Ocean Literacy Strategy for Wales 2025

This article is an abridged version of the original easy to read strategy, which can be downloaded from the right-hand column. It highlights some of the publication’s key messages below, but please access the downloadable resource for more comprehensive detail, full references, or to quote text. Final reflections on Transformational Adaptation are added by the MACC Hub team

Summary

The marine environment makes up almost half of the area of Wales and is a hugely important resource for us all – for leisure, for work and as a source of energy, food and diverse wildlife. In 2022, the Wales Coasts and Seas Partnership (CaSP Cymru) group identified improving ocean literacy across Wales as a key focus of their work. The importance of understanding, fostering and enhancing ocean literacy is increasingly being recognised within global and national initiatives as critical to helping us address the challenges facing our coasts and seas. Recent surveys undertaken across the UK explored attitudes towards protecting the sea and coast, including intentions for future behaviour change. The results highlighted useful findings that can shape how we can build ocean literacy in Wales. For example, whilst 80% of respondents felt that visiting the sea and coast provided mental and physical health benefits, almost half of respondents felt their lifestyle has no impact on the marine and coastal environments. Nevertheless, most people felt that it is important to protect the marine environment and many were prepared to make lifestyle changes to protect the sea and coast.

CaSP Cymru held workshops in 2022 bringing together over 200 marine and coastal practitioners from across Wales and the UK to explore what was already happening and what steps were needed to build ocean literacy in Wales and to start to develop a vision. Priority actions identified through these workshops included:

• Developing a vision and strategy for building ocean literacy in Wales;
• Building a base of champions, creating a network of skilled and informed people;
• Enabling shared information and common platforms to communicate learning and promote collaborative working across Wales’s ocean literacy community

Following this, the Welsh Ocean Literacy Coalition was established, bringing together representatives from different organisations and institutions across Wales.

Introduction

The Wales Coasts and Seas Partnership (CaSP Cymru), the overarching stakeholder group for the marine sector in Wales, works to support and enable better delivery for resilient marine ecosystems and the marine sector in Wales. Between 2020 and 2021, the group identified several priority actions to enable a step change in our ability to deliver positive outcomes for our marine and coastal environment and the communities that depend on them. One of these was to improve ocean literacy across Wales.

CaSP Cymru recognised the importance of increasing ocean literacy in Wales to improve outcomes for the sea such as reduced pollution and litter, greater involvement of local communities in decision making and improved knowledge of careers and future prospects for working in the marine environment. All of these require individuals, communities, and businesses across Wales to understand their influence and impact upon coasts and seas to foster stronger relationships and encourage positive ocean-actions to address the issues facing our coasts and seas.

Methodology

In June 2022, facilitated workshops were run by CaSP that brought together a wide range of ocean literacy practitioners from across Wales and beyond, to identify the priority actions needed. The specific aims of the workshops were to:

• develop a vision for an “ocean literate” Wales
• understand what ocean literacy initiatives and actions are already happening
• identify thematic and geographical gaps
• co-develop priorities of what needs to happen to progress with ocean literacy in Wales

The top priority action identified by workshop participants was the development of a strategy to help coordinate, strengthen, and amplify existing ocean literacy activity.

What is ocean literacy?

With an original aim of enhancing ocean knowledge in school students, ocean literacy began as a concept with its foundations in formal education. Seven key principles were initially developed to support development of ocean literacy and underpinned the majority of ocean literacy initiatives.

• The earth has one big ocean with many features
• The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of the earth
• The ocean is a major influence on the weather and climate
• The ocean makes the earth habitable
• The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems
• The ocean and humans are inextricably connected
• The ocean is largely unexplored

However, in recent years, our understanding of human behaviour and of ocean literacy has continued to evolve. Where once ocean literacy focused primarily on knowledge, more recent research has highlighted that there are many other dimensions within ocean literacy including awareness, attitudes, activism (Brennan et al., 2019), emotion, access and experience, adaptive capacity and trust and transparency (McKinley et al. 2023). Crucially, these evolved concepts of ocean literacy recognise the diversity of relationships that can be held between people and their coasts and seas, and that these relationships can be impacted by a wide range of factors. Therefore, to strengthen and build ocean literacy, it is important to be aware of each of these dimensions and recognise that there is no one size fits all approach.

Ocean literacy in Wales

In 2021 and 2022, a collaboration between Defra, Natural Resources Wales, Ocean Conservation Trust and Scottish Government led to the first ever national scale surveys of ocean literacy across the UK. The surveys explored attitudes towards protecting the sea and coast, including intentions for future behaviour change. The survey results highlighted some key drivers for ocean literacy work in Wales. For example, whilst 80% of respondents felt that visiting the sea and coast provides mental and physical health benefits, almost half of respondents felt their lifestyle has no impact on the marine and coastal environments in Wales. Nevertheless, most people felt that it is important to protect the marine environment and many were prepared to make lifestyle changes to protect the sea and coast. This information is fundamental in informing what steps we can take to improve the connection between people and the sea. Understanding how our lifestyle impacts our coastal spaces, better supporting ways to live more sustainably and developing a stronger connection to our coasts and seas is at the heart of Y Môr a Ni.

