Oceans constitute 72% of earth surface. However, while Indians are aware of land resources, not much is known about the contribution of oceans that provide countless benefits like feeding mankind with food, regulating weather and climate, and generating most of the oxygen humans breathe. If one has to know the climate of a region beyond seven days, one has to depend upon the ocean.
Ocean is the largest carbon sink on the earth. It provides living and non-living resources in terms of minerals and metals, water, and energies. It also provides tourism and recreation, shipping, maritime transport, security (natural and artificial) and coastal protection. Indians know little about coastal ocean, but awareness of deep ocean is missing. India needs to explore deep ocean for the betterment of the mankind. Considering this, the United Nations has termed the period from 2021 to 2030 as UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. What is the Science needed for the ocean will be the theme for next one decade. UN’s STG 14 also aims at life below the water for sustainable development.
What’s Blue Economy?
New development paradigm steers development process on a higher growth trajectory. Scientific use of marine resources for achieving larger development goals. While there are traditional ocean activities, such as fisheries, tourism and maritime transport, blue economy entails emerging industries including renewable energy, aquaculture, seabed extractive activities and blue biotechnology and bioprospecting.
Blue economy also entails embracing ocean ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, coastal protection, and waste disposal. Blue economy is indispensable for addressing many of the challenges such as food security, climate change, provision of energy, water, medicines, oil and gas, minerals etc.
Envisioning Growth
There is need for a framework for proper measurement of blue economy activities and their contribution to the national income. Spatially oriented planning along with scientific assessment of resources and their replenishment is needed. Investment in financial, physical, natural, and human capital to harness the potential of the blue economy and optimize GDP and employment growth are other requirements. There should be innovation to ensure zero wealth, low carbon technologies that yield economic dividend for large sections of the population. The nation should aim at ocean security and balanced international engagements.
What is the contribution of blue economy to nation’s economy and what can we do to increase that share? What are the development activities we need to plan to increase the share of blue economy in national GDP? The answer to this question lies that India should invest in financial, physical, natural, human, and financial capital to harness the potential of the blue economy. India also needs to plan the optimal employment growth and the share of blue economy to GDP. India needs to have environment- friendly sustainable approach towards ocean and blue economy. When we talk of blue economy in India, we consider all economic activities of the oceans, seas, and coasts.
Significance for India
Blue Economy means all economic activities of the oceans, seas, and coasts. India has developed a working definition of the blue economy as, “Blue economy refers to exploring and optimizing the potentials of the oceans and seas which are under India’s legal jurisdiction for socio-economic development while preserving the health of the oceans.” The government of India’s vision for new India by 2030 highlights the blue economy as one of the ten core dimensions of the growth. Average global contribution from blue economy to GDP is around 3-5%, which varies from country to country. It goes up to 20% in some countries. India has a unique maritime position with a coastline of 7500 KM. Twelve major and 187 minor ports handle 1400 metric tons of cargo per year. Around 95% of India’s trade by volume transits by sea. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is 2.24 M sq.km. Four million fishermen and other coastal communities are engaged in this sector.
Durable Policy Framework
Following components should be kept in mind while drafting policy for blue economy: The draft of the blue economy policy covers seven sectors. Seven sectors which will require different ministries and industries to carry out the work. The first is the Accounting Frameworks, which defines the areas which come under blue economy. For example, fishing, but it is important to know as up to what level. Will deep fishing also come under it? Accounting framework is a new dimension where there is a need to bifurcate each of the economic activity from ocean. Ocean account enables countries to monitor three critical changes. First is the change in ocean wealth including produced assets (e.g ports, shipping, and tourism) and non-produced assets (eg. mangroves, coral reefs etc).
Second is the ocean-related income and welfare for different groups of societies (income from fisheries, aquaculture etc for local communities). Third is ocean-based economic production (e.g mining, desalination, marine biotechnologies, ocean energy, etc.). CMSP is a process of analysing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve economic, ecological, and social objectives that have been specified through a political process
The second sector is the Coastal Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) in which India needs to understand coastal areas as to where the country needs to put up industries and of which type. It is a science-based tool of analysis that regions or coastal states in a country can use to address ocean management issues and challenges, and advance their goals for inclusive and sustainable growth, sustainable development, employment generation and conservation of marine resources. CMSP is a process of analysing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve economic, ecological, and social objectives that have been specified through a political process. CMSP can have significant economic, social, and environmental benefits. Some of the environmental benefits are identification of biological and ecologically important areas, and allocation of space for biodiversity and future conservation.
Some of the economic benefits are greater access to desirable for new private sector investments, identification of compatible uses within the same area of development, and promotion of the efficient use of resources and space. The present infrastructure available is also taken into consideration before deciding. Based on space data, we need to take an informed decision. Where do we need to plant mangrove and where coral reefs. Mangroves and coral reefs act as fish nurseries and provide grounds for many other marine organisms to live in and breed, increasing the availability of food for local communities. They can also be a source of derivatives for medicinal purposes, support timber production and provide freshwater. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change will be leading in this area.
