Advancing Ocean Literacy Through Media: Best Practices and Insights for Engaging Young Adults in Canada

Abstract

Ocean literacy, defined as “an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you, and your influence on the ocean”, is key to advancing the United Nations Ocean Decade Challenge 10: Restoring society’s relationship with the ocean. Public ocean perceptions research (POPR) provides insights into society’s ocean awareness, ocean connectedness, and actions that support a healthy ocean. These insights are particularly relevant for strategic ocean communications, which represent a key pathway for advancing ocean literacy. In Canada, the Centre for Ocean Literacy Collaboration, formerly known as the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition, has pioneered POPR, but limited research has focused on young adults’ perspectives. It is important to address this gap because young adults will inherit future ocean challenges and will be responsible for managing ocean sustainability. For them to meaningfully contribute, they must be ocean literate. To this end, the ubiquity of media as an information source in this digital age can be leveraged by targeted communication strategies. POPR on young adults can provide insights into young adults’ perceptions, guiding tailored communication strategies and inspiring action. This study synthesizes key communication strategies through a directed qualitative analysis of the Communications Inc. Better Practice Principles document, a practitioner-oriented set of guidelines on impactful and effective communication strategies. Findings are integrated with a quantitative analysis of the Canadian dataset of the Ocean and Society Survey (OSS) (n=1,022) to examine young adults’ (aged 18 – 34) perceptions of media’s role in advancing ocean literacy. Ultimately, this research identifies communication approaches that are most effective for engaging young adults in Canada and strengthening their ocean knowledge, emotional connection, and pro-ocean behaviours.