Public ocean literacy in the United States

Steel, Brent S.; Smith, Courtland L.; Opsommer, Laura; Curiel, Sara; Warner-Steel, Ryan

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2005.01.002

Cited by 207 publications

(162 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…While some certification programs have played a role in improving fisheries sustainability and possibly aided interested consumers [49], a greater emphasis should be placed on activating the public's role not just as consumers, but also as citizens too [32]. While efforts have been made to conduct public outreach campaigns, further investigation is still needed as to how to better engage the public as consumers and as citizens to improve the stewardship of wild capture fisheries [50,51].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Consumers Understand Sustainability through Seafood Eco-Labels? A U.S. and UK Case Study

Gutiérrez

Thornton

2014

Sustainability

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Abstract:In the United States and the United Kingdom, over the last decade major retail chains have increasingly publicized their efforts to supply sustainably sourced and eco-labelled seafood. Debate exists over the extent of consumer demand for this product. Seafood eco-labels purportedly resolve the information asymmetry between producer and consumer, allowing consumers who care about sustainability to easily find and purchase these products. This paper discusses the idealized model of seafood eco-labelling in promoting sustainability and presents results of US and UK case studies based on consumer interviews and surveys, which found that consumers had often seen one or more seafood eco-labels. Two well-established eco-labels, dolphin-safe and organic, drove these rates of sustainable seafood awareness. These rates are interpreted in the context of consumer's understanding of sustainable. The Sustainable Seafood Movement's efforts to increase the supply of eco-labelled seafood and elaborate corporate buying policies for sustainable seafood are influencing consumer's recognition and purchase of certified sustainable seafood products. However, eco-labels are a means to communicate messages about sustainable fisheries to consumers, not an end. Efforts to educate consumers about eco-labels should be a component of ocean literacy efforts, which educate the public about the need for sustainable fisheries.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Consumers Understand Sustainability through Seafood Eco-Labels? A U.S. and UK Case Study

Gutiérrez

Thornton

2014

Sustainability

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“…Although research into public perceptions of ocean health issues to date is rather limited, the available evidence creates a portrait of a public that is concerned but uninformed about the specific threats that oceans face [24]. Analysing data from a US national probability sample, Steel et al report that few respondents felt 'informed' (10.0%) or 'very well informed' (4.3%) about US ocean and coastal policy issues [15]. These subjective knowledge assessments were reiterated in the public's poor performance on an objective knowledge assessment, a multiple-choice quiz on which average performance was below 50%-an accuracy rate that, for comparison purposes, is somewhat lower than that observed on objective knowledge measures of polar-region warming in representative surveys of the US public (approximately 60%) [25].…”

Section: Public Awareness and Concern About Ocean Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communicating about ocean health: theoretical and practical considerations

Schuldt

McComas

Byrne

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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As anthropogenic stressors threaten the health of marine ecosystems, there is a need to better understand how the public processes and responds to information about ocean health. Recent studies of public perceptions about ocean issues report high concern but limited knowledge, prompting calls for information campaigns to mobilize public support for ocean restoration policy. Drawing on the literature from communication, psychology and related social science disciplines, we consider a set of social-cognitive challenges that researchers and advocates are likely to encounter when communicating with the public about ocean health and emerging marine diseases—namely, the psychological distance at which ocean issues are construed, the unfamiliarity of aquatic systems to many members of the public and the potential for marine health issues to be interpreted through politicized schemas that encourage motivated reasoning over the dispassionate consideration of scientific evidence. We offer theory-based strategies to help public outreach efforts address these challenges and present data from a recent experiment exploring the role of message framing (emphasizing the public health or environmental consequences of marine disease) in shaping public support for environmental policy.

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“…This is relevant given the likelihood that researchers will need to use stated preference methods to estimate values for deep sea biodiversity. Ocean literacy across the population is thought to be limited in general (Steel et al, 2005) and awareness can be expected to be even lower for the deep-sea. The deep-sea environment remains remote to the majority of people (Ramirez-Llodra et al, 2011).…”

Section: Main Challenges To Valuing Deep-sea Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twenty thousand sterling under the sea: Estimating the value of protecting deep-sea biodiversity

Jobstvogt

Hanley

Hynes

et al. 2014

Ecological Economics

137

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The deep-sea includes over 90% of the world oceans and is thought to be one of the most diverse ecosystems in the World. It supplies society with valuable ecosystem services, including the provision of food, the regeneration of nutrients and the sequestration of carbon. Technological advancements in the second half of the 20th century made large-scale exploitation of mineral-, hydrocarbon-and fish resources possible. These economic activities, combined with climate change impacts, constitute a considerable threat to deep-sea biodiversity. Many governments, including that of the UK, have therefore decided to implement additional protected areas in their waters of national jurisdiction. To support the decision process and to improve our understanding for the acceptance of marine conservation plans across the general public, a choice experiment survey asked Scottish households for their willingness-to-pay for additional marine protected areas in the Scottish deep-sea. This study is one of the first to use valuation methodologies to investigate public preferences for the protection of deep-sea ecosystems. The experiment focused on the elicitation of economic values for two aspects of biodiversity: (i) the existence value for deep-sea species and (ii) the option-use value of deep-sea organisms as a source for future medicinal products. Acknowledgments:We thank Mirko Moro, Dugald Tinch and Neil Odam for their invaluable input on survey and experimental design. Funding for this project was provided by MASTS (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland).

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Public ocean literacy in the United States

Cited by 207 publications

References 19 publications

Can Consumers Understand Sustainability through Seafood Eco-Labels? A U.S. and UK Case Study

Can Consumers Understand Sustainability through Seafood Eco-Labels? A U.S. and UK Case Study

Communicating about ocean health: theoretical and practical considerations

Twenty thousand sterling under the sea: Estimating the value of protecting deep-sea biodiversity

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