Community &
Marine Parks
ENGAGING COMMUNITY IN RESEARCH
Community Connections
Our values, connection and understanding of the marine environment are influenced by a range of cultural and social factors, as well as past experiences. Someone who dives regularly will have a different understanding of the ocean than someone who enjoys fishing or yachting, or someone who loves to watch television shows and movies set in underwater environments. Even those who have little personal interest in the ocean have some understanding of what it is and the value it holds for the broader community.
A big part of our research is about the ways in which the community thinks about, engages with, understands and values the Apollo Marine Park, and marine environments in general. The social science arm of our research team has drawn on existing knowledge of how people relate to and imagine the marine environment. The research will help us to better understand how people think about the world, what they value, and the ways in which their beliefs and assumptions influence their behaviour, and their support for various forms of environmental engagement, use and management.
Our Research
The importance of public awareness, support, and engagement to address environmental challenges is now well established globally. Community support for marine conservation is recognised as being critical to achieving effective longterm protection for marine spaces.
Research in Australia highlights that while there is a general interest in marine environments and support for marine conservation, there is a substantial gap in public knowledge about these spaces.
Research into public awareness, perceptions, and attitudes toward the marine environment has often relied on surveys as a means of accessing the views of a greater number of people than many other research methods allow. While surveys of community perceptions and attitudes towards Australia’s marine environments have increased our understanding of specific user groups, little research has focussed on understanding the Australian community as a whole. This is particularly relevant for offshore marine environments. Unlike coastal marine environments, offshore marine environments are often seen as distant and unfamiliar places. Understanding how the Australian community understands, connects to, and values these offshore marine environments will help to inform how best to connect Australians with these places and support their conservation.
OUR SURVEY
Australian Attitudes to Marine Environments and Marine Protected Areas
OUR AIMS
We explored how the general Australian community understands, connects to, and values Australia’s marine environments and the marine management approach of Marine Protected Areas. The study further assesses the use and perceptions of traditional and current outreach and education outlets and approaches to learn from past successes and address shortfalls in community engagement methods.
By understanding these facets of community awareness, value, and engagement, we can tailor our educational and outreach strategies to best connect with an Australian audience and encourage more conservation-oriented attitudes and behaviours to protect and conserve our unique marine environments into the future.
OUR APPROACH
We asked 1000 Australians aged 18+ across the country to understand how they understand, connect with, and value Australian marine environments and Marine Protected Areas. The participants of the survey were recruited through the Online Research Unit, one of Australia’s largest online research data collection agencies, to deliver as close to a representative sample of the Australian community as possible, across age, gender, and location.
FURTHER RESEARCH
To understand the influence of our VR experience on how people understand, connect, and value marine environments and MPAs, the findings from this national survey will help contextualize what we uncover.
Our Findings
Preliminary results suggest that Australians love the marine environment but don’t know a lot about it, the creatures who live there, and how it is managed.
An interesting take-away from this national survey is that people are not are not very confident about their knowledge of either marine environments and don’t feel a particularly strong connection with these places but would like to see greater protections for the marine environment or how they’re managed and. As one person remarked:
“I found I know very little about it and although I love and enjoy our wonderful [marine] environment I believe we all need more education that's accessible for all ages to learn how to protect it”
These preliminary results are currently under analysis and reports are forthcoming.
