biomedicine,
the eggs
for the migratory birds,
as well as watermen
who collect them.
(Describer) Light clouds pass over the moon.
We go during
full and new moons,
when you have
the highest tides.
With volunteers,
we take measurements
every 10 meters
down the beach.
We count in a one meter
by one meter quadrat
how many male and female
horseshoe crabs we have.
Four females
and eleven males.
Okay, okay.
(Describer) The quadrat is the frame.
Title: Citizen scientists have conducted standardized surveys since 1999.
(Pletta)
That data is collected
from Cape Henlopen
in Southern Delaware
all the way up
to Woodland Beach
and across
the New Jersey side as well.
Zero, zero.
Zeroes are data.
(Pletta)
All that data is put together
and used to determine
our spotting population
of horseshoe crabs
in the Delaware Bay.
(Describer) Titles:
Find out how you can join the survey at de.gov/dnerrhscsurvey and HorseshoeCrabSurvey.com.
Logos are shown for the Smithsonian and NOAA
Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.
♪
Accessibility provided by the
U.S. Department of Education.
