FAQs
You can download and print datasheets from our website in the Survey Kits section under Toolbox, or you can send us a message and we will ship you some.
Absolutely! Just be sure to write their name down on your cover sheet under Participant(s). If you enter your own data, you will add them as a Guest in the database. If they survey with you regularly, have them send us an email and we will add them to our database!
There are two commonly chosen ways to send in data.
- Email us a photo or scans of your coversheet, datasheet (if you found beached birds), and any photos you took and we will enter the data for you.
- Enter the data yourself in our database! You must contact us to set a password to log in if you choose this option. You must also upload photos or scans of your cover and datasheets, along with any other photos you took, when prompted to while entering data.
Ideally you send in data within a week of your survey so we can track bird mortality in real time!
Unfortunately, the Forgot Password button doesn’t work, so you must contact us for a link to set your password. We can send this over email. We can also set your password for you over the phone. If you believe you are typing in the correct password that you set already, make sure your email address is all lowercase!
An electric bicycle will count as a motor vehicle (it does have a motor!) and if the people in the water must exit the water onto your beach eventually then they should be counted as humans on the beach. If they are boating by and not going to exit onto your beach, then you can skip counting them.
If multiple zones appear to be present in equal levels, follow the following hierarchy:
When wrack and surf are present, call it wrack.
When wood and wrack are present, call it wood.
If vegetation and any other zone are present together, call that zone vegetation.
Like most other things in COASST, think in terms of predominance. The vegetation zone begins when vegetation becomes a consistent on the section of beach that you are measuring. A few sparse plants don’t count. An odd log or two does not constitute a wood “zone”, but an area where many logs have accumulated does.
Wrack is (almost) all of the floating material deposited by the tide. Obviously most of the wood on a beach came in on the tide at some point, usually during storms where big waves have “thrown” the wood high up on the beach, which would include material that makes up the wood zone.
Think of the wrack as the material that has been deposited on successive days of the tidal cycle. It is all of the small stuff (i.e. seaweed, shells, Velella velella, and marine debris) that could easily be washed away and re-deposited in the next days of the tide washing in and out.
Wrack may include some wood pieces, but it is less likely that a continuous line of large logs washes in and out daily on the tide. That more permanent line of wood would be defined as the wood zone.
A live marine mammal doesn’t need to be recorded on your COASST Cover Sheet (except in the comments section of course!)
Depending on your location, there are different marine mammal stranding networks who will respond to a live marine mammal in distress.
Before you survey, check NOAA’s reporting website to find the number of your local stranding network to carry with you on your survey.
If you can only fit one number in your phone, choose this one: the NOAA West Coast Stranding Hotline 1-866-767-6114. These folks will redirect you and your information to the local network.
Each stretch of coastline has its own local marine mammal stranding network that either records reports for a national database or responds to individual calls to collect additional data.
Before you head out to the beach, take a look at these links to find your local beached marine mammal network number. If you can call from the beach and give explicit directions to the location of the carcass, the stranding networks are often able to follow up and collect additional information after you head home.
West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Networks
Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Networks
Please also record each beached marine mammal on the COASST cover sheet. When you submit photos along with your description, it helps the experts in the office make an identification!
If you can only fit one number in your phone, choose this one: the NOAA West Coast Stranding Hotline 1-866-767-6114. These folks will redirect you and your information to the local network.
If there is a hazardous spill on your beach please call the US Coast Guard’s National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802 (toll free from the USA) or 1 (202) 267-2675 (direct dial). Reports can also be made online at www.nrc.uscg.mil.
There are numerous wildlife rehabilitation agencies across the coast. Depending on where you live, you’ll get in contact with a different local agency. Here are a few pages with directories where you can locate a local organization:
Here’s a reminder about some of the key ID features, from our partners at WSG Crab Team.
As for reporting, it depends on where you survey!
ALWAYS write a note about your discovery in the comments section of your cover sheet, and take a picture with your scale ruler so we can help confirm the species. In addition:
If you live in Alaska, green crab reports can help pinpoint the ‘invasion front’.
- call 1-877-INVASIV
- or to use the Alaska Dept of Fish and Game online reporter
- in Kenai you can also visit Kenai Invasives
If you live in Washington, reports can trigger immediate response by WSG Crab Team. Leave all crabs in place, but a molt (just the shell!) can be collected to help confirm ID.
- if you survey inside waters, report your crab finding to Crab Team’s Reporting Page
- if you survey the outer coast, let the COASST office know about your findings
If you live in Oregon or California, the green crab invasion is well established. Harvesting crabs themselves is also legal. You can learn more at the following links:
- Oregon: The Seadrift Green Crab Project
- California: South Slough NERR (2020 Green Crab report)