Natural England have published a new report: “LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES Behaviour Change Project: Understanding the behavioural context ”, written by CEP in partnership with Plymouth University and Plymouth Marine Laboratory.
The ReMEDIES Behaviour Change Project aimed to help Natural England and partners develop evidence-based interventions to influence the behaviour of recreational boaters to reduce disturbance and damage to seagrass. This report responded to the Behaviour Change Project’s objectives to review current knowledge on:
Recreational boating behaviours - specifically anchoring and mooring – with relation to their impacts on seagrass and the effectiveness of existing mitigation measures, and
The behavioural context at two test sites: Plymouth Sound and Estuaries and the Solent Maritime Special Areas of Conservation.
Using the COM-B behaviour change model and associated Behaviour Change Wheel, CEP and partners studied the extent to which boaters felt that their Behaviour in relation to seagrass was influenced by:
Capability (e.g. do boat users feel they can control the extent to which their activity causes damage?),
Opportunity (e.g. do they have options for anchoring away from vulnerable areas?), and
Motivation (e.g. to what extent do they feel that protecting seagrass matters to them?).
The Theory of Planned Behaviour was also used to explore boaters’ motivation in more detail.
The findings of the study explore the effects of anchoring and mooring behaviours on seagrass, potential approaches to changing behaviours to prevent damage to seagrass, and the barriers and facilitators to boaters taking action. Examples of some of the key implications for behaviour change strategies derived from the findings include:
To be effective, interventions for behaviour change need to address the psychological (e.g. motivations, emotions), social (e.g. social norms) as well as the physical (e.g. Advanced mooring Systems) aspects of boater behaviour.
Interventions should build on the desire of boaters to protect the ocean. Attention should be paid to incorporating messages that facilitate ocean connectedness.
Collaborate with boaters to develop co-created solutions and encourage discussion around potential interventions to explore their strengths and weaknesses for a particular location.
The full report can be found here.
For more information about the project, please contact Clare Twigger-Ross (Project Director).