Urban blue: A global analysis of the factors shaping people's perceptions of the marine environment and ecological engineering in harbours

Strain EMA 1 , Alexander KA 2 , Kienker S 3 , Morris R 4 , Jarvis R 5 , Coleman R 3 Show all authors , Bollard B 6 , Firth LB 7 , Knights AM 7 , Grabowski JH 8 , Airoldi L 9 , Chan BKK 10 , Chee SY 11 , Cheng Z 12 , Coutinho R 13 , de Menezes RG 14 , Ding M 12 , Dong Y 12 , Fraser CML 10 , Gómez AG 14 , Juanes JA 14 , Mancuso P 9 , Messano LVR 13 , Naval-Xavier LPD 13 , Scyphers S 8 , Steinberg P 15 , Swearer S 16 , Valdor PF 14 , Wong JXY 9 , Yee J 11 , Bishop MJ 17

Affiliations 

  • 1 Sydney Institute of Marine Science, 19 Chowder Bay Rd, Mosman, New South Wales 2088, Australia; Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia,; National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia. Electronic address: beth.strain@unimelb.edu.au
  • 2 Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, PO Box 49, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia; Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
  • 3 Sydney Institute of Marine Science, 19 Chowder Bay Rd, Mosman, New South Wales 2088, Australia; University of Sydney, Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, NSW 2006, Australia
  • 4 National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia; University of Sydney, Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, NSW 2006, Australia
  • 5 Sydney Institute of Marine Science, 19 Chowder Bay Rd, Mosman, New South Wales 2088, Australia; Institute for Applied Ecology New Zealand, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
  • 6 Institute for Applied Ecology New Zealand, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
  • 7 School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, Drake Circus, UK
  • 8 Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, 430 Nahant Road, Nahant, MA 01907, USA
  • 9 University of Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche ed Ambientali (BIGEA) & Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca per le Scienze Ambientali (CIRSA), UO CoNISMa, Via S. Alberto, 163, Ravenna I-48123, Italy
  • 10 Biodiversity Research Centre, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
  • 11 Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
  • 12 State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
  • 13 Department of Marine Biotecnology, Instituto de Estudos do Mar Almirante Paulo Moreira, Brazilian Navy & Post-Graduation Program in Marine Biotechnology, IEAPM/UFF, Arraial do Cabo, Rio de Janeiro 28930-000, Brazil
  • 14 Environmental Hydraulics Institute, Universidad de Cantabria, Avda. Isabel Torres, 15, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria, 39011 Santander, Spain
  • 15 Sydney Institute of Marine Science, 19 Chowder Bay Rd, Mosman, New South Wales 2088, Australia; Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
  • 16 National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
  • 17 Sydney Institute of Marine Science, 19 Chowder Bay Rd, Mosman, New South Wales 2088, Australia; Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
Sci Total Environ, 2019 Mar 25;658:1293-1305.
PMID: 30677991 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.285

Abstract

Marine harbours are the focus of a diverse range of activities and subject to multiple anthropogenically induced pressures. Support for environmental management options aimed at improving degraded harbours depends on understanding the factors which influence people's perceptions of harbour environments. We used an online survey, across 12 harbours, to assess sources of variation people's perceptions of harbour health and ecological engineering. We tested the hypotheses: 1) people living near impacted harbours would consider their environment to be more unhealthy and degraded, be more concerned about the environment and supportive of and willing to pay for ecological engineering relative to those living by less impacted harbours, and 2) people with greater connectedness to the harbour would be more concerned about and have greater perceived knowledge of the environment, and be more supportive of, knowledgeable about and willing to pay for ecological engineering, than those with less connectedness. Across twelve locations, the levels of degradation and modification by artificial structures were lower and the concern and knowledge about the environment and ecological engineering were greater in the six Australasian and American than the six European and Asian harbours surveyed. We found that people's perception of harbours as healthy or degraded, but not their concern for the environment, reflected the degree to which harbours were impacted. There was a positive relationship between the percentage of shoreline modified and the extent of support for and people's willingness to pay indirect costs for ecological engineering. At the individual level, measures of connectedness to the harbour environment were good predictors of concern for and perceived knowledge about the environment but not support for and perceived knowledge about ecological engineering. To make informed decisions, it is important that people are empowered with sufficient knowledge of the environmental issues facing their harbour and ecological engineering options.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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