Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has welcomed the recent positive growth trends in Ireland’s Blue Economy.
Speaking at the annual ‘Our Ocean Wealth’ Summit, Creed also outlined the government’s continued commitment to the ongoing implementation of Ireland’s Integrated Marine Plan - Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth.
Blue Economy
“Ireland has taken important strides in recent years in developing our blue economy,” Minister Creed said.
“This is being driven at the highest levels of government and represents a unique and joined up approach to growing Ireland’s blue economy. The work of our cross-departmental high-level Marine Coordination Group (MCG,) which I chair, will continue as we seek to build on recent success”.
The updated economic statistics published today show that the direct economic value of Ireland’s ocean economy now stands at €2 billion, approximately 1% of GDP, which is a 21% increase on 2015.
Creed attributed this growth to strong performances in the aquaculture, sea fisheries, shipping and marine tourism industries as well as continued growth in the emerging ocean industries.
He also highlighted the number of jobs in the industry, welcoming the 16.6% increase in employment compared to 2015.
Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth
“I am also delighted to announce the publication today of the annual Progress Report on Ireland’s Integrated Marine Plan - Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth, for 2017,” the Minister continued.
“This report which covers inputs from across state departments & agencies, provides a wealth of information, spanning governance, research, education, international cooperation, business development, sustainability & protection and conservation of marine ecosystems”.
The ‘Our Ocean Wealth Summit’ is running into its fifth year, and is government and EU funded scheme that brings together national and international expert speakers, industry leaders, business development agencies and the Irish business and marine research community.
This year’s discussions focused on the overall theme of 'Investing in Marine Ireland’.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
