If you start it, they may not come: Why some stakeholders did not participate in a marine spatial planning process
Using the recent ocean planning process in the US Northeast, this paper assesses the perspectives of stakeholders who did not participate in a marine spatial planning (MSP) process. Since it is more challenging to find and survey stakeholders who did not participate in a process than ones who did, the authors chose a smaller study area – Massachusetts Bay – to examine. They conducted a scoping survey (235 respondents) to understand respondents’ relationships with the marine environment, their understanding of MSP, and why they did or did not participate in the Northeast regional ocean planning process. In addition, the authors held three focus groups (21 participants total) to further explore participants’ understanding of the planning process and their perceptions of the process. The scoping survey was “not intended to be representative”, and focus group participants were chosen from scoping survey respondents.