Social perception has been increasingly recognized as essential for successful and sustainable management and as a crucial exploratory assessment when using the Ecosystem Service Approach (ESA). Despite ESA’s importance to foster and speed discussion and action between experts, stakeholders and policymakers, much is unknown regarding the perception of coastal and marine ecosystem services (CMES), especially in island systems. Targeting four stakeholder groups (recreational fishermen, SCUBA diving and bird watching companies and students) of the archipelago of Madeira, this work aimed to: 1) understand the perception of CMES; 2) assess the perception of threats to the marine environment; 3) identify which factors define these perceptions and finally, 4) identify charismatic marine species. Data were gathered with a survey questionnaire addressed to four stakeholders group during Spring 2023. Respondents identified all the proposed CMES as important ecosystem services and recognized all the threats as “very threatening”. The main factor correlated with the perception of both CMES and threats was the predominance of positive emotions associated with the ocean. The final list of charismatic marine species evidenced a lack of knowledge about local marine biodiversity. These results highlighted the need of increasing ocean literacy and fostering stakeholder engagements.
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