Ocean Literacy: communicating to (love)sea

Abstract

One of the missions of the Vila do Conde Environmental Monitoring and InterpretationCenter (CMIA) is the communication of science related to the Ocean, developing numerousactivities that include exhibitions, lectures, hands-on activities, conversations withscientists, among others. CMIA aims to communicate efficiently, creatively and attractively.To achieve this objective, the present study aimed to assess the relevance of the Oceanto the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) and how research centers,museums, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or other institutions that disseminatescience can optimize the its mission according to the opinion of how the population seeksand would like to see information related to investigations carried out by researchers andcommunicators communicated. Data were collected through questionnaires given toindividuals within the CPLP community who voluntarily responded. The main results showthat 99.6% of respondents believe that researchers should disclose the results of theirinvestigations. In his opinion, this information should be disseminated through means suchas social networks, television and government and official websites. This study contributedto the knowledge of the best communication tools that allow increasing the scientificliteracy of the community, promoting interest in scientific research developed in favor ofthe Ocean and its protection.