This Research Topic is the second volume of Research Topic "Fishing for human perceptions in coastal and island marine resource use systems", which can be found
here.Human perceptions, decision-making and (pro-) environmental behaviour are closely connected. Following up from the first volume, this Research Topic Relaunch brings together perceptions and behaviour for coastal resource use systems.
Management and governance of coastal marine resource use systems function in highly complex social and ecological environments, which are culturally embedded, economically interest-led and politically biased. Management processes, therefore, have to integrate multiple perspectives as well as perception-driven standpoints on the individual as well as the decision-makers’ levels. Consequently, the analysis of perceptions has developed not only as part of philosophy and psychology but also – for example – of environmental science, anthropology and human geography. It encompasses intuitions, values, attitudes, thoughts, mind-sets, place attachments and sense of place. All of these influence human behavior and action, and human-nature interactions, especially where little data exists, is collected or available within the respective marine resource use system. Often, these systems support the livelihood of a large part of the local population. Management and governance are not only about mediating between resource use conflicts or establishing marine protected areas, they deal with people and their ideas and perceptions. And understanding the related decision-making processes on multiple scales and levels could mean more than economically assessing the available marine resources or existing threats to the associated system.
Over the past decade, there has been a growing inter- and transdisciplinary international community becoming interested in research which integrates perceptions of local residents, local and regional stakeholder groups, as well as resource and environmental managers and decision-makers. By acknowledging the importance of the individual perspective and interest-led personal views, it becomes increasingly obvious how valuable and important these sources of information are for coastal research and sustainability considerations and transformations. An increase of research effort spent on the link between perceptions and behaviour in marine resource use systems, therefore, continues to be both timely and needed.
For this Research Topic Relaunch, we welcome submissions from all disciplines, presenting inclusive inter- and transdisciplinary approaches. Topic contributors are free to explore global, regional or local multi-level examples and discourses from the individual resource-user level to the decision-making level. The manuscripts can have a theoretical approach, or rely on more applied and empirical (e.g. comparative) case studies, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. By fishing for a diversity of inspiring and comprehensive contributions on the link between perceptions and human-environment interactions, this Research Topic Relaunch will critically enlighten and advance the discourse and applicability of such research for finding sustainable, locally identified, anchored and integrated marine resource use pathways.