Offshore cultural ecosystem services: evidence from open-sea research

Offshore marine environments tend to be characterised as uninhabited resource pools, and therefore, compared to terrestrial and coastal environments, have received little attention as sources of cultural ecosystem benefits. Ecosystem valuations of offshore marine areas have largely been based on the monetary values of provisioning and regulating services, and have not taken full account of intangible and non-monetary values. Effective management of marine areas depends upon a comprehensive assessment of the wide range of ecosystem benefits to society, including such cultural benefits as sense of place, cultural identity, aesthetic appreciation and inspiration, connection with nature, and education and research. This paper describes a novel approach to collecting data on cultural ecosystem benefits in offshore areas by stationing a cultural ecosystem services researcher on board a research vessel to carry out observational and ethnographic research, and to conduct semi-structured interviews with researchers and crew. The approach draws from humanities and social science methodologies for investigating embodied experiences, emotional responses, and psychological attachments. Results show a wide range of cultural ecosystem benefits associated with offshore, and a high degree of recognition of the sea as a powerful yet vulnerable environment demanding care and respect. Greater understanding of the cultural values of key users of offshore marine ecosystems will help to inform more effective marine management decisions and practices, and there is considerable scope for in situ participatory and observational research as described in this paper to help to achieve a more holistic assessment of marine cultural ecosystem benefits.