Blue economy can help take us out of the red

The country’s marine economy could create more than 29,000 jobs and contribute an additional €2.7 billion in growth by 2020, according to a team of experts at NUI Galway.

Research published last week identifies the potential for the so-called ‘blue economy’ to employ an additional 16,000 people directly – with a further 13,000 supported across the wider economy.

Marine Minister Simon Coveney revealed the projections at a major conference in his native Cork on Friday as part of Ireland’s national maritime festival ‘SeaFest’.

The report, compiled by NUI Galway’s Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) and Teagasc, estimates that the sector contributed an estimated €1.4bn to GDP last year.

Ireland’s ‘Blue Economy’ is performing on average better than the general economy with up to nine per cent growth over the last five years.

With an estimated turnover of €4.5bn, the sector employs approximately 18,500 full-time equivalents and new data from shows that in addition to the direct impacts of Ireland’s ocean economy, a further 13,000 are employed across the wider economy providing an additional €3.3bn in turnover.

This is the third report on Ireland’s Ocean Economy from NUI Galway’s SEMRU as part of its ongoing process of collection and analysis of marine socio-economic data in Ireland funded by the Marine Institute.

Based in the College of Business, Public Policy and Law at NUIG, SEMRU conducts research in a variety of marine related issues. The main research focus of the unit is on the economic importance of coastal and off-shore marine environments.

Results from the report show trends in Ireland’s Ocean Economy over the period 2010-2012 and provides an estimate of the direct value in 2014.

“Over the past few years we’ve seen a dramatic and in some cases radical transformation in Ireland’s attitude towards the marine sector generally, with the marine now being viewed as a significant contributor to our economic recovery,” said the Minister.

“This new data from SEMRU and Teagasc shows that Ireland’s blue economy is performing well in established industries such as seafood, shipping and marine tourism, and is excelling in emerging industries such as high-tech marine products and services, marine biotechnology and maritime commerce,” he added.

The report shows that the ocean economy had a turnover of €4.2 billion in 2012, rising to an estimated €4.5bn in 2014. Itprovided employment for 17,425 individuals Full Time Equivalents, (FTEs) in 2012, with an estimated increase to 18,480 in 2014.

Over the period 2010-2012 a 33% increase in turnover is reported, a further increase of 7% is estimated for the period up to 2014. Employment has also steadily risen, with increase of 5-6%.

Latest figures also suggest that our ‘blue economy’ is performing on average better than the general economy

“Results are encouraging; they reflect the economic recovery that Ireland has experienced in the past few years,” said Dr Stephen Hynes of SEMRU.

“With the recognition of the potential impact of ‘Blue Growth’ on employment and output, at both a national and EU level, there has never been a greater need for reliable statistics on marine sector activity.

“Also, it is only by examining the ocean-dependent economy separately from the national economy that we will be able to understand the magnitude of what might be affected by future changes in the oceans and along our coasts,” he added.

Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth Strategy outlines a number of specific targets which seek to expand the Irish Marine Sector to a total of €6.4bn in 2020 representing an increase of €3.2bn on 2010.

It is estimated that the achievement of these targets will also have additional “knock-on” economic impacts with additional growth of €2.7bn anticipated in the wider economy.

Based on the results of running this scenario through the Bio-Economy IO model, it is estimated that 29,300 new jobs could be created if the Ocean Wealth targets are achieved with 16,100 of these coming directly from within the Marine sector itself.

An additional 13,200 jobs are estimated to be created indirectly through increases in demand for products and services required by the marine sector.

The full report is available to download online at www.nuigalway.ie/semru/publications.html and www.ouroceanwealth.ie