title: Public awareness, concerns, and priorities about anthropogenic impacts on marine environments.
abstract: Numerous international bodies have advocated the development of strategies to achieve the sustainability of marine environments. Typically, such strategies are based on information from expert groups about causes of degradation and policy options to address them, but these strategies rarely take into account assessed information about public awareness, concerns, and priorities. Here we report the results of a pan-European survey of public perceptions about marine environmental impacts as a way to inform the formation of science and policy priorities. On the basis of 10,106 responses to an online survey from people in 10 European nations, spanning a diversity of socioeconomic and geographical areas, we examine the public's informedness and concern regarding marine impacts, trust in different information sources, and priorities for policy and funding. Results show that the level of concern regarding marine impacts is closely associated with the level of informedness and that pollution and overfishing are two areas prioritized by the public for policy development. The level of trust varies greatly among different information sources and is highest for academics and scholarly publications but lower for government or industry scientists. Results suggest that the public perceives the immediacy of marine anthropogenic impacts and is highly concerned about ocean pollution, overfishing, and ocean acidification. Eliciting public awareness, concerns, and priorities can enable scientists and funders to understand how the public relates to marine environments, frame impacts, and align managerial and policy priorities with public demand.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global and Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability, Departamento de Ecologia, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile; jcastilla@bio.puc.cl sgelcich@bio.puc.cl.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gelcich
authors.affiliation: Marine Climate Change Centre, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 OHT, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.affiliation: Marine Climate Change Centre, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 OHT, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: John K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Pinnegar
authors.affiliation: Science, Society and Sustainability Research Group, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chilvers
authors.affiliation: Science, Society and Sustainability Research Group, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lorenzoni
authors.affiliation: School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Terry
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global and Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability, Departamento de Ecologia, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile;
authors.forename: Matias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guerrero
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global and Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability, Departamento de Ecologia, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile; Centro Interdisciplinario de Cambio Global, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile; jcastilla@bio.puc.cl sgelcich@bio.puc.cl.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Castilla
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global and Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability, Departamento de Ecologia, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile;
authors.forename: Abel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valdebenito
authors.affiliation: University of Western Australia Oceans Institute and School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; and Department of Global Change Research, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad de las Islas Baleares, 07190 Esporles, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Duarte
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D001364:Awareness; D017753:Ecosystem; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011050:Policy Making; D011634:Public Health; D012586:Science; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants
keywords: Europe; attitudes; ocean health; ocean impacts; ocean literacy