Coastal Marine Spatial Planning is integrated Ocean Management platform where analysis of how to use ocean and coastal boundaries for common people come. Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences M Ravichandaran said, “Norway is totally dependent on Blue Economy. They are good in marine planning. India also needs to work closely with countries like Norway. What are the remote sensing technologies have been identified for use in blue economy. We also need to implement it.” The third is Marine Living Resources in which fisheries, aquiculture, seal beach cultivating, and ornamental fisheries come. The Ministry of Fishery will lead this. That is the present strength and where we need to augment. We are still lagging in some of the areas. India lacks in deep fishing activity.
Fourth is the Manufacturing & Industries and fifth is Logistics and Shipping. Sixth is non-living resources and the seventh is Ocean Security and International Interface. These are the seven sectors which have been planned for various ministries and industries. India has chosen Puduchchery and island station Lakshadweep for monitoring. Satellite monitoring will help in identifying coastal degradation. Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is a public process of analysing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in coastal and marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives that are usually specified through a political process. India needs to use various remote sensing techniques for integrated coastal area management and marine spatial planning.
“We have taken Puducherry and Lakshwadeep as a pilot project and we are preparing marine special planning with the help of various countries. We have already started collecting various data on these two island states. Satellite Monitoring for island mapping will help in knowing the conditions of these coasts like where the erosion is happening etc. This will be used for better planning of the coastal regions,” said M Ravichandaran.
Tourism is another area where the new draft policy will focus. Foreign tourists are increasing over a rate of 7% in the 2005-15 period. In 2015, India earned USD 147.7 billion from foreign tourists, which rose to USD 418.9 billion in 2022. India’s big coastal line is dotted with several attractive beaches. India should try to have maximum blue flag standard certification. The country now has 12 ‘blue’ beaches, a certificate awarded by the prestigious international programme of cleanliness and environmental sustainability run by the global nonprofit Foundation for Environmental Education.
The country needs to improve infrastructure for activities like angling, swimming, water skiing, surfing, scuba diving and beach front resorts, apart from marine tourism. It is also important to integrate principles of sustainable development and environmental objectives. The country has never used the water currents for the development of tourism in India. Elaborating on this aspect of blue economy, Ravichandaran said, “If we put log of wood in the river in Kolkatta between October and March, it will reach Chennai without any effort with the help of current. Same is the case when we leave that log in Chennai between April and September.”
The secretary said that India needs to use such opportunities of river currents to its advantage and all these aspects are being considered while formulating the policy. India also needs to have coastal tourism. “I am happy that the Space Department is going to use ship for transporting rockets to Thiruvananthapuram to Sriharikota,” Ravichandaran added. “We have also started getting information about rip currents for beach safety. This means where it is dangerous to venture and where not. This information will be used for coastal tourism”, he said.
Marine Living Resources
The main source of the marine living resources is the Indian Ocean which provides food to 100 M people and contribute to the livelihoods of coastal communities. The nation must ensure food security, poverty alleviation and potential for business opportunities in the Indian Ocean. India’s fish production is only 6% of global production, and its contribution is only 1% to the national GDP. India’s fish demand, which is 11 M metric tonnes at present, is likely to go 18 M metric tonnes by 2030. Indians fish only on the coast, hence deep-sea fishing and deep ocean fishing and aquiculture need enhancements. Deep sea fishing (200 to 2000 m depth) needs better technology and gadgets. Mariculture, a sub-set of aquacultures, pharma, pearl, etc are the emerging section of the blue economy. Blue Revolution would be further expanded by promoting aquaculture, deep sea fishing, cage culture, seaweed, algae harvesting, and sustainable marine culture by adopting an ecosystem approach.
Cage Culture
It is also good for the health of the ocean. The health of the ocean will improve by doing these activities. Sea beach and sea grass are not only important for human beings but also for the card. Oceanic fronts are associated with zones of elevated primary and secondary productivity and fishery grounds. Upwelling zones, eddies and rings are known to be rich in nutrients leading to higher productivity. Persistence ocean features are relatively good for fishing for longer duration.
PFZ Activity in Mission Mode & Modes of Dissemination
With the help of the geospatial technology, the nation can provide information to the fishermen as to where fish are in abundance. Fishermen can reach the location in a short time. This technique is already being used in Hyderabad for some specific variety of fish. The aim is to extend this information for other variety of fish.
Remote Sensing for Algal Blooms
Ocean colour data from OCM and MODIS has been used to monitor Noctiluca Bloom in the Arabian Sea. Nitrogen fixing Trichodesmium bloom in the Arabian Sea occurs in April-May. This bloom is captured using ocean colour data.
Ocean Primary Productivity
Oceanic Primary Production is important for oceanic carbon cycle, carrying capacity of marine eco-system and climate change studies. Operational column primary production estimates are generated using OCM data. New production using satellite PP images and modelled f-ratio based on in-situ data. Bio geographic provinces have been identified for carbon source and sinks.
