In recent years, the importance of the marine environment has become prevalent, however it still faces many threats. One course of action for effective management of the marine environment requires the adoption of an ecosystem approach, as the topdown management strategy has often proved unsuccessful. The ecosystem based approach considers public perception and encourages agencies to consider the public when making decisions in order to have public participation or ‘buy in’ to the various policies/strategies for the management of the resources. A number of studies on public perceptions of the marine environment have been conducted in line with the ecosystem approach. This dissertation reviews the extensive literature on the public perception studies of the marine environment and provides recommendations for influencing environmentally conscious behaviour in society.