Introducing the Marine Economy

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Human activities in the world's oceans and coasts are at an unprecedented scale and expanding rapidly (Stojanovic & Farmer, 2013). The oceans have become a focal point for new activities including wind and wave power, marine biotechnology, marine technology and other enterprises (Kildow & McIlgorm, 2010; Morrissey et al., 2011; Zhao et al., 2013). In response, concerns over the impact of economic activities on the marine resource have led to many national ocean policies and international agreements for sustainable marine development. A history of single-sector management of marine activities with little engagement with relevant communities and stakeholders means that an estimated 60 percent of the world's major marine ecosystems have been degraded or are being used unsustainably (UNEP, 2011). Indeed, there are many indicators that suggest we are failing to effectively regulate and conserve vital ocean-based resources, and that this failure will potentially lead to consequences that include ecosystem tipping points, or dramatic shifts in structure and function that are hard to reverse (Selkoe et al., 2015). Within this context, coastal and marine policy makers and managers have become increasing aware of the need to support and analysis the economic and social dimension of marine activity.

However, economic data on the activities linked to the marine resource is often incomplete or nonexistent (Kildow & McIlgorm, 2010). This is mainly due to the difficulties in empirically measuring a multisector resource such as the marine. The fragmented, multisectoral nature of the marine economy and the difficulty in distinguishing between land- and marine-based activities has meant that national economic datasets do not explicitly contain a marine sector. Historically, estimates of the value of the marine resource have been unable to provide a holistic value for the sector. However, given the increased impetus on marine spatial planning for commercial and environmental sustainability, regulation in areas such as fisheries, marine energy, and aquaculture, and economic information to aid governmental prioritization, governments require a range of economic indicators for the sector (Kalaydjian, 2016). These indicators may be then used to develop new policy measures to facilitate the sustainable development of the resource and its commercial activity.

Within this context, recent international research has begun to conceptualize the marine economy as a multi-sector industry. This book extends the current international interest in the conceptualization of a national marine sector to explore the importance of the sector at the national, regional and local level using base theory, New Economic Geography, agglomeration theory, industrial cluster policy and small area level analysis. In conjunction with each spatial scale and its associated theories, a number of computational methods will be used to explore the economic impact of the marine resource. Input–output tables will be used to demonstrate how the direct and indirect economic impact of the marine sector may be measured at the national level. Location Quotients will be used to regionalize these input–output tables, allowing a regional level analysis of the importance of the marine sector. Finally, a spatial microsimulation model will be used to examine the impact of the sector at the small area level.

In a time, where societal impact is increasingly important, this book is of interest to policy makers, both academic and planner practitioners, physical scientists interested in estimating the impact of research on society and the wider social sciences including geography and sociology. In engaging a wide audience this book also aims to bridge some of the gaps encountered by those carrying out inter- and multidisciplinary research by conceptualizing the marine as a commercial resource that requires management and planning. This book aims to engage academics, professionals and policy makers on the importance of the marine resource to society.

1.2A NOTE ON NOMENCLATURE

To begin this book, I believe it is important to offer a note on the current nomenclature associated with oceans and their economy. The terminology related to the ocean economy is used differently around the world and include such terms as "ocean industry," "marine economy," "marine industry," "marine activity," and "maritime sector" (Park & Kildow, 2014). More recently the economic activities associated with our oceans and seas have also been branded as the "Blue Economy" with both Europe and China keen to develop their ocean resources. The emergence of the "Blue Economy" brandalso coincides with the increased emphasis on "greening" the economy. By virtue of its color, the Blue Economy has somehow become synonymous with the sustainable development of the world's oceans and seas. Whether this branding will actually result in a more sustainable marine economy is up for debate; however, such a debate true is not the objective of this book. For the sake of consistency, I predominately use the term the marine economy to describe the economic activities associated with our ocean and seas. In an unusual display of pedanticism I prefer the "marine economy" as it encompasses both ocean- and sea-based resources, rather than using the ocean as a reference to both. However, I agree with Park and Kildow (2014) in their statement that it is not necessary to overly distinguish among these terms because they are interchangeable among the nations. However, I do note that for the purpose of this book and my own personal research, I do distinguish "maritime activity" from "ocean" and "marine" activity because in most languages and international institutions the term "maritime" refers primarily to shipping activity.

A second note on the use of the word "economy" throughout this book is also necessary. All the marine goods and services examined in this book are exchanged in the marketplace with individuals expressing their preferences via their individual purchasing behavior. The price an individual pays reflects how much, or at the very least what, they are willing to pay for the benefits they derive from consuming that marine good or service. However, many of the ecosystem goods and services, provided by marine resources, are not traded in actual markets. In these cases market price data are missing even though these ecosystem goods and services generate significant nonmarket or external benefits. Thus, there is an automatic underestimation of the value of our oceans and seas by only calculating the value of commercial marine activities. Methods of economic valuation also provide several tools that may be employed to value...