WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a subcommittee hearing today on The Blue Economy: The Role of the Oceans in our Nation’s Economic Future.

                  

Dr. Judith T. Kildow, Social Scientist, Director, National Oceans Economics Program, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

 

Ms. Alexandra Cousteau, Founder and President, Blue Legacy International

 

Dr. William Fenical, Ph.D., Director, Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California

 

Mr. Brad Warren, Director of Ocean Health, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Seattle Office

 

The Honorable Deerin Babb-Brott, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Coastal Zone Management, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, State of Massachusetts

 

Dr. Willett M. Kempton, Associate Professor, Marine Policy, University of Delaware

 

“The Blue Economy – jobs and economic opportunities that emerge from our oceans, Great Lakes, and coastal resources – generates more than 50 percent of our nation’s Gross Domestic Product and provides over 70 million jobs to Americans.  Simply put, the economic health of America is undeniably linked to the riches of our oceans and coasts.”

"The 'Blue Economy' is one of the main tools to rebuilding the U.S. economy, but it faces an uncertain future.  It has been a foundation of our economy for centuries, and it holds tremendous potential to be a growing economic generator for our future."

“I would like to make three points in my testimony:  First, jobs and businesses generated by the coastal and ocean economies are foundations of the U.S. economy.  Second, coastal and ocean economies will power the nation’s economic recovery. Third, the deleterious effects of climate change will adversely affect the continuing growth of these important economies unless we taken action to curb greenhouse gasses soon.”

“If we are to take ocean policy seriously, we need to take it onto the land. We must start to realize that there can be no stand alone policies, especially as they relate to our water resources. Energy, transportation, climate change, infrastructure, agriculture, urban development: this is where our ocean policies must begin. It is all interconnected.”

“While the economics of pharmaceutical sales is huge, the positive benefits on human health must be underscored. More than ever, difficult diseases are treated with the latest pharmaceutical discoveries. Diseases once considered fatal, are not treatable and often curable. There is no question that the discovery and development of new drugs is one of our most important societal goals.”

 

“Worldwide, marine fisheries provide the primary source of income and food for hundreds of millions of people. FAO and other international resource agencies estimated this year that 3 billion people rely on the ocean for essential nutrition. About 400 million people in poor countries get half or more of their animal protein and minerals from seafood. Another 500 million people in developing counties earn a living from fisheries and aquaculture.”

 

“Human society benefits greatly from the uses, goods, and services provided by estuarine and marine ecosystems, but our activities—both in the ocean, along its coasts, and on adjacent land and watersheds—are also having detrimental effects on these same systems, their components and processes. Rapid climate change, habitat loss and changes, pollution, and spread of invasive species are just some of the threats and stressors which are jeopardizing these ecosystems and the human services they provide.”

 

“A GW is 1,000,000,000 watts, the size of one of the largest nuclear or coal plants, and GWa (“a” for “average”) is a fluctuating amount with an average at one GW. For scale, one watt runs an iPod. One to two thousand watts runs an average house. A little over one GWa runs Delaware. 419 GWa runs the United States. By the estimate below, the US offshore wind resource is 450 GWa. I make a more detailed regional estimate below.”