Abstract Over the past several decades marine conservation policy has supported the implementation of protected areas in ocean and coastal environments to restrict some elements of human use for ecological benefits. The appropriate extent of protection and the allowable uses are often the subject of public debate about marine protected area policy. Local community dynamics around marine protected area designation and management have been the subject of much ocean and coastal management social science research. However, broader public opinions and attitudes about marine protected areas are not well understood and are critical for managers seeking to maintain their public trust obligations in environmental management. This paper provides a model for understanding the attitudes and beliefs that foster public support for or opposition to marine protections. We explored the relationships between awareness, attitudes and beliefs towards coastal and marine resource issues and uses, and demographics among a sample of Oregon, USA residents (n = 459), and tested their influence on support for expanding Oregon's recently established marine reserves. We found that Oregonians have relatively low familiarity with Oregon's marine reserve system, but that familiarity did not influence public support for Oregon's marine reserves. Instead public support was lower among coastal residents and those with positive attitudes towards commercial fisheries, and higher for those concerned with the ecological integrity of Oregon's ocean and supportive of some limits to human uses of the ocean. Our findings highlight the need for managers to engage both coastal communities and the general public to make a case for the value of marine protected areas in safeguarding the public trust.

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公众对海洋健康和海洋保护的看法：支持俄勒冈州海洋保护区的驱动因素

摘要 在过去的几十年中，海洋保护政策支持在海洋和沿海环境中实施保护区，以限制人类利用某些元素以实现生态效益。适当的保护范围和允许的用途通常是关于海洋保护区政策的公开辩论的主题。围绕海洋保护区指定和管理的当地社区动态已成为许多海洋和沿海管理社会科学研究的主题。然而，关于海洋保护区的更广泛的公众意见和态度并没有得到很好的理解，这对于寻求维护其在环境管理中的公众信任义务的管理者来说至关重要。本文提供了一个模型，用于理解促进公众支持或反对海洋保护的态度和信念。我们探讨了美国俄勒冈州居民样本（n = 459）对沿海和海洋资源问题和使用的意识、态度和信念与人口统计数据之间的关系，并测试了他们对支持扩大俄勒冈州最近建立的海洋保护区的影响。我们发现俄勒冈州人对俄勒冈州海洋保护区系统的熟悉程度相对较低，但这种熟悉程度并未影响公众对俄勒冈州海洋保护区的支持。相反，沿海居民和对商业渔业持积极态度的人的公众支持较低，而关注俄勒冈州生态完整性的人则较高。s 海洋，并支持对人类对海洋的使用限制。我们的研究结果强调了管理人员需要让沿海社区和公众参与进来，以证明海洋保护区在维护公众信任方面的价值。