Saving Seafood

Study affirms bright future for blue economy

October 25, 2021 — Contrary to popular belief, the fishing industry is not dead.

And UMass Amherst’s Gloucester Marine Station has the numbers to prove it.

According to a study conducted by the marine station and presented at the Cape Ann Museum to city and state leaders on Friday, blue economy jobs grew faster than the regional economy as a whole from 2004 to 2020 as the number of people working the blue economy grew by 19.5% on the North Shore.

Over this period, all industries in the region had a growth of 12.2%.

“The strength of our North Shore Blue Economy is a combination of mature and emerging specialized industry clusters and opportunities in both traditional maritime industries and technology-based industries not always perceived as being connected to the ocean,” Katie Kahl, an assistant professor of sustainable fisheries and coastal resilience at UMass Amherst, wrote in the executive summary of the study.

The blue economy, as The World Bank defines it, is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs and ocean ecosystem health.”

This includes coastal tourism and recreation, living resources, marine transportation, marine construction, ship and boat building and repair, and offshore minerals.

The focus area of the study included Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester, Essex, Beverly, Ipswich, Salem, Marblehead, Swampscott, Nahant, Lynn, Peabody, Danvers, Wenham, Hamilton, Rowley, Newbury, West Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury and Amesbury.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

US maritime economy grew at a pace double the entire national GDP in 2019

June 28, 2021 — The nation’s maritime economy grew at pace that nearly doubled the growth of the entire U.S. GDP in 2019.

GDP stands for gross domestic product and reflects the total market value of all finished goods and services in a specific time frame. It is used to estimate the size of an economy and its growth rate – a sort of comprehensive scorecard of a country’s economic health.

A first-ever report released this month by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that the so-called “blue economy” grew by 4.2% and generated nearly $400 billion to the GDP.

Along with the oceans, the report includes the Great Lakes and looks at the contributions from shoreside businesses. Those businesses generated almost $666 billion in sales in 2019 and supported 2.4 million jobs.

Commercial fishing, including aquaculture, contributed $27 billion making it the sixth-largest segment of the blue economy.

The top marine economic activity in 2019 was tourism and recreation, including coastal trips and travel, and offshore boating and fishing. That accounted for 35.3% of gross output totaling $235 billion.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

US “blue economy” contributed nearly USD 400 billion to GDP in 2019

June 8, 2021 — America’s maritime economy is firmly in the black, according to the first-ever ““blue economy” report from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

According to the report, released Tuesday, 8 June, the marine economy generated USD 397 billion (EUR 326 billion) to the United States’ gross domestic product in 2019. That sector grew at a 4.2 percent clip from 2018, nearly double the growth of the country’s entire GDP over the same timeframe.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Canada makes commitments to bolstering blue economy

December 14, 2020 — Over the past two weeks, the Canadian government has made multiple funding and administrative commitments to bolstering the country’s blue economy – both in terms of growing ocean and inshore fisheries and in boosting salmon survivability.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 13 other heads of state or government announced the endorsement of the “Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy: a Vision for Protection, Production, and Proseprity.” The new document is a product of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, a multi-nation panel committed to sustainably manage all of the ocean under the countries’ respective national jurisdictions by 2025.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sea Grant Announces 2018 Aquaculture Research Awards

October 22, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Sea Grant announces the award of $11 million in grants for 22 projects to further advance the development of a sustainable marine and coastal aquaculture industry in the U.S.

The research will address specific priorities of the 2018 Sea Grant National Aquaculture Initiative including, supporting the development of emerging systems or technologies that will advance aquaculture in the U.S., developing and implementing actionable methods of communicating accurate, science based information about the benefits and risks of U.S. marine aquaculture to the public; and increasing the resiliency of aquaculture systems to natural hazards and changing conditions. The projects, which will be conducted over a three year period, include a 50% match by non-federal partners. One hundred proposals were submitted requesting a total in $48 million in federal grant funds.

Sea Grant’s investment in aquaculture research, outreach and education programs continues to produce results for coastal communities and their economies. Between February 2017 and January 2018, Sea Grant invested $11 million in aquaculture research, with additional funds and resources dedicated to outreach and technology transfer, and reported $78 million in economic impacts, including support of 792 businesses and 1,387 jobs.

As part of the Department of Commerce, NOAA facilitates the growing uses of and demands on our ocean resources. One of the most urgent opportunities in the “Blue Economy” is the need to expand sustainable seafood production in the U.S. —both through the better utilization of our wild-capture fisheries and the expansion of marine aquaculture.

See some of the impacts resulting from Sea Grant-funded aquaculture research and learn more about aquaculture in the U.S. 

Diverse teams tasked with encouraging Alaska’s ‘blue economy’ entrepreneurs

October 17, 2018 — Alaska lays claim to over half the nation’s coastline and a third of the U.S. exclusive economic zone, making it prime real estate for those wanting to get in on the push to develop our oceans. That’s requiring new ways of thinking about traditional sectors such as fisheries, tourism, marine trades and oil/gas, as well as providing opportunities for new “blue economy” business ventures.

To encourage a wave of entrepreneurs, a second Ocean Technology Innovation Sprint will task 30 Alaskans this month with finding a problem and creating a prototype solution for a venture of their choice. They will be assigned to five teams and meet one day a week for five weeks before revealing their ideas to the public.

While the meetups are mostly in Anchorage, teams also can connect virtually from anywhere in the state.

“The remote teams are livestreamed to every event and they can work together on a digital whiteboard as if they were in person,” said Meg Pritchard, marketing and communications manager for the Alaska Ocean Cluster and OTIS co-organizer. “There was so much interest last year, it has become a huge part of OTIS, because it’s meant to bring together people from diverse locations.”

The goal of OTIS, which is modeled after a Google Ventures program, is to create an “economic ecosystem” of innovators, educators, mentors and businesses to help grow new products from the bottom up.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

Hillary Clinton Reveals Her Ocean Policies

August 30, 2016 — In response to a letter sent by 115 ocean leaders to the leading presidential candidates, Secretary Clinton has released a two-page response on what she will do to protect our coast and ocean. With just over two months until the election this marks the first time in the campaign where a candidate has fully addressed the daunting issues confronting America’s public seas.

In her letter on August 27 she lays out a range of solutions she says she will act on if elected including growing the “Blue Economy,” supporting coastal adaptation to climate change, ending international pirate fishing, expanding sustainable and transparent U.S. fishing and seafood practices and ratifying the Law of the Seas Convention that has been held up by the U.S. Senate for over 20 years.

Read the full story and letter at Blue Frontier