A Change of Mind: Applying Social and Behavioral Research Methods to the Assessment of the Effectiveness of Ocean Literacy Initiatives

Ashley, Matthew; Pahl, Sabine; Glegg, Gillian; Fletcher, Stephen

doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00288

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Building ocean literacy amongst communities or groups of individuals is an approach to encourage responsible public behaviour towards the ocean and its resources (Fielding et al 2019 ). The ‘goal’ of ocean literacy initiatives is to enable behaviour change, whereby citizens engage in sustainable actions to achieve solutions to marine issues (Ashley et al 2019 ). In contrast, a lack of ocean literacy presents a significant obstacle to engaging society in environmentally sustainable behaviours (McCauley et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…small and large scale, experiential learning, multiple age-groups, technological/digital, etc.). When ocean literacy initiatives are tailored to relevant issues and communities, they increase knowledge uptake and engender attitudes of concern that can promote personal action (Ashley et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As outlined and discussed in this paper, the concept of ocean literacy continues to evolve as new ocean literacy initiatives and approaches (including technologies; see Appendix A ) are continually being developed (UN 2018 a; Ashley et al 2019 ). As of 2020, public involvement in citizen science is growing, and wide-reaching media campaigns (e.g., #PlasticFree, #Take3ForTheSea) and documentaries (e.g., the BBC’s Blue Planet 2 ) are educating and encouraging diverse communities to engage in ocean-friendly behaviours.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst these technological solutions are well-intended to reduce pollution in the ocean, they distract from the root cause of this pollution; over-reliance on (and poor disposal of) plastic-packaged products, and environmentally-damaging fishing practices (Li et al 2016 ). Addressing this problem of plastic pollution, and other wicked problems such as climate change, demands major changes to human behaviour (Principle 7) (Eagle et al 2016 ), (which can be supported by improving ocean literacy to inform and encourage (more realistic) ocean-friendly behaviours (Principle 6) (Cash et al 2003 ; Ashley et al 2019 ; Fernández Otero et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connecting to the oceans: supporting ocean literacy and public engagement

Kelly

Evans

Alexander

et al. 2021

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries

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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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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Connecting to the oceans: supporting ocean literacy and public engagement

Kelly

Evans

Alexander

et al. 2021

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Studies have shown that the inclusion of citizen science in the monitoring of IAS (e.g., using smartphone apps, online platforms) can significantly improve the database and also the knowledge of the overall IAS abundance and spread (Freiwald et al, 2018;César de Sá et al, 2019;Giovos et al, 2019). Ocean literacy initiatives have been shown to be effective and to have positive effects on behavior changes of citizens, who then take direct and sustainable actions toward sustainable solutions for marine environments (Ashley et al, 2019).…”

Section: Recognizementioning

confidence: 99%

Non-indigenous Species in the Mediterranean Sea: Turning From Pest to Source by Developing the 8Rs Model, a New Paradigm in Pollution Mitigation

et al. 2020

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For mitigation of the effects of pollution, the media, policy makers and, in turn, the scientific community and industry each provide contributions through development of a sense of urgency, and with guidelines and solutions. For non-indigenous species (NIS) that can frequently have negative impacts on the native biota, this is often conveyed in an emotive way to the general public, who are typically keen to help and to get personally involved. This might be through organization of cleaning campaigns, influence on the media, or collaboration with scientists, to inform them of the local presence and abundance of NIS. Alternatively, they might proactively develop technological solutions themselves. To assess the current state of affairs, we reviewed the presence and effects of NIS in the Mediterranean Sea. As so often, any well-planned and successful activity is directly linked to financing, or a lack thereof, and this leads to sometimes untargeted and sporadic measures that are developed within a project or over a limited timeframe, without any sustainability measures. Therefore, we also assessed the activities and strategies that have been financed in this area of NIS mitigation. Based on this review of the presence and impact of NIS, and previous and ongoing activities, we propose a new paradigm to mitigate such pollution: the 8Rs model (i.e., Recognize, Reduce, Replace, Reuse, Recycle, Recover/Restore, Remove, and Regulate). This model extends from the more traditional 3Rs model (i.e., Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) that is often used and promoted for innovative waste management strategies. Importantly, the 8Rs model can be applied sequentially, for either prevention of NIS introduction, or preparation of mitigation measures. The 8Rs model was constructed based on Mediterranean NIS, although we believe it can be applied to other sources of pollution and other geographic areas. Importantly, the 8Rs model represents a general framework to organize and categorize future pollution mitigation strategies. This approach is essential for development of any action plan to influence the administrative and financial decision makers who essentially enable these activities, and therefore who have important roles in the guarantee of sustainability of these actions, and the creation of innovative societies.

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