Ocean Literacy and the IOC: Fostering Ocean-related Education and the Culture of Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use of Our Blue Planet

The general public is not aware of the full extent of the medical, economic, social, political and environmental importance of the sea.
Many of us are not aware that our day-to-day actions can have a cumulative effect on the health of the ocean and seas – a necessary resource that must be protected for all life on planet earth to exist.
In other words, people lack a sense of ‘Ocean Literacy’ i.e. an understanding of the ocean’s influence on us and our influence on the ocean.
In more detail, ocean literacy is more than just educating or informing the public and the marine and maritime stakeholders about the importance of oceans.
Ocean literacy, through the use of behavioral change methods and by adopting a system approach, aims at facilitating the creation of an ocean literate society.