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BENNETT ET AL. 7of10

Level of support wood, 2010). This study extends previous research through
employing quantitative methods and analysis to examine
for the MPA
how perceptions are associated with support for conserva-
tion. Overall, results show that small-scale fishermen are
mostly supportive of MPAs in the northern Mediterranean
Knowledge & education 0.48 and held generally positive perceptions of the ecological
Transparency in decision−making 0.47 effectiveness and social impacts of MPAs but more varied
perceptions of governance. We found agreement with the
Recognition 0.46
general hypothesis that positive perceptions are associated
Conflict management & resolution 0.46 with increased support for MPAs (Bennett, 2016). While all
three factors were positively correlated with levels of support
Trust 0.40
for conservation, perceptions of good governance and social
Rule of law 0.40
impacts were stronger predictors of increasing support. These
Accountability 0.38 findings suggest that employing good governance processes
and managing social impacts may be more important than
Community well−being 0.31
ecological effectiveness for maintaining local support for
Connection to nature 0.31 conservation.
The results presented here have a number of important
Fish abundance 0.30
implications for conservation policy makers and practition-
Fairness of impacts 0.30
1 ers. First, these results confirm the worth of understand-
Participation & voice 0.30 ing people's perceptions (Bennett, 2016). Monitoring peo-
0.8 ple's perceptions can help identify management actions—for
Food security 0.29
example, relationship building, conducting outreach activi-
Communication of information 0.28
0.6 ties, communicating science, and increasing transparency—
Marine habitats 0.27 that will improve perceptions and increase support. Second,
0.4 the analysis of individual indicators against levels of sup-
Consultation & consent 0.26
port points to specific factors related to conservation that may
Legitimacy 0.26 0.2 be more important determinants of support—these include
transparency, conflict management, recognition, trust, and
Livelihoods 0.25
0 knowledge and education. Third, these results suggest that
Spearman’s
Income 0.17
rho conservation practitioners and managers need to be attentive
to the quality of governance (Bennett & Satterfield, 2018;
FIGURE 3 Individual perceptions indicators correlated with
Borrini-Feyerabend & Hill 2015; Lockwood, 2010) and the
levels of support for the marine protected area. Size of dot and color
social impacts of conservation (Jones et al., 2017; Kaplan-
scale both represent correlation coefficient. Survey data from 102
Hallam & Bennett 2017; McNeill et al., 2018; Svensson et al.,
small-scale fishermen with complete responses in survey
2010)—just as they need to attend to the ecological effective-
ness of conservation. Fostering support through greater atten-
tion to good governance and social impacts may also have
score. After adjusting for other covariates, all three scores
knock-on benefits through increasing compliance, decreas-
remained significant predictors for support of the MPA with
ing enforcement costs, and improving ecological outcomes
governance and social impacts scores having the strongest
(Bergseth, Gurney, Barnes, Arias, & Cinner, 2018; Rohe et al.,
effect on increasing support.
2017).
We recognize some limitations of this work. First, we cau-
4 DISCUSSION tion here that this study may have limited generalizability
to other settings as it focuses on one context, stakeholder
This research provides a multi-sited study of how people's group, and timeframe. Second, the overall sample was rela-
perceptions can be monitored using a quantitative survey to tively small (n = 149) and was further restricted for regression
understand the social impacts of conservation (Jones et al., models. Third, items in the composite scores were summed
2017; Kaplan-Hallam & Bennett 2017; McNeill, Clifton, but not weighted.
& Harvey, 2018; Svensson, Rodwell, & Attrill, 2010), eco- Thus, we encourage improving upon the approach taken
logical effectiveness (Leleu et al., 2012; Webb et al., 2004; here in future research. In particular, we recommend refining
Yasué et al., 2010), and conservation governance (Bennett the indicators and composite scores, weighting items within
& Satterfield 2018; Borrini-Feyerabend & Hill 2015; Lock- composite scores, sampling a broader group of stakeholders