Abstract
Citizen Science approaches are now frequently applied to research questions requiring extensive sampling efforts that produce large data sets. The possible benefits of this strategy often lead researchers to overlook the critical early development period. This case study follows the startup of a citizen science project using volunteer cold-water SCUBA divers to track recruitment dynamics of endangered rockfishes. We track the early growth phase of this project using the number of outreach events, and resulting dive effort over the first seven years of the program. Though group members possessed diverse backgrounds and skills, all five participating groups exhibited several year lags in which outreach resulted in little survey effort. After several years, participation dramatically increased. Groups that joined later increased participation more rapidly, suggesting an interaction among divers in disparate groups, improvement in project messaging, and/or attraction to a successful project. Expectations for a slower starting phase, consistent messaging, direct teamwork alongside citizen science divers during data collection, and involvement in some elements of project design were helpful in building participation. Having realistic expectations and understanding the relationship between outreach effort and participant engagement level allows scientists starting citizen-science data efforts to better estimate resource requirements.