Blue economy

The term Blue Economy includes economic activities that are:

(a) marine-based, including those undertaken in the ocean, sea and coastal areas, such as capture fisheries and aquaculture, offshore oil and gas, offshore wind energy, ocean energy, desalination, shipping and maritime transport, and marine and coastal tourism;

and

(b) marine-related activities which use products and/or produce products and services for the ocean and marine-based activities; for example, seafood processing, marine biotechnology, shipbuilding and repair, port activities, maritime communication, maritime equipment, maritime insurance and maritime surveillance.

European Commission (2024). The EU Blue Economy Report. 2024. Publications Office of the European Union. Luxembourg.

Source category: EC Technical Documents

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Reference description	EU, 2024
Originally Published	18 Mar 2025
Related organisation(s)	EC - European Commission
Knowledge service \| Metadata	Bioeconomy Knowledge Centre
Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET)	blue economy Marine ocean sea maritime economy

Key resources

BLUE2 for D1, D3, D4 and D6

Nairobi Convention marks 40 years as COP12 charts future of ocean governance

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