Access to marine ecosystems services: Inequalities in Scotland's young people

The marine environment provides a wealth of goods and services from which people obtain value, but how young people interact with the marine environment and enjoy its services is an understudied area. This paper examines the extent to which young people (11-16 year olds) in Scotland benefit from marine ecosystem services in the form of seafood consumption and marine recreational activities. It uses data from the annual Young People in Scotland Survey 2016 and analyses inequality using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Results show that regular access to seafood provisioning services from the marine environment is low with only 37% of the young people having consumed seafood in the last week, and 9.3% having never tried any type of seafood. Whitefish was the most consumed species by 68% of pupils followed by salmon by 61%. Analysis of the distribution of seafood consumption by the SIMD, shows significant levels of inequalities, with young people from more deprived areas less likely to consume a range of seafood compared to those from the less deprived areas. Access to the marine environment for recreational activities is relatively high for those activities covered by the survey - 76% of the young people reported having walked or run on the beach, followed by swimming in the sea at 68%. Analysis of the distribution of coastal and marine activities by the SIMD, found no sign of inequalities for five of the seven activities. Gender difference in young people access to seafood were significant, with young females much less likely to consume, or want to try seafood compared to young males. This was not the case however for marine recreational activity. In conclusion this study provides evidence of inequalities in young people's experience of seafood provisioning but not in recreational opportunities from the marine environment. What that means for their attitudes towards the marine environment are discussed, and a number of questions are posed for further research into young people's perceptions, motivations and aspirations around these behaviours. Disclaimer: All views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect Government policy.

Automated summary

The study found that only 37% of young people aged 11-16 in Scotland had consumed seafood in the past week, and seafood consumption was relatively low among young people from economically deprived areas. However, access to marine recreational activities was relatively common among all young people, and significant gender differences were found in seafood consumption.