Table 2.

Characteristics of participants (N = 1,206 respondents).

Category	Variable	N/(%)
Gender	Male	556(46.1%)
	Female	650(53.9%)
Age groups	18 and under	121(10%)
	19–22 years	1,007(83.5%)
	23 years and above	78(6.5%)
Type of college	Coastal Colleges	700(58%)
	Inland Colleges	506(42%)
Degree of relevance to marine studies	Highly Relevant	242(20.1%)
	Moderately Relevant	201(16.7%)
	Not Relevant	763(63.2%)
Professional background	Humanities	231(19.2%)
	Science	286(23.7%)
	Engineering	428(35.5%)
	Medicine	88(7.3%)
	Other	173(14.3%)
Proximity to the ocean	Coastal areas (near the sea)	806(66.8%)
	Mid-sea areas	204(17%)
	Offshore areas (far from the sea)	196(16.2%)