“I felt as someone special today”. Advancing marine citizen science throught participatory and critical geography explorations

The United Nations’ Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development calls for knowledge production and governance plans capable of delivering “the science we need for the ocean we want” [UNDP. 2021. One Ocean. Accessed 10 January 2025 https://oneocean.undp.org/], spurring a wide range of citizen science (CS) initiatives in marine contexts. However, the application of CS to marine research continues to face practical and epistemological limitations. This paper presents and analyses the pilot activities of the European CS action SeaPaCS–Participatory Citizen Science against Marine Pollution, carried out in a mid-sized Italian, coastal city on the Mediterranean shore. The project aimed to raise awareness of marine plastic pollution and to stimulate bottom-up engagement in sustainability-oriented behaviours. Drawing on the lessons learned, the paper explores whether, and to what extent, a participatory, transdisciplinary, transectoral, and critically engaged approach can help to address these challenges and foster transformative knowledge in applied contexts. Specifically, it examines how a radically participatory CS process—integrating social and biological methods and forging cross-sector collaborations—can counteract the extractive nature of traditional marine CS, the inaccessibility of ocean environments for lay participants, and the low public engagement due to a perceived lack of relevance of faraway and often invisible problems. Finally, informed by critical ocean geography, the case study suggests that a collaborative and critical approach to marine CS holds the potential to produce transformative outcomes and inspire follow-up initiatives.