Social, Economic and Cultural Overview and Assessment for Ocean ...

3.2.3 Core elements of a SECOA
Table 5 presents the “core elements” of a SECOA – data which the results of this report’s
analysis indicates are most important to accurately and thoroughly carry out an overview
and assessment. This provides an overall sense of how others have focused in terms of the
human dimensions of ocean management. Selection of these elements was based entirely
on the case studies, which involved reviewing Table 2-4, re-assessing the raw data (see
Appendix C) and a data mining exercise to draw out commonalities between all of the case
studies, regardless of their grouping in earlier analyses. As such, this table represents those
data variables and sub-variables used in all spatial scales of social, economic and cultural
assessments. This aggregated analysis, while to some extent seeming to compare “apples
and oranges”, enables the integration of the smaller and larger scale studies, as well as
LOMA-scale studies, to draw overall lessons. In terms of process, sources of data and
collection methods drawn from the case studies are listed alongside the core elements, as
potentially suitable options for future studies.
It should be noted that while this list indicates commonly-occurring variables used in
overview and assessment studies, there is no “best” way to conduct a socioeconomic
assessment. The order of the steps and data collected will vary widely depending on local
conditions, capacity, budgetary and time constraints as well as the objectives of the
assessment (Bunce et al. 2000). Moreover, socioeconomic assessment should be adapted,
and its process modified, to the particular situation and context.
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