Uses, values, stakeholders, and opinions associated with marine protected areas a content analysis of news media, 1995-2001

The concept of marine protected areas is currently under scrutiny by members of the U.S. Congress, coastal natural resource management agencies, special interest stakeholder groups, and the public. As a surrogate for public opinion polls, a media content analysis was performed for news stories related to marine protected areas. The analysis examined more than 25,000 on-line newspaper, news wire, and radio and television broadcast news stories from 1995 to 2001 for expressions of four broad categories of uses and values associated with marine protected areas, expressions of favorable and unfavorable attitudes associated with marine protected areas, and the stakeholder groups involved in the discussion. Ecological uses and values were expressed more often than social, recreational, and commercial uses and values. Favorable attitudes were expressed more frequently than unfavorable attitudes. Over the period of analysis, 1995 to 2001, a gradual upward trend was found in frequencies of expressions of ecological, social, recreational, and commercial uses and values. A gradual upward trend was found for relative frequency of favorable attitudes and a gradual downward trend for unfavorable attitudes. For the five broad stakeholder groups, marine protected areas were mentioned most frequently in connection to government, followed by nongovernmental groups, the public, industry, and academia. This paper describes the study methods and findings of the analysis, and offers management implications and considerations for future research. BACKGROUND On May 26, 2000, President Clinton signed Executive Order No. 13158 on Marine Protected Areas. Marine protected areas, as defined in section two of the executive order, include “any area of the marine environment that has been reserved by Federal, State, territorial, tribal, or local laws or regulations to provide lasting protection for part or all of the natural and cultural resources therein. ” (Executive Order No. 13158 2000) The purpose of the executive order is to “help protect the significant natural and cultural resources within the marine environment for the benefit of present and future generations by strengthening and expanding the Nation’s system of marine protected areas (MPAs). ” (Executive Order No. 13158 2000) Efforts under way pursuant to several sections of the executive order include the creation of a MPA Advisory Committee, an inventory of current MPA sites, a national MPA Web site, and a National MPA Center in Washington, DC. The National MPA Center was established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to coordinate, in cooperation with the Department of the Interior (DOI) and other partners, the implementation of the executive order “to develop a framework for a national system of MPAs, and to provide Federal, State, territorial, tribal, and local governments with the information, technologies, and strategies to support the system. ” (Executive Order No. 13158 2000) Within the responsibilities of the National MPA Center, two regional institutes have been Technical Paper MPA Content Analysis 2 NOAA Coastal Services Center established—the MPA Science Institute, in Santa Cruz, California, and the MPA Training and Technical Assistance Institute, housed at the NOAA Coastal Services Center in Charleston, South Carolina. Staff at the NOAA Coastal Services Center conducted a content analysis of news media stories related to marine protected areas as a component of a larger assessment of needs. The intent of the analysis was to examine the public discourse to identify overall attitudes, uses and values, and stakeholder groups commonly associated with marine protected areas.