AGRICULTURE and Fisheries Minister Pearnel Charles Jr has given his commitment to explore and exploit Jamaica’s blue economy.

The blue economy refers to all economic activities originating from the ocean and its natural resources. A case study conducted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) found that Jamaica identifies the fisheries and tourism industries as the main focal areas for developing the blue economy. Furthermore, the two industries account for approximately 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and total formal employment.

Some of Jamaica’s blue economy activities include: fishing, marine and coastal tourism, marine transportation, cargo handling for water transport, stevedoring warehousing, bonded warehousing, safaris and plantation tours, rafting. snorkelling, underwater viewing, and related activities operations of beaches, recreation parks, among many other things.

But much of Jamaica’s blue economy remains largely unexplored. Jamaica is approximately 10,990 square kilometres, with an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) almost 22 times this size. The country’s coastline is approximately 1,022 kilometres of an array of ecosystems, including coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangrove forests and wetlands.

Speaking at a recent JIS think tank, Charles Jr stated that, “We have a massive marine space, which is primarily untapped and needs to be protected.”

He said before the country starts to reap the benefits of the blue economy, work has to be done in terms of measuring it.

“It all comes down to really defining first what is there, identifying the best way to exploit it, and putting in place systems and policies that [safeguard] what we need to keep in a protected zone,” he said.

Preliminary data from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) suggests that Jamaica’s blue economy is valued at more than US$1 billion.

In a bid to move the conversation forward, the Government made a request for proposals to conduct a blue economy assessment for the country last year.

The objective of this assessment is to identify data, research and capacity (including expertise) gaps that are hampering the blue economy investments; conduct an assessment of the national regulatory, institutional, technological and cultural landscapes barriers, pressures and drivers that are hampering blue economy growth; identify preliminary options/potential priority areas and recommendations to address the identified gaps and challenges across the areas indicated above and foster blue economy growth in Jamaica.

A boost from the island’s blue economy could also give Jamaica a well-needed push towards recovery from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett have noted that “more than 80 per cent of Jamaica’s GDP is generated in coastal areas,” consequently he said, “it is imperative that we safeguard the economic and social value of highly vulnerable coastal communities and coastal infrastructure to support sustainable trade, tourism and development.”

But the island will have to approach its blue economy exploration from a sustainability standpoint. This, in light of the fact that, even before the pandemic, the economic activity associated with oceans in the Caribbean was already showing signals of decline.

According to the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), in 2019, fish production in the Caribbean region had decreased by 40 per cent, with a record low in 10 years. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has classified fisheries resources in the Caribbean as the most overexploited in the world, with 55 per cent of overexploited commercial fishery populations.