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.


Threats to the marine environment

Respondents were asked what they thought posed the most threat to the marine environment in Scotland (Figure 12).

Marine litter and plastic pollution was the pressure most commonly chosen (72%) whilst chemical pollution (55%), overfishing (51%) and climate change (50%) also ranked highly.

Pressures which were least likely to be selected as posing a threat to the marine environment were changes in species distribution (13%), changes to ocean currents (14%) and construction in the seas or ocean (16%).

Figure 12: Pressures posing most threat to the marine environment (weighted %)
a bar chart that illustrates which pressures pose the greatest threat to the marine environment as reported in the previous three paragraphs.

Q10: Which of the following if any, do you think pose the most threat to the marine environment in Scotland?

Unweighted base: 3,055

Dimensions

  • Attitudes
  • Knowledge
  • Awareness

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

Back to top