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SummaryMarine protected areas (MPAs) may be important for protecting the marine environment, but they may also have substantial socio-cultural impacts about which very little is currently known, or acknowledged. In the Mediterranean, few data are available on the socioeconomic consequences of MPAs. The present study reviews the existing data on MPAs in Spain, France, Italy and Greece. A general increase in tourist activities in Mediterranean MPAs is evident, as are increases in the abundances of larger fish species, although there are no data indicating yields for fisheries increase adjacent to MPAs. A large increase in the number of divers and vessels using MPAs has already had impacts on natural benthic communities as a result of diver damage, mooring and the feeding of large fish by divers. Emphasis has been given in only a few MPAs to promoting public awareness of these impacts. Although the conservation of nature should be considered the fundamental objective of MPAs, neglecting their social, cultural and economic impacts has at times led to poor local consensus, if not hostility. We believe that planning and managing MPAs should be conducted on a multidisciplinary basis. Nonetheless, no single model can be considered valid for the whole Mediterranean. The very variable characteristics of coastal areas, from those of small uninhabited islands to those of cities, require different weightings to be assigned for each factor in order to achieve a durable equilibrium and realize the original objectives of each MPA. Only with such flexibility of management will it be possible to reach a greater understanding of the MPA system and create a lasting consensus in favour of conservation, a consensus which would mean an overwhelming majority of people actively avoiding damaging nature and preventing others from doing so.

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This paper reports the results of a survey of public attitudes towards aquaculture, using salmon farming in Scotland as a case study. The aims have been to identify the priority that people attach to the environmental performance of the salmon aquaculture industry, relative to other objectives, and to measure the economic benefits to society from salmon farmed using methods that cause less organic pollution. The results indicate that the public attach a relatively high importance to minimizing environmental damage from aquaculture, and this has its parallel in the finding that people are willing to pay a price premium for salmon produced in a more environmentally benign way.