Marine Manufacturing
Marine manufacturing is a relatively untapped field of blue economy. It covers a range of activities such as shipbuilding development of marine compounds and drugs, manufacturing equipment and instruments, marine ICT, exploration of material for deep sea mining, net making, boat making, fish processing, aquaculture tools etc. Most of these things, although simple, are not manufactured in India, but are imported from outside. It is important to have regulations to enhance ease of doing business (EODB) and the flow of private investments while applying time-tested paradigms.
Maritime security should be seen as a complement to terrestrial security. The prerequisite for a strong naval capability is a sound and well-developed industrial base. The performance of Indian ports on most parameters has been low. However, with renewed focus on port infrastructure development and EODB measures, ships calling at Indian ports are turning around faster and benefiting from higher birth productivity. India needs to have fuel and ship-building capabilities to attract foreign ships. Most of the ships do not prefer Indian ports. India needs to have facility to fuel ships and ship building capabilities.
Blue Biotechnology
It is basically drugs from sea. Marine plants and animals are important source of new medicines developed to treat cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, Alzhemer’s disease, heart disease, viruses and other diseases. India being a tropical country, endowed with great diversity of marine micro algal species, combined with optimal environmental conditions, provides great opportunities for commercial scale algal reduction, which has applications in the food, nutritional, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and biofuel industry. India needs to go more and more for research and development in this area.
Logistics and Shipping
Seaport and maritime transport sector are one of the important sectors under the blue economy. India sits a side busy International Shipping lines with >1,20, 000 ships per year. Global cargo movement increases 4.4% average every year. India ranks 16th in ownership of mercantile fleet (1.5% of Global share) and only 0.15% of global ship building and repair is from Indian shipyards. Considering 95% of the country’s trade (by volume) transits by sea, which puts the Indian Maritime sector at an advantageous position and potential destination of shipping and trans-shipping in the future. India has 28 shipyards and needs investments in financial, physical, natural, and human capital to harness the potential of the blue economy.
Healthy, resilient, and productive marine environment, ocean governance, technology research and development, business development, investment and finance, maritime surveillance & enforcement, infrastructure, education, and capacity building.
Non-Living Resources
Non-living resources like energy, minerals, and water are also in abundance. India has been recognised as first pioneer investor and is presently having an area of 75,000 sq km. Estimated quantity of 380 MMT, which includes Copper, Nickel, Cobalt and Manganese. The total cost of these non-living minerals is estimated to be 116 billion US Dollars. India also has a 15-year contract on exploration of hydrothermal sulphides over the South Indian Ocean. These regions are enriched with iron, copper, zinc, silver, gold, and platinum. These contracts will open new opportunities for resources of commercial and strategic value in an area beyond national jurisdiction.
Ocean Technology
The aim is to develop technology in ocean-related field for harnessing ocean energy (wave, hydrokinetic, thermal) and generating fresh water from sea water. The idea is to establish desalination plants to meet the drinking water needs of Lakshadweep islands. It also aims to provide beach restoration and sustainable coastal protection. The aim is to provide exploration and exploitation of deep ocean mineral resources and new observation system for ocean applications for underwater acoustic transducers and passive acoustic monitoring systems.
The new blue policy also aims to provide marine algal biotechnology, marine microbial biotechnology, open sea cage culture and ballast water treatment technologies. Testing of prototype systems, validation of indigenously developed marine systems in the ocean environment.
Maritime Transportation
Maritime transport is critical for the economic development of a country. It influences the pace, structure, and pattern of development. India has 12 major and 187 minor ports that carry nearly 95% of India’s volume of trade. Cargo traffic at Indian ports has doubled to 1 billion tonnes per annum over the last decade (FY 2005-2015) and is expected to reach 1.7 billion tonnes per annum by 2022. To meet the increasing demand, there is a need to develop deep water ports for handling heavy vessels and the need for a improve cargo handling facility at existing ports.
Maritime Security
India will engage holistically with all relevant international parties and platforms to further blue growth, protect marine biodiversity and safeguards its strategic interests. A well calibrated approach would be taken to ensure that the country’s interests are protected in the Commission of the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), UNCLOS/ISA. Coastal and marine security would also be strengthened for which a comprehensive plan would be formulated and implemented in partnership with the states. Maritime security should be seen as a complement to terrestrial security. The prerequisite for a strong naval capability is a sound and well-developed industrial base. Maritime security must be seen in a wholistic manner by including civilian maritime domain, state police and ports trusts, which if not adequately addressed, can lead to adverse effects on maritime security.
Deep Ocean Mission
The policy intends to have ocean technology, ocean resources (Living & Non-Living) and climate advisories. Manned submersible for 6000 m water depth for underwater exploration. Deep Sea Mining System for extraction of polymetallic nodules. With all these features, India will become the first country to demonstrate deep sea mining technology beyond 5000m depth. The country will be able to do sustainable harnessing of ocean resources (water, minerals, biodiversity, and energy). India will join select club of five nations to have manned submersibles for ocean exploration. Blue economy is the future of the country. India will have to invest, both in understanding, R&D and industry. Space technology is an integral part of blue growth. In all these seven sectors, the country will have to invest in coastal states for the blue, geospatial and GDP growth.