Monitoring the socio-economic impacts of Marine Protected Areas: report

Annex 1. Social Attitudes Survey Questions

Marine Scotland commissioned research to improve understanding of how Scottish residents interact with the marine environment (sea and coastal areas), their perceptions of how it should be managed and their environmental concerns, amongst other issues.

The research consisted of a nationally representative survey of adults aged 16 and over and a series of focus groups to investigate attitudes to the Scottish marine environment, carried out by YouGov. A survey of 2,198 adults in Scotland was carried out online using the YouGov panel. The sample was representative by gender, age, social grade and region. Alongside this, six face-to-face focus group sessions were conducted across coastal, rural and urban locations in Scotland. Each group consisted of between nine and ten respondents, taking place in Aberdeen, Peebles and Glasgow. Throughout the report, this is referred to as the qualitative phase.

MPAs were explored in both the survey and the focus groups, although only the survey responses are presented in this report.

The questions regarding MPAs are presented below:

How familiar are you with Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)? (Allows one selection)

• Very familiar
• Quite familiar
• Not very familiar
• Heard of, but know nothing about
• Not previously heard of MPAs

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are areas of sea that are designated to ensure protection of some of the most vulnerable marine animals and habitats (e.g. marine mammals, seabirds and seagrass beds) and important historic sites (e.g. shipwrecks). MPAs are protected under Scottish and UK legislation and are managed to reduce the impact of human activities on marine animals and/or habitats. This management can restrict some industries, such as fishing, shipping, renewable developments, oil and gas, which can have positive or negative economic impacts on different people and businesses.

To what extent do you support or oppose the creation of MPAs in Scotland? (Allows one selection)

• Strongly support
• Tend to support
• Neither support or oppose
• Tend to oppose
• Strongly oppose
• Don't know