The Blue Economy is the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs, while preserving the health of ocean and coastal ecosystems. Our coastal areas are home to the nation’s commercial ports and harbors, ocean dependent maritime industries, tourism and recreation businesses, and vital cultural landmarks and centers. The United States relies on a healthy and robust Blue Economy for food, transportation of goods, recreation, and employment.
The Blue Economy in turn depends on the coastal zone – its people, its industry, and its irreplaceable natural resources. The thriving cities, vibrant beaches and estuaries, and historic communities of the coastal zone derive their booming economies and cultural identity from their connection to the ocean and Great Lakes.
Coastal counties employ more than 58.3 million people
Coastal counties generate $9.5+ trillion toward the nation’s gross domestic product annually.
90% of international trade conducted by sea, so our ports connect the nation to the economic bounty of the world
Coastal Resilience
A combination of habitat protection, restoration, enhancement, and creation projects; investments in coastal infrastructure; and long- and short- term resilience and adaptation planning designed to ensure coastal communities are resilient to coastal hazards and changes. This sector requires jobs in project management, planning, engineering and design, and construction and drives economic benefits for the communities these projects are designed to help.
The sustainable management of living resources drives benefits from providing important food sources, creating fishing and aquaculture jobs, and supporting the tourism and recreation sector by conserving species and ecosystems such as coral reefs and whale populations that are major attractions.
The conservation and stewardship of coastal spaces combined with investments to expand and enhance coastal access brings people to coastal areas for tourism and recreation. This sector promotes and buisnesses and job such as equipment rentals or boat tours as well as in related hospitality sectors including hotels and restaurants in destination areas.
The beneficial use and development of coastal areas with ports, urban waterfronts, and working waterfronts and the siting, permitting, and development of offshore energy and the necessary land side infrastructure. This sector sustains jobs in the shipping and transportation industry, extractive industries such as fisheries and mining and offshore energy.
The deployment of observation assets, like buoys, and the capture of
critical ocean and coastal data coupled with the development of novel tools to tailor this information to inform end user decision-making drives innovation and job creation.
Photo Credit Knack Factory/Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association
The softshell clam fishery is one of the most valuable in Maine. To access intertidal mudflats and dig clams, harvesters often walk across private property and they rely on informal agreements with coastal property owners for the right to cross these private properties, that could be removed at any time. For six communities surrounding Casco Bay, 65% of shellfishing access sites cross private property. As coastal real estate in this area becomes more popular and new property owners move in, many of those “handshake” agreements have or will be lost, limiting harvesters’ access to Maine’s intertidal flats.
In response to this challenge, the Greater Portland Council of Governments and Manomet applied to Maine Coastal Program’s annual planning grant to fund a project to map and identify ownership of shellfishing access points in Casco Bay. The project team also created data sharing agreements and a guidance document, so harvesters and landowners would feel comfortable sharing information and other communities could replicate this effort. Access sites that cross public property can be seen on the Maine Community Intertidal Data Portal, which was also funded by Maine Coastal Program through a prior grant, and created to gather data relevant to shellfish management in a single place.
