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The Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) launched
its Ireland’s Ocean Economy Report at the 3rd Annual Beaufort
Marine Socio-Economic Symposium in the National University
of Ireland, Galway on Friday 11th November.
The Report presents socio-economic data on Ireland’s ocean
economy and indicates that, in 2007 - the peak of the last
economic cycle - Ireland’s ocean economy (marine resource)
was valued at €1.4 billion Gross Value Added, represented
1% of GDP, had a turnover of €3.4 billion and provided employment
for 17,000 full time equivalent individuals.
2007 is the most recent year for which there is a fully comprehensive
database across all marine sectors. More recent data is available
for some sectors (e.g. maritime shipping and ports). While
2007 was at the peak of the last economic cycle, the data
presented represents an important baseline and resource for
future economic planning and socio-economic research.
Launching the Report, Prof Judith Kildow, the Director and
Founder of the National Ocean Economics Program, Monterey
Institute of International Studies, USA, said - “No country
can hope to sustainably develop and conserve its marine resource
base without accurate and consistent information on the value
generated and employment created by a healthy coast and coastal
ocean and this report is the first attempt to do just that
in Ireland.
"A healthy national economy is inextricably tied to
healthy coastal and ocean resources. Tracking economic activities
along the coast should promote more knowledgeable planning
and more effective policies at local and national levels.”
She also emphasised how useful their ocean and coastal economy
information has been to planners, Congressional
budget and oversight Committees, state governments, NGOs and
those in the private sector for program creation and budgets.
The Marine Institute welcomed the Report, anticipating that
it will become an important biennial publication. Mr Geoffrey
O’Sullivan, Senior Policy Advisor at the Marine Institute
emphasised “the importance of having consistent, comparable
and regular data on the contribution of the marine resource
base to the national economy”.
“This is essential to inform strategic planning, to evaluate
the impact of investment and research and to direct future
investment in developing a sustainable marine economy,” he
said.
Dr Stephen Hynes, SEMRU’s Director, acknowledged the financial
support from the Marine Research Sub-Programme of the National
Development Plan 2007-2013, which is managed by the Marine
Institute through the national Sea Change Marine Research
Strategy, in supporting the establishment of SEMRU and creating
a national marine socio-economic capacity.
He also demonstrated how such core funding has been successfully
used to leverage additional funding through external contracts
and research awards.
Dr. Hynes also pointed out that the rising interest in the
use of marine waters for activities - such as off-shore renewable
energy, marine biotechnology, etc. - has not been matched
by supporting economic information and analysis in Ireland
since the marine sector is not well represented by conventional
statistics.
As such, the Ocean Economy Report is a first step in filling
that data gap and will help policy makers, key stakeholders
and the general public to better comprehend the economic significance
of Ireland’s marine waters.
The 3rd Annual Beaufort Marine Socio-Economic Symposium,
brought together national and international experts, focused
on the importance of socio-economic data for strategic national
and sectoral planning, on the valuation of non-market (hidden)
marine ecosystem services and provided a platform to showcase
current marine socio-economic PhD work being carried out in
SEMRU.
For further information on all presentations at the symposium
- Click
Here
Download - Ireland’s Ocean Economy 2007 - Click
Here
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