Key findings in Wales

Only around half of respondents felt that their lifestyle impacts on the marine environment, though 58% rated the health of the global marine environment as poor or very poor.

Most (87%) felt that it is important to protect the marine environment.

A large proportion of respondents wanted to make lifestyle changes to protect our sea and coast. Things people already do include: recycling more, reducing consumption of single-use plastics, and minimising energy demands in homes.

People mostly got their information about the ocean from nature documentaries and the news.

The most popular destinations for visitors were sandy beaches and coastal towns.

Marine litter/plastic pollution was perceived to be the pressing posing the biggest threat to Wales’ sea ad coast by 76% of respondents.

Around 80% of respondents felt visiting the sea and coast provided mental and physical health benefits.

Actions undertaken

Initial online workshops held in 2022 brought over 200 marine and coastal practitioners from across Wales and the UK together to explore what was already happening in Wales around ocean literacy and to start to develop a collective vision. Priority actions identified through these workshops included:

• A call for a vision and a strategy for ocean literacy for Wales;
• Creating and building a network of skilled and informed ocean literacy champions;
• Enabling shared information and common platforms.

A cross-organisational working group in Wales was established to develop the Y Môr a Ni strategy, bringing together expertise from a range of institutions. Using survey findings and a Theory of Change approach, the group refined a shared vision and tested it through workshops in North and South Wales and an online event in early 2024. Alongside finalising the strategy, the group is growing as a practitioner network, identifying actions for wider delivery and developing a website to share resources and support ocean literacy across Wales.

Action areas

Y Môr a Ni have identified six action areas to support the delivery of their vision and goals, with a series of objectives included within each one.

A. access and experience

This action area recognises how people’s connection to Wales’s coasts and seas grows through experience, whether that is direct (being at the coast) or indirect (for example, through television, an art installation, virtual reality, poetry, storytelling).

b. ocean literate policy

Marine and coastal environments can often be out of sight and out of mind for policy makers, leading to a political landscape that is not appropriately focused on the value of our coastal spaces. Effectively embedding marine and coastal considerations within relevant policy and management frameworks, systems and decisions will ensure more sustainable outcomes for the marine and coastal area and the communities that rely on them.

c. ocean literacy leadership & champions

To fully embed ocean literacy in Wales, there is a need to target a broad audience to reach communities throughout Wales. To do this, champions and influencers who relate to all audiences and demographic groups at all levels, from the Senedd to local neighbours are needed.

d. knowledge and skills

Enabling informed decision making is critical at every level (local, regional, national; across sectors, disciplines and cultures). Whilst knowledge does not necessarily equal behaviour change, it is essential to understand how behaviour and decisions connect people with their impact on the ocean, coast and wider environment.

e. communities and culture

Supporting connections to the coast and seas at the community level can enable people to feel more connected to their local area, which in turn may encourage positive engagement and action on marine and coastal issues. The community voice is powerful and key to this is communities understanding future challenges, appropriate actions and how they can make their voice heard.

f. network and capacity building

To deliver Y Môr a Ni, it is important that an active network of ocean literacy practitioners are developed to facilitate collaboration, sharing and coordination of ocean literacy outreach and projects across Wales.

How this will work?

This strategy provides a framework for practitioners to use to explore their role in supporting Y Môr a Ni and developing ocean literacy in Wales. The strategy will be developed and delivered in line with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, using its Ways of Working to ensure decisions are long-term, fair and focused on future wellbeing. While collaboration has already shaped the current strategy, it recognises the need to broaden engagement over time to include more diverse voices across Wales, so the strategy can continue to evolve with and for the people of Wales in support of national well-being goals.

Relevant transformational adaptation principle(s)

Active engagement: Lasting change depends on genuine collaboration with communities. This is about working together over time, recognising that emotions and values shape how people see risk, and building a shared vision for the future of each place. 

This is the clearest pillar reflected throughout the project. The strategy is built through extensive workshops, surveys, and ongoing collaboration with over 200 marine and coastal practitioners, alongside plans for much wider public and community engagement. The emphasis on co-developing a shared vision, building networks of champions, supporting community voice, and recognising diverse relationships with coasts and seas directly reflects sustained, participatory engagement and co-production.

Targeted vulnerability assessment: To adapt well, we need to understand why certain people and places are most at risk, from both environmental and social pressures. This focuses on tackling root causes of vulnerability, making adaptation fair, and planning with future generations in mind.

The project is grounded in understanding how different people perceive, experience and impact the marine environment. National ocean literacy surveys, analysis of attitudes and behaviours, and recognition that “there is no one size fits all approach” demonstrate a targeted assessment of social, cultural and behavioural vulnerabilities. The strategy explicitly uses this evidence to shape actions that respond to different communities, experiences, and capacities across Wales.

Systems Thinking: is about looking at the bigger picture – how different sectors, places, and people are connected – and making sure actions in one area don’t cause problems in another. It means working across boundaries, creating benefits for people and nature, and being fair about who carries the costs.

The work recognises the marine environment as interconnected with health, livelihoods, culture, policy, education and behaviour change. By linking individual lifestyles, community action, policy frameworks, ecosystems and long-term wellbeing, the strategy takes a whole-systems view of adaptation rather than focusing on single issues or sectors.