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The purpose of this paper is to explore women's perceptions about the benefits and risks of fish consumption, while exploring differences on their views about wild and farmed fish, considering light fish consumers.

The methodology adopted is exploratory, using focus group technique, segregating women by education level (higher education versus lower education). A focus group guide was designed, taking into account the following dimensions: attitudes towards fish consumption and perceptions towards farmed fish relative to wild fish, also considering risk perceptions related to farmed versus wild fish.

This study has shown that fish consumers enjoy the taste of fish and they are strongly convinced that eating fish is healthy. The main reason for their low fish consumption is related to perceive lacking of convenience. Women with higher education levels expressed additional knowledge considering different aquaculture systems and women with lower education levels were convinced that both wild and farmed fish offer benefits and present disadvantages.

The paper shows that attitudes of light fish users are partially similar to heavy fish users considering farmed fish production, with the search for convenience being driven by either perceived lack of time or perceived lack of cookery skills to prepare fish‐based meals.

The purpose of this research is to assess public perception of food‐related hazards by Portuguese consumers at major metropolitan areas. A contrast was searched between controllable and non‐controllable hazards.

The Perceived Food Risk Index developed by Fife‐Schaw and Rowe, was administered to a sample of 666 subjects through a door to door interview using a random route walk procedure and following a quota sampling controlled for sex, age and location. Risk perception was evaluated over ten risk characteristics, for each of the hazards.

Through principal component analysis, two main components were identified: “Knowledge” and “Dread”. A perceptual map of the hazards was built over these two dimensions. A high level of worry and concern associated with fatty foods was found, clearly contradicting the expected attenuation of risk perception associated to greater perceived personal control. Contrarily to previous findings for other populations, GMOs yielded lower levels of both “Knowledge” and “Dread”. Based on risk perceptions, consumers were grouped in four segments: optimists, unconfident, fearless, and fearful.

This work adds to knowledge on the Portuguese consumer and its risk perceptions, a fairly unreported topic, thus helping to the success of food safety communication by different stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis between Aveiro's Lagoon (Portugal) and Sepetiba Bay (Brazil), in order to understand the similarities and differences between these two coastal zones, in terms of human occupation.

This paper is supported by works (papers and scientific projects being developed) produced in Portugal and Brazil, by researchers from different areas of expertise.

These two coastal zones have a similar geomorphologic evolution, due to the fact that both appeared because of a sandy spit, which started to grow and separated these areas from the sea, converting them into sheltered coasts. It was because they are protected that these two study cases early became targets for human occupation. The anthropic impacts in the systems were sustainable until the middle of the twentieth century. Since then, however, the economic development options, based first in industry and second in tourism exploration, have compromised the natural healthy balance.

This paper could be a contribution to a scientific support for political decisions on the coastal zone management (namely in these studied areas).

The paper provides and increases the knowledge of the coastal zones’ evolution and occupation – from a multidisciplinary perspective – produced and made available to scientists, local politicians, students and local populations.

The paper provides a truly interdisciplinary approach, which allows a better understanding of the evolution of these two systems, discussing the causes and consequences of human activities in both coastal areas.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), set specific targets for halting biodiversity loss, including the need to establish 10 per cent of coastal/marine areas conserved through, among other things, well‐connected systems of protected areas by 2020. The reality is that whereas nearly 15 per cent of land is protected, just over 1 per cent of marine space is similarly protected. The challenge is to reach “a global representative system” of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), recognizing that countries need to establish cooperative mechanisms at ecoregion level. The purpose of this paper is to address the options and trends for countries to develop transboundary cooperation through MPAs.

The authors address several case studies, focusing on political, governance and financing frameworks.

The main findings revealed that countries use MoU, MoA or Joint Declaration supported on international conventions as the WHC, Ramsar Convention and CMS. Governance models seem to include political/management/technical levels, with political decisions translated into action plans carried out by joint committees, supported by national institutions and scientific/technical boards. Also the involvement of civil society in management is a growing driving force. Financing transboundary MPAs is going through an evolutionary process, from an exclusive binomial national budgets/UNEP‐GEF to a wider financial net through ecotourism income and private donors.

The different solutions found point out myriad possibilities where transboundary cooperation is envisaged. States can benefit from the experiences already acquired to jointly achieve the target of protecting 10 per cent of the marine environment by 2020.

