A Critical evaluation of the application of marine citizenship in sustainable marine management in the UK.

Abstract

Traditionally, governance of the marine1 environment has been state driven dominated by a top-down approach to management. Recently, however, management has evolved into a more participatory, bottom up regime in an aim to address the historical failures associated with traditional marine management. This study seeks to establish the potential role of citizenship specific to the marine environment. The founding rationale of the research is the suggestion that with a greater level of public involvement and responsibility, marine management could be developed at a more sustainable, long-term level. Following an extensive systematic literature review examining the role of citizenship in environmental management, and its potential applicability for the marine environment, a theoretical conceptual model of marine citizenship was generated. Through telephone interviews, the potential role of marine citizenship in marine management and policy delivery in the UK was evaluated. Results identified numerous factors with the potential to influence public expression of marine citizenship and these were further categorised into the key themes of education and personal attachment to the marine environment. In order to examine these issues further, two thematic case studies were designed to further evaluate their role in the inculcation of marine citizenship. It was found that current levels of marine education are insufficient, while sense of public connection with the marine environment was found to be low. Both factors were observed to be in need of improvement in order to engender a societal sense of marine citizenship in the UK. Synthesis of the results furthered the generation of the first working model of marine citizenship and established the necessary enabling factors required for successful expression of marine citizenship. In addition, specific management measures and recommendations for successful promotion of marine citizenship were defined. The research concluded given that a movement towards enhanced public engagement in the process has been identified as the ideal situation for marine management, encouraging a sense of marine citizenship could be an effective delivery mechanism. Further to this, it was determined that, central to successful inculcation of marine citizenship is the recognition that its promotion will require considerable effort on the part of marine managers and governance bodies to address the current capacity issues associated with public engagement.