Ocean literacy survey: headline findings

Headline findings from an online survey with the public in Scotland on the topic of ocean literacy - exploring the public's understanding of the marine environment. It is part of a wider project covering England and Wales.


Responding to threats to the marine environment

Eighty-five percent said that protecting the marine environment is very important or important to them personally. Only 4% said that it was not very/at all important (Figure 13).

Figure 13: Importance of protecting the marine environment (weighted %)
a bar chart that shows how important respondents felt it was to protect the marine environment as reported in the previous paragraph.

Q8: How important is protecting the marine environment to you personally?

Unweighted base: 3,055

Dimensions

  • Attitudes
  • Knowledge
  • Awareness

A range of activities addressing other issues affecting the marine environment (i.e. non ocean climate issues) in Scotland were provided to respondents who were asked to select the three most important (Figure 14).

Regulating single-use plastics (53%) was the top choice, followed by controls on pollution from industry and/or agriculture (44%) and changing consumption and behaviour to reduce waste and marine pollution (40%). The activity least likely to be selected was using overseas development aid (5%).

Figure 14: Most important activities to address marine issues (weighted %)
a bar chart that sets out the issues affecting the marine environment that respondents believed to be the most important as reported in the previous two paragraphs.

Q13: The following activities all address other issues affecting the marine environment in Scotland. In your opinion, which three do you think are the most important?

Unweighted base: 3,055

Dimensions

  • Attitudes
  • Knowledge
  • Awareness

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

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