New research published on understanding behaviours of recreational boaters to reduce disturbance and damage to seagrass.

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).

Upcoming meetings with recreational boaters as part of the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project

CEP is looking for participants from the recreational boating community to take part in upcoming Zoom meetings as part of the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project

CEP is seeking a range of recreational boaters to take part in meetings on boating practices and sea grass as part of the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project led by Natural England in partnership with RYA, the Green Blue, Ocean Conservation Trust, Marine Conservation Society, Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum and Plymouth City Council.

The meetings will be held by Zoom videoconferencing on Friday 25 September at 6.30pm for boaters in the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries area and Tuesday 6 October at 6.30pm for boaters in the Solent / Isle of Wight area.

CEP has been commissioned by the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project to run the meetings as part of a strand of work to understand and improve recreational boater practices and behaviours affecting seagrass. The information from the meetings with the recreational boater community and from a survey to be conducted soon after, will be used to identify and design approaches to improving the impact of recreational boating on seagrass.

We are really keen to involve as wide a range of recreational boaters as possible, so if you are able to help us to publicise the meetings and survey and encourage boaters to participate please do.

If you yourself are a recreational boater who boats in either the Solent Maritime / Isle of Wight or the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries areas, and own or crew on yachts or power boats then we are very interested in hearing from you. The meetings will be a great opportunity for local boaters to help shape action to protect seagrass in the areas they know well and to get involved in an exciting project that will have a range of benefits, both for boaters and the marine environment.

The meetings are voluntary, and your opinions and experiences will be very valuable.  All discussions will be anonymised and follow our GDPR and ethics protocol.

Please CLICK HERE to sign up.

The LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project is working to improve the condition of four marine habitats of European importance. The project is led by Natural England in partnership with RYA, the Green Blue, Ocean Conservation Trust, Marine Conservation Society, Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum and Plymouth City Council.  The project has commissioned independent research consultancy Collingwood Environmental Planning (CEP) to run the meetings as part of a strand of work to understand and improve boater practices and behaviours affecting seagrass.

If you have any queries about this survey, please contact Paula Orr (Technical Director)

CEP to deliver a new NE project on Behaviour Change

CEP has been awarded a new project to assist Natural England to understand the behaviours of recreational boaters

CEP, in partnership with the University of Plymouth and Plymouth Marine Laboratory, has been commissioned by Natural England to undertake a new project to understand the behaviours of recreational boaters with regards to anchoring and mooring in Seagrass.

LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES (LIFE18 NAT/UK/000039) Reducing and Mitigating Erosion and Disturbance Impacts affecting the Seabed.

Action C1: Changing Stakeholder Behaviour Project

The project is part of the wider project LIFE Recreation Reducing and Mitigating Erosion and Disturbance Impacts affecting the Seabed (ReMEDIES) to improve the condition of marine habitats of European importance.

The overall aims of the Behaviour Change Project are to develop a clearer understanding of the behaviours of recreational boaters in relation to anchoring and mooring in seagrass in two pilot sites, to facilitate the design and development of interventions to address any issues uncovered, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions in order to achieve measurable behavioural changes that can lead, in the long term, to positive biodiversity outcomes.

The project focuses on two Special Areas of Conservation: Plymouth Sound & Estuaries and Solent Maritime – Isle of Wight.

Through this project, we will conduct a review of existing evidence and undertake new research with members of the local recreational boating community to further explore and understand the behavioural context. We will develop and test methods for changing behaviours and grow understanding of what works, using behavioural insights, to encourage more responsible boating behaviours, and we will disseminate learning to other sites.

The project commenced in June 2020 and is expected to end in January 2022. 

For more information, please contact Dr Clare Twigger-Ross (Technical Director, CEP) or Dr Sian Morse-Jones (Principal Consultant, CEP).