Expert opinions on threats and impacts in the marine environment

Abstract

We study expert opinions on global, marine threats and potential impacts to the environment and to society, using a survey dataset with more than 1500 respondents. The sample provides a panel of respondents across scientific disciplines, age groups, and institution types. We divide the respondents into two groups based on their main disciplinary background (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] and social science and humanities [SSH]). We can thus analyze potential differences in the assessment of marine threats and impacts across disciplines. The two groups largely agree on which threats and impacts are the most important. Further, more or less the same issues are listed as both environmental and societal concerns. These issues include overfishing, climate change (global warming, ocean acidification), pollution (plastics), and habitat damage. We also find interesting differences across the two disciplinary groups, in particular regarding sea level rise, biodiversity loss, and invasive species. Similarities and differences between the disciplinary groups largely hold up when controlling for demographic variables such as age and institution type.