By Rebecca Crawford, Marine Policy Officer at the Scottish Wildlife Trust
Introduction
As a maritime nation with over 900 islands and one of the longest coastlines in Europe, the marine cultural heritage of Scotland is deeply ingrained. However, there is a disconnect between people and the ocean, with many people now calling for a better understanding of their coastal areas.
This was one of the key findings of the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Oceans of Value workshops, which discussed barriers people experienced when trying to participate in marine decision-making conversations. Attendees to our workshops told us that “If people had access to the right information and were supported more in becoming more knowledgeable, they could feel more empowered to take part and have their say”.
They also highlighted the need for more awareness of how to be involved in decision making, “We do lots of practical stuff, but how do we influence? What are the processes?”
One way of mending this disconnect is through ocean literacy. This blog will look at what ocean literacy is, why it is important and what is happening both globally and here in Scotland.
What is ocean literacy?
The term “ocean literacy” was first coined in the USA in 2002 by a group of educators and has been defined by UNESCO as “the process of understanding the ocean’s influence on you and of your influence on the ocean”.
Let’s de-mystify (or de-haar if you will) the term further!
Despite how it might sound, ocean literacy isn’t about reading and writing about the ocean. It’s a process of thinking about and experiencing the coasts and seas in new or different ways, as well as deepening your connection to and knowledge of the marine environment.
Ocean literacy is centred around seven main principles:
- The earth has one large ocean
- The ocean and life within it shape Earth’s features
- The ocean greatly affects weather and climate
- The ocean makes earth suitable for life
- The ocean supports a wide variety of life and ecosystems
- The ocean and humans are deeply connected
- The ocean is largely unexplored
You can find out more about each of these by visiting UNESCO’s Ocean Literacy Portal.
Ocean literacy is essential to achieving the goal of a sustainable marine environment in the face of the twin nature and climate crises, as our seas underpin life on earth. It is also an important tool for building a future where people are deeply connected to their coasts and seas, and are confident and passionate about acting to protect them. To move towards sustainable marine management, ocean literacy approaches must be holistic, bringing together social and cultural themes as well as diverse perspectives.
Ocean literacy around the world
In 2018, Canada formed an Ocean Literacy Coalition with the aim of “empowering people in Canada to better understand, value, and care for the ocean”. Following this a strategy was published in 2021 entitled Land, Water, Ocean, Us: A Canadian Ocean Literacy Strategy.
Continuing to look internationally, the United Nations Ocean Decade launched in 2020 with ambitious aspirations for our seas, which included transforming the relationship between society and the ocean. Ocean literacy was seen as a key aspect to achieving this as a mechanism for change. As we are now over halfway to 2030, this is an excellent opportunity to look at our progress towards achieving the UN Ocean Decade goals, and what more needs to be done.
Ocean literacy in Wales
Wales is storming ahead of the rest of the UK on ocean literacy. In January this year, Wales published their Ocean Literacy Strategy, Y Môr a Ni (The Sea and Us). It includes six key action areas including access and experience; knowledge and skills; and communities and culture.
Key work towards implementing the actions in the strategy include undertaking reviews of the barriers to accessing the marine environment, developing resources aligned to the Curriculum for Wales and supporting meaningful local engagement in planning and decision-making.
In the north of Wales, the Hiraeth Yn Y Môr (HYYM) project ran from 2023-2025 and was a community-led project delivered by the Marine Conservation Society. It supported local coastal communities to connect with their coast and sea by promoting ocean literacy. It aimed to improve sustainable management of local marine heritage, as well as community health and wellbeing.
Scotland needs to catch up
While Scotland can often be said to be ahead of the curve, we are currently lagging behind on ocean literacy. It has been almost two years since the Ocean literacy survey was undertaken in Scotland. One of the key findings of the survey was that “enhancing Ocean Literacy across society will be crucial to achieving the behaviour change needed to address the challenges facing our coasts and seas and manage them sustainably”.
The survey also found that:
- Respondents appreciated the wellbeing effects of the sea with 83% reporting that visits to the marine environment are good for their mental health.
- The overriding emotional response to the marine environment was one of concern (51%) followed by awe/wonder (41%).
- Most respondents (85%) felt that it is important to protect the marine environment.
- On marine activism 35% of people said they had made lifestyle changes related to protecting the marine environment and 23% said they signed petitions. However, when it comes to direct action such as involvement in citizen science or contacting elected representatives this fell to 3% and 2% respectively. Furthermore 38% of respondents had undertaken none of the actions listed.
Given the findings of the survey and the government’s commitment to become an “ocean literate and aware nation”, we must do more to facilitate ocean literacy in Scotland and enhance people’s connection with the sea.
Sea the connection: an ocean literacy project for Scotland
The Scottish Wildlife Trust is excited to be delivering Sea the Connection, an innovative project that will benefit both coastal communities and the marine environment, by removing barriers to participation in marine policy conversations. We have several different streams of work, one of which is the establishment of a Scottish Ocean Literacy Coalition.
The outcomes of the coalition are open to discussion at the first meeting where we will run a scene setting exercise for what we can do to improve ocean literacy in Scotland. This will likely include creating a strategy similar to those in Canada and Wales. It may also look at embedding marine topics in the Curriculum for Excellence to improve ocean literacy at an early age. For example, Brazil recently became the first country to commit to integrating Ocean Literacy into its national curriculum, calling it the “Blue Curriculum”. This embodies the vision of the UN Ocean Decade which looks to achieve “The ocean we need for the future we want”, which clearly education is a huge part of the puzzle as well as involving young people. This objective is being led in Scotland by LINK members such as Young Sea Changers Scotland.
Find out more
To find out more about the work of the Sea the Connection project you can join the Living Seas newsletter by visiting our page.