Become a Volunteer!
Opportunities:
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Education Outreach & Tabling
These vary from pint nights to science expositions. Shifts last about 3-4 hours and take place along the Charleston area. Volunteers have the awesome opportunity to meet people from all over with differing backgrounds and share our mission: to protect local marine mammals.
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Annual Dolphin Count Event
This is our largest annual citizen science event. Dolphin Count brings together the public and marine mammal scientists for a day to collect valuable data on Charleston's local dolphin population while raising awareness about the threats they face. This is a fun, interactive, all-ages event and has been very popular. In the last two years, we've hosted over 1,000 participants (ages 1-89 years old), 40 volunteers and recorded over 250 dolphin sightings. We are looking for volunteers to be leads at each station (last year we have 25 stations), marketing, etc;
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Charleston Dolphin Monitoring Program
This program combines education/outreach with data entry. It's a short 2-hour shift that can be started at the volunteer's convenience (during the pandemic we have shortened this down to 1.25-1.5 hours). Volunteers pick out of 9 locations around the Charleston area to set up. During the shift, volunteers complete two 30-minute surveys counting the total number of dolphins you see and any noticeable behaviors.
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Seabrook & Kiawah Program
Kiawah and Seabrook is a popular known strand feeding spot. Volunteers post signage and stay in the area for 4 hours around lowtide to educate visitors about the behavior and safety measures to follow.
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Stranding Response
LMMN partners with Coastal University and the South Carolina Marine Mammal Stranding Network as a designated stranding team. We respond to cases throughout the state of South Carolina. When we are able to take samples, we utilize a lab that NOAA designated for the stranding network. Volunteers will be put on call a weekend a month for stranding response plus spend time in the lab helping put away samples, flensing, data entry, and so on.
What to Expect:
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Become part of our LMMN family!
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Volunteer weekly, bi-weekly, or even once a month
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Get involved with on-going research
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Discounts on merchandise
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And more!
