The benthic environment under and near three shellfish farms in Tasmania, Australia, which had had a relatively high level of production over many years was investigated. Benthic samples were collected along transects which ran across the farms, generally from 100 m upstream to 100 m downstream. Sediment deposition, redox values, sediment sulphide concentrations, organic carbon content and water turbidity levels near the bottom were significantly different between the farms but not between sites outside the farm, at the boundary and sites within the farm. Video recordings at one farm showed dense coverage of fine filamentous algae and patchy bacterial mats directly under some longlines and this algae is thought to have fallen off the mussel longlines. At another farm dense beds of seagrass were observed in the videos both under trays of oysters and outside the farm. The benthic infauna did not show clear signs of organic enrichment, and neither univariate nor multivariate measures of benthic infauna were significantly different between sites inside and outside the farm, although they were different between farms.It was concluded from these results that shellfish farming is having little impact, and much less than salmon farming, on the benthic environment in Tasmania. Thus extensive monitoring of shellfish farms would appear to be not necessary. D

Improved public understanding of the ocean and the importance of sustainable ocean use, or ocean literacy, is essential for achieving global commitments to sustainable development by 2030 and beyond. However, growing human populations (particularly in mega-cities), urbanisation and socioeconomic disparity threaten opportunities for people to engage and connect directly with ocean environments. Thus, a major challenge in engaging the whole of society in achieving ocean sustainability by 2030 is to develop strategies to improve societal connections to the ocean. The concept of ocean literacy reflects public understanding of the ocean, but is also an indication of connections to, and attitudes and behaviours towards, the ocean. Improving and progressing global ocean literacy has potential to catalyse the behaviour changes necessary for achieving a sustainable future. As part of the Future Seas project (https://futureseas2030.org/), this paper aims to synthesise knowledge and perspectives on ocean literacy from a range of disciplines, including but not exclusive to marine biology, socio-ecology, philosophy, technology, psychology, oceanography and human health. Using examples from the literature, we outline Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

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