The purpose of this paper is to compare face‐to‐face versus online course delivery systems in the area of food consumption and to analyse the students' expectations and experiences. It aims to analyse the following dimensions: general expectations, learning organization and interactions in students' discourses. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology adopted is of interpretative nature using semi‐structured qualitative interviews. An interview guide was designed taking into account the learning modalities (styles and strategies), materials and learning tools, teacher‐student interaction and peer interaction dimensions. The students of both courses were interviewed in the second semester of the curricular year of the respective MSc degrees. Findings – This study has shown that face‐to‐face and online students are equally satisfied with their courses revealing the same confirmed general expectations. Comments for both course delivery systems are the need for more laboratory and practical classes. Results from this study also indicated that face‐to‐face and online educations are effective training food consumer sciences students suggesting, however, that both systems should evolve to blended‐learning. Practical implications – Both course delivery systems (face‐to‐face and online) contributed to the competencies acquisition in Food Consumer Sciences. B‐learning appears as the natural convergence of students needs. Originality/value – The online course results of the discourse analysis suggest the success developing a learning community pointing out the role of the online instructor and the course coordinator. The paper provided useful data and knowledge on which further research can be carried out.

Environmental threats of immediate risk in areas such as coastal zones (CZ) have aroused new trends of citizenship and participatory democracy. The purpose of this paper is to analyse elements within those trends, such as environmental culture, socio‐political context, dynamics of social associative movement and integration of local knowledge. It also aims to contribute to an overview of the opportunities and barriers found in considering socio‐cultural and educational challenges in CZ.

In this analysis, case studies of integrated coastal management occurring worldwide were selected and reviewed, considering several nuances of socio‐economic and political contexts of CZ. Experiences of public response to coastal catastrophes such the Prestige oil spill in Spain, are also described.

Whether implementing sustainable coastal management through either balanced systems (between large and small‐scale strategies) or through largely bottom‐up approaches, participation is detected as one of the main factors for a successful integrated approach. Principles such as participatory governance and social justice should be adopted in initial phases of sustainable management processes and preferably involve all of the implied actors of CZ.

The literature reviewed highlighted specific factors that have empirically contributed to participatory sustainability of CZ, integrating three dimensions of citizenship: education, society's dynamics and culture.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss integrative environmental assessments applicable to estuarine sediments, including the advantages and limitations of different lines of evidence that could form part of such assessments and their application to ecosystem services.

Weight of evident framework integrating multiple lines of evidence for sediment quality assessment.

Integrative environmental assessments are required to fully address the risks to resident fauna of anthropogenic contaminants deposited in estuarine sediments.

The paper presents an updated discussion of the methodologies for environmental assessments of contaminated estuarine sediments.

Estuaries and shallow coastal areas are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, being recognized as important nursery areas for marine fish. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the causes and consequences of recruitment variability in marine fish, contributing to ecosystem‐based management strategies of estuarine and coastal areas.

The authors conducted a literature review, exploring the role of estuaries as nursery areas for marine fish, and analyzed the connectivity between estuaries and coastal areas, the main processes driving recruitment variability in marine fish during their pelagic (larval) and estuarine residency (juveniles) phases, and how it can be translated into variable coastal stocks.

Recruitment variability in marine fish is still one of the most important issues in marine fisheries ecology. In this paper, the authors demonstrate the potential of several processes for inducing variability in recruitment, including density‐independent mechanisms such as temperature, hydrodynamics, river flow and large‐scale factors, as well as density‐dependent processes, related with food abundance, competition and predation. Lastly, the authors evaluated the connectivity between estuaries and the ocean, and how this relationship can influence coastal stocks in the future. The main findings were analyzed in the context of climate change, which has been demonstrated to influence marine life at the individual, population and ecosystem levels.

This paper is a valuable tool for marine researchers and stakeholders, since it summarizes some of the most important processes that drive recruitment variability in marine fish, and how this information can be used for establishing sustainable ecosystem management programmes.

The purpose of this paper is to review a number of recent initiatives to promote sustainable aquaculture development through improvements to education and training capacity, and innovations in the use of eLearning.

The authors share their experience in these initiatives and demonstrate how e‐learning has been developed in specific cases to better serve the needs of the aquaculture sector, while addressing the pedagogical issues of distance learning and finding the best use of new internet‐based technologies.

These examples show how to respond to the needs of adult learners who may have a substantially different learner profile to typical campus students and have a more diverse range of needs and background knowledge. Greater focus is needed on defining, enhancing and accrediting knowledge and skills acquired informally and “on the job”, so as to develop more effective formal education interventions.

Adults engaging with job‐related education are not empty vessels requiring to be filled with the correct mix of knowledge and skills by teachers who know all the answers. They are active learners seeking a supportive and enabling structure involving access to appropriate resources, engagement with fellow learners and more expert practitioners, and appropriate challenges and rewards to maximise effort and achievement.

The paper shows that there is substantial social benefit in promoting an innovative and sustainable aquaculture industry that contributes positively to food security and human health. Continued Professional Development involving eLearning and other innovative approaches can make an important contribution throughout the sector.