Ocean and Society

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2976-0925

Article | Open Access

Ocean Literacy for Ocean Sustainability: Reflections From Australia

  • Rachel Kelly Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Australia / Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
  • Prue Francis Deakin Marine Research and Innovation Centre, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Australia
  • Rebecca J. Shellock Centre for Sustainable Development Reform, University of New South Wales, Australia
  • Stefan Andrews Great Southern Reef Foundation, Australia
  • Benjamin Arthur Marine National Facility, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
  • Charlotte A. Birkmanis Max Planck Queensland Centre for the Materials Science of Extracellular Matrices, Queensland University of Technology, Australia / UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, Australia / Blue Biome Foundation, Australia
  • Harry Breidahl Australian Association for Environmental Education, Australia
  • Lucy Buxton Ocean Decade Australia, Australia
  • Jasmine Chambers Ocean Decade Australia, Australia
  • Emma Church Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Australia / Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
  • Corrine Condie CSIRO Environment, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
  • Freya Croft Australian Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, University of Wollongong, Australia
  • Cátia Freitas Deakin Marine Research and Innovation Centre, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Australia
  • Shannon Hurley The Salty Tribe, Australia
  • Emily Jateff Australian National Maritime Museum, Australia
  • Brianna Le Busque Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Australia / Uni SA STEM, University of South Australia, Australia
  • Justin Marshall Coral Watch, University of Queensland, Australia
  • Allyson O’Brien School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Gretta T. Pecl Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Australia / Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
  • Laura Torre-Williams Gold Coast Newborn Calf Study, Griffith University – Gold Coast, Australia
  • Sophia Volzke Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
  • Yolanda Waters Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Environment, University of Queensland, Australia
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Abstract:  Ensuring a sustainable future for the global ocean requires meaningful dialogue and engagement with society. Around the world, efforts to engage and collaborate with society increasingly emphasise ocean literacy as a potential tool for engaging and educating people on ocean issues. A conceptual measure of people’s awareness, attitudes, and behaviours towards the ocean, ocean literacy has been highlighted as a key objective in recent ocean sustainability agreements and initiatives, including the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. In Australia, research and applied interest in ocean literacy is burgeoning. It is therefore timely to take stock and explore recent work that may inform future pathways towards supporting and engaging society in achieving ocean sustainability. Here, we explore examples of ocean literacy research and practice in Australia, to develop prospective thinking on inter/transdisciplinary approaches for advancing ocean literacy under sustainability objectives. In doing so, we anticipate the next steps for progressing ocean literacy in the Australian context, including supporting ocean learning and education, engaging communities at all levels, fostering cross‐sector collaboration on connecting people to the ocean, and building strong and actionable policy and funding frameworks to ensure long‐term impact. We emphasise the need to collaboratively develop a national ocean literacy strategy to guide and structure these efforts and to establish an Australian ocean literacy coalition to facilitate research, cross‐sector collaboration, and implementation in practice.

Keywords:  Australia; marine education; marine policy; ocean literacy; ocean sustainability; transdisciplinarity

Published:  

Issue:   Vol 2 (2025): Ocean Literacy as a Mechanism for Change Across and Beyond the UN Ocean Decade (In Progress)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/oas.9797


© Rachel Kelly, Prue Francis, Rebecca Shellock, Stefan Andrews, Ben Arthur, Charlotte Birkmanis, Lucy Buxton, Jas Chambers, Emma Church, Corrine Condie, Freya Croft, Catia Freitas, Shannon Hurley, Emily Jateff, Brianna Le Busque, Justin Marshall, Gretta T Pecl, Laura Torre-Williams, Sophia Volzke, Yolanda Waters. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction of the work without further permission provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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