There is an inherent tension between a world with a growing population and one with fewer and fewer natural resources. With large swathes of the seven billion plus world population living in developing or third world countries, there is no sign that we are going to be consuming less food or energy in the future. In fact, with another billion of us on the planet in the next 10-15 years the problem is only likely to be exacerbated.
More food needs more land and fresh water. And where is the energy going to come from since we know we cannot continue burning coal and oil at the rate we do now? Alternative, innovative solutions are needed, and needed urgently. This is why we are looking at the blue economy and have adopted a new strategy to help use ocean resources sustainably as well as drive growth and jobs in Europe. Innovation in the maritime sector is also the theme of this year's European maritime day which I am co-hosting in Bremen later this month.
Every year, half the planet's sunlight falls on seas and oceans and half of its organic matter is created there. The wind, the tides and waves offer energy that does not contribute to global warming. Every year a higher proportion of new wind farms are already built offshore while fish and shellfish, increasingly from fish farms, are the fastest growing source of animal protein worldwide.
"We identified three issues that are particular to the blue economy – poor marine knowledge, fragmented marine research and shortage of skills"
So this new blue economy is already creating new jobs in Europe, but we have only scratched the surface of its potential. We have been thinking about how to build on existing progress and how we can benefit from new research insights to ensure that this blue economy can continue to generate jobs across Europe.
We've spoken to every segment of the blue economy, from shipbuilders who see new opportunities in renewable energy, to equipment manufacturers for oil companies who believe they have the expertise to make deep sea mining a reality, and even to small fish farming businesses who wonder whether they could operate off wind energy platforms.
Unsurprisingly, access to finance was a recurring theme in these conversations and the EU is doing what it can to cut red tape and incentivise investment. However, we identified three issues that are particular to the blue economy – poor marine knowledge, fragmented marine research and shortage of skills.
Four years ago we began a set of pilot actions to see how we could avoid bottlenecks in accessing and using marine data, which are often held by hundreds of disparate organisations. More than 100 organisations are now taking part in a second phase and the new European maritime and fisheries fund has dedicated funding through to 2020.
We are now well on the way to achieving our goal of a multi-resolution seabed map of European waters by 2020. It will allow private industry, public authorities and researchers to do what they already do more cheaply because they won't have to resurvey areas and because it will cost them less to pull together data from different sources. It will promote innovation because it will not only be the holders of data who can provide added value services. Finally, the reduced uncertainty in knowledge of the sea will lower the risk of investment.
But it is no use creating jobs if we don't have people with the right skills to perform them. Mobility of labour and expertise and experience sharing is part of the answer. The successful Erasmus programme has now been extended to foster cooperation in education and training and we are going to see how we can use these new tools to deliver the skills that will be needed in the blue economy.
It goes without saying that the framework protects the sea from any man-made harm. Sustainable growth can be compatible with protecting our oceans – if we act in a responsible manner, if we have sufficient information to see the whole picture, and if we do not repeat the mistakes made in exploiting resources on land. So innovation and information are actually prerequisites to ensure we invest responsibly in our seas.
Our strategy sets out a roadmap until 2020 on how we involve the private sector, and how we bind together different EU funding mechanisms into a coherent whole. I look forward to hearing in Bremen from experts and stakeholders from across Europe's maritime sectors as to how we can delve beyond the surface when it comes to unlocking the potential of our seas and oceans.