Public perceptions of the ocean: a case study in Kalk Bay, South Africa

Basson, Jana

Public perceptions of the ocean: a case study in Kalk Bay, South Africa

Thesis / Dissertation

2026

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Environmental and Geographical Science

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Abstract

Globally ocean public perception studies have recently increased; however, African countries have been historically underrepresented in these studies. This study, in a unique setting of Kalk Bay, South Africa, set out to develop an understanding of how education about sharks influences the public's perceptions of the ocean, and what this means for ocean conservation in the region. Public perception surveys on ocean threats were completed by members of the public and visitors to Save Our Seas Foundation shark education centre in Kalk Bay, attending guided shark educational tours. By using a mixed methodology approach, the main findings included that most of the participants did not find the ocean threatening with only a very small number of participants indicating feeling threatened by sharks. Most participants found the ocean under threat from human activities and the three most frequently selected significant threats from human activities to the ocean were pollution, overfishing and climate change (global warming). The relationship between participants feeling less threatened by the ocean due to an increase in knowledge about the ocean and/ or sharks, after learning about sharks at the shark education centre, provides initial evidence of how education about sharks can influence the public's perceptions towards ocean conservation. This deeper understanding of the public's perceived threats to and from the ocean can allow policymakers and educators to tailor messages about sharks to potentially influence these perceptions towards ocean and shark conservation. Thus, educational recommendations based on the findings of this study were included and shared with the shark education centre in Kalk Bay. Furthermore, future research could use this study as a baseline for a longitudinal study to investigate changes in public perceptions of the ocean. A limitation of this study is the small sample size used and may warrant a future study on a larger scale to allow for increased representation of marginalised groups in developing countries, including South Africa, in ocean management and conservation.

Keywords

public perception

shark education

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