Marine Protected Areas Inadequate public awareness as a barrier to successful implementation

The marine environment faces many threats. Often these threats are imposed as a result of human activities and yet large sections of society are ignorant of the part they play as well as the importance of preserving our marine environments. Marine Protected Areas (MPA's) are one way of conserving these environments and they have been recommended by governing bodies on a global, regional and local level. However, as yet England has failed to implement sufficient numbers of MPA's and it is hypothesised in this research that this may partially be due to large sections of society possessing a poor understanding of the damage currently taking place within our coastal and marine areas. The primary ambition of this research was to gain an understanding of the level of awareness the general public possesses concerning the threats currently facing the marine environment as well as to gauge the attitudes and opinions about marine conservation. A simple questionnaire survey was administered to a randomly selected cross section of the general public with the purpose of collecting data that would help provide information about the type of knowledge and attitudes held by the respondents, of whom it is suggested provide a representation of the general public of the sample area. What has been suggested during the research project is that the general public has a poor understanding of the threats currently facing the marine environment. What is also of significance is the appearance of a correlation between this knowledge and the level of commitment an individual may demonstrate for marine environmental conservation. Individuals within the research population who demonstrated low levels of knowledge concerning the threats facing the marine environment also demonstrated low levels of commitment to marine conservation and visa versa. The research suggests that if groups responsible for marine conservation focused on increasing the general publics knowledge of the various things that are harming the marine environment and the extent to which this is happening, then maybe more members of the general public would engage in environmentally friendly activities and support conservation measures.Faculty of Scienc