Government seeks boost from sea-related sectors
Taoiseach Enda Kenny formally launched the country’s new marine plan — entitled Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth — at the Marine Institute in Galway yesterday. He described the plan to further tap into the €1.2 trillion global ocean wealth market; which encompasses seafood, tourism, renewable energy and oil and gas exploration; as a dynamic plan that will “dramatically improve our ability, as a nation and people, to harness our ocean wealth”.
Ireland generates revenues of around €3.4bn from its ocean-related sectors but hopes to boost that to €6.4bn by 2020. The Government is also aiming to double the value of the country’s ocean wealth to 2.4% of GDP by 2030, which would exceed the global average of 2% of GDP and edge closer to the EU average of 3% to 5% of GDP. It said such targets are ambitious but realistic.
