United States offshore wind energy development (OWD) is poised to expand significantly in the coming decade as a result of substantial wind resources adjacent to large population and coastal load centers. A significant portion of OWD infrastructure may be sited within or adjacent to parks and protected areas, raising concerns about the potential social, situational, and ecological impacts upon coastal recreation. This novel study investigated the influence of perceived recreation impact and coping behaviors upon coastal recreationists’ general attitudes towards potential OWD at the New Hampshire seacoast. On-site surveys were used to collect data from New Hampshire coastal recreationists from June to September of 2019 (n = 553). The study sample’s perceptions towards the acceptance, support, fit, and recreation impact of OWD at the New Hampshire Seacoast was largely supportive and positive. The overall sample perceived the presence of OWD would not cause them to alter or substitute their recreation activities, behaviors, or experiences. Moreover, structural equation modeling suggests perceived recreation impact and coping behaviors are significant predictors of general attitudes towards OWD. Further, a lack of measurable effect from photo-elicitation priming suggests viewshed impacts and the spatial proximity of OWD siting did not have a significant influence upon general attitudes towards OWD. This research offers critical insights into the theories of stress-coping and landscape fit and calls into question the assumption that situational factors such as OWD act as a stressor on coastal recreation. This study found that OWD will likely have little impact on aggregate coastal recreation visitation, and in some instances, may even amplify visitation. This research demonstrates the importance of evaluating coastal recreationists’ perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes from a social-ecological approach when initiating OWD projects in the United States and abroad.

由于临近人口众多和沿海负荷中心的大量风能，美国海上风能开发（OWD）有望在未来十年中显着扩展。OWD基础设施的很大一部分可能位于公园和保护区之内或附近，这引发了人们对沿海娱乐活动的潜在社会，环境和生态影响的担忧。这项新颖的研究调查了感知到的娱乐影响和应对行为对沿海休闲者对新罕布什尔州沿海潜在单程预警的一般态度的影响。使用现场调查从2019年6月至9月从新罕布什尔州沿海休闲者那里收集数据（n = 553）。研究样本对OWD在新罕布什尔州海岸的接受，支持，适应和娱乐影响的看法在很大程度上是支持性的和积极的。总体样本认为OWD的存在不会导致他们改变或替代其娱乐活动，行为或经验。此外，结构方程模型表明，感知的娱乐影响和应对行为是对OWD总体态度的重要预测指标。此外，光激发引发的可测量效果的缺乏表明了视线影响和OWD选址的空间接近性对OWD的总体态度没有显着影响。这项研究提供了对压力应对和景观拟合理论的批判性见解，并使人们对诸如OWD之类的环境因素成为沿海休闲压力源的假设提出了质疑。这项研究发现，OWD可能对沿海休闲游乐设施的总访问量几乎没有影响，在某些情况下甚至可能扩大访问量。这项研究表明，在美国和国外启动OWD项目时，从社会生态学角度评估沿海休闲者的看法，行为和态度非常重要。