June 2, 2020 — A new joint report put together by NOAA and the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has found that the country’s marine economy contributed USD 373 billion (EUR 334 billion) to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018.
The new report covers a wide range of the ocean economy, from “living resources” in the seafood industry to transportation and warehousing, offshore mining, scientific research, and more. All told, from 2017 to 2018, the marine economy – including economic activity sourced to the nation’s oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes – grew by 5.8 percent, faster than the 5.4 percent growth of the total U.S. GDP.