Perceptions of wilderness and their application to ocean and coastal waters

Over the last few decades, there has been some debate within the conservation community regarding whether places in ocean and coastal waters can and should be considered “wilderness.” While there have been numerous marine protected areas around the world that have been self-identified as “wilderness,” there is no widely-held, consensus definition of what makes these areas “wilderness,” nor have the human uses that would be compatible, and incompatible, with preserving important wilderness attributes, values and qualities been identified and evaluated. A survey of conservation practitioners and scientists was conducted in 2011 to begin to systematically address these questions to better inform the identification, establishment and management of ocean wilderness. The results of this survey confirm that respondents believed that ocean and coastal waters could be considered wilderness, and that the spatial dimensions of wilderness in these places included everything from the seabed to the airspace above the sea surface. Survey findings identified the most important wilderness attributes as amount of boat traffic, amount of noise, presence of human-made structures, ‘naturalness’, opportunities for solitude, and opportunities for preserving ecosystems and biodiversity. The survey also suggested that recreational uses and those involving Indigenous use related to preserving cultural heritage as most compatible in wilderness waters, while finding that commercial shipping and fishing most incompatible. Survey respondents also emphasized the importance of preserving the non-use values of places identified as ocean wilderness.