A new survey of 22,000 people across the country shows that little progress has been made in the last 10 years in making the public aware of the many problems challenging the world’s oceans.

In fact, despite the advent of a wide range of new television shows and Web sites about ocean issues, only 2 percent of those queried cited protecting the environment as a big issue.

The number-one priority for 40 percent of the respondents was improving the economy. Second was national security, cited by 15 percent. That was followed by energy independence, 11 percent; lower energy costs, 9 percent; universal health care, 6 percent, and slowing global warming, 4 percent.

The survey was commissioned by The Ocean Project, a small, Providence-based organization that has grown since the late 1990s to now working with 830 zoos, aquariums and museums as well as conservation and education organizations across the country. The project advances ocean conservation by doing public opinion research and providing tools and strategies to increase public outreach.

Bill Mott, The Ocean Project director, says in some ways the survey is discouraging. “We were hoping for an uptick in Americans’ ocean literacy, but it flat-lined.”

But the survey does show young people are interested in the oceans, Mott said, and it provides some guidance for how zoos and aquariums can do more to educate the public.

Mott said that after eight years of lobbying, the United Nations this year recognized World Oceans Day on June 8. And he said the group got a reasonable response to its efforts to get out word on the survey and other public-awareness campaigns such as “Wear Blue and Tell Two” — to tell two people something about the oceans they didn’t know before.

The survey, part of research entitled Americans, the Ocean and Climate Change: New Research Insights for Conservation, Awareness and Action, expands on a similar survey conducted by The Ocean Project in 1999.

A summary of the survey points out that the public expects and trusts aquariums, zoos and museums “to educate regarding environmental and conservation issues and to provide guidance about how to address them personally and societally. Collectively, however, we are not meeting these expectations, and the vacuum is being filled by corporate messaging that does not always promote the best interests of conservation.”

The survey reaches five key findings:

•Despite low levels of ocean literacy and lack of a sense of urgency, Americans say they support protecting the health of the ocean and the environment.

•While the public is concerned about climate change, it does not associate climate change and carbon pollution with ocean health.

•Teenagers know and care about the oceans and are more willing to act than adults. Americans in households where English is not the primary language have significantly higher levels of concern about ocean issues.

•Americans do believe individual actions can have a positive effect. They are ready to act but they are not sure what to do

•People agree that their choices about what seafood to eat impact the health of the oceans. They are willing to change, and they are willing to pay more, if necessary.

•The for-profit corporate world is out-communicating conservation-oriented organizations about ocean and environmental issues by a wide margin, and most of this communication is on the Internet.

To see the summaries and the full report, go to: www.theoceanproject.org/resources/America_the_Ocean_and_Climate_Change.php

plord@projo.com