What’s Next for the Blue Economy?

As TriplePundit marks 20 years as a newsroom, we’re reflecting on how the global sustainability space has evolved and changed, what we got right and what we didn’t, and what we can learn from all of it. Follow along with the series here.

During conversations about a sustainable “green” economy, at a 2012 United Nations conference in Brazil, delegates from Pacific nations wanted to highlight the important role of ocean industries, a sector that had grown 1.5 times over the decade leading up to the event. And so, a new term took root: the blue economy.

Today, some define the blue economy simply as all ocean industries combined. But by many definitions, it still means a sustainable ocean economy, specifically. The idea is that if sustainable projects on land are called “green,” their ocean counterparts should be called “blue.”

Aligning with the rise of this concept, the U.N. named 2021 to 2030 the Ocean Decade, with a goal to “identify, generate and use critical ocean knowledge to manage the ocean sustainably.”

We’ve now reached the decade’s halfway point. A truly sustainable global marine economy is still far from guaranteed, and issues like pollution and climate change impacts continue to loom in the seas. But there’s still time to make the blue economy a reality around the world. Here are three industries to watch over the second half of the Ocean Decade.

Aquaculture ambitions

Aquaculture, or the offshore farming of life like fish and shellfish, stretches all the way back to Ancient China and Rome. Yet the industry has seen unprecedented growth recently. In 2022, for the first time ever, more animals were raised in aquaculture farms than caught through fishing, according to the U.N.

Aquaculture helps feed the world, but it’s plagued with problems. Farmed fish in particular often suffer from diseases, are attacked by parasites like sea lice, and live in dirty and inhumane conditions that pollute local waters. They struggle to survive warming seas due to climate change, and can die off in large numbers. Some farmed fish even escape and breed with wild species, diluting the genes that allow fish to thrive in the wild.

Potential solutions are on the horizon for aquaculture’s woes. For example, keeping fish that eat sea lice in offshore farms can help control the parasite problem naturally. Moving the farms onshore, though technically challenging, may be the best bet for solving several of the industry’s problems.

In onshore tanks, water can be regularly cleaned, parasites and pollution won’t build up and the risk of escape is eliminated. Japanese aquaculture company NTT Green and Food is breaking ground on a large onshore farm for salmon and trout in early 2026, with plans to begin operating by the end of the year.

The onshore facility is set to include a recirculating aquaculture system, which filters and recycles the water, reducing water usage while keeping pollution out of the sea. Sustainable fish aquaculture can also reduce pressure on wild fisheries, giving wild fish populations a chance to recover.

There’s another rising star in the aquaculture world: seaweed, especially kelp. Humans may never eat as much seaweed as they do fish and shellfish. Still, farmed seaweed has many purposes. It can be used as a farm and garden fertilizer, an ingredient in cosmetics, and even as a sustainable part of farmed fish diets.

Seaweed farming is the fastest-growing type of aquaculture in the United States, but growing too much seaweed in one area, or growing nonnative species, could lead to problems like species invasions and natural habitat loss. Seaweed farms can sync well with local ecosystems, as long as the sites and species are carefully chosen and managed.

The industry can also pair well with local and Indigenous knowledge. In New York state, Shinnecock Kelp Farmers is a collective of Indigenous women who farm sugar kelp, drawing on the Shinnecock Nation’s historic connection to the ocean. Wastewater from modern settlements around Shinnecock Bay left the water polluted by excess nitrogen, a nutrient that can cause harmful algal blooms. The farmed kelp absorbs nitrogen, helping clean up the water. Because it absorbs pollution, this kelp can’t be used for human consumption, so it’s sold as a fertilizer instead.

Bioprospecting benefits

One of the world’s most powerful painkillers comes from cone snails. The sea snails use strong venom to paralyze their prey. Researchers figured out how to make a version of their venom in the lab, harnessing its potency to block pain in humans without the risk of addiction.

This is an example of bioprospecting, or finding useful resources in living things. Though they’re developed in labs, modern medicines are often based on living plants and animals. Bioprospecting discoveries can also benefit science and other industries. For example, jellyfish bioluminescence became a Nobel Prize-winning invention because researchers figured out how to use it to mark tiny biological processes with glowing colors. Now, it’s used for things like mapping neurons in the brain or tracking the movements of cancer cells.

There’s room for more bioprospecting in the ocean. Most deep-sea life, in particular, hasn’t been thoroughly researched or even identified, but the mysterious creatures of the abyss may hold secrets to solving some of the problems humans face.

The new U.N. High Seas Treaty, coming into force in January 2026, will link bioprospecting and conservation. The treaty creates rules to safeguard biodiversity in the open ocean. Among other things, it requires all participating countries to share the benefits of bioprospecting in the high seas, including new scientific knowledge, resulting products and financial gains. In turn, those benefits will be reinvested by those countries into protecting marine life.

Still, bioprospecting requires research, and the results are never guaranteed. Countries will need to keep investing in marine science if the world’s going to reap the benefits of future discoveries.

Marine energy makes waves

Every ocean wave has power, so do tides and currents. Basically, if water is moving, it contains energy. The emerging marine energy industry seeks to turn this power into renewable electricity while preserving the coastal environment.

This energy can be collected through underwater turbines or floating buoys, converted to electricity, and sent to the power grid for human use. Marine energy can be more predictable than wind or solar. Even on a windless, cloudy day, waves flow, and tides rise and fall. It’s also more powerful than wind energy because water is so much denser than air. And the underwater infrastructure is less visible than offshore wind and solar installations, so communities may be more open to marine energy projects on their shorelines.

It’s not easy to keep equipment operational when it’s submerged in churning seawater, leaving most marine energy projects in the research stage. But a tidal turbine project in Scotland has been running for over six years now with no major fixes required, offering evidence that the industry is viable in harsh seas as long as the technology is durable and well-maintained. This proof of concept may help motivate new investments in ambitious renewable energy projects.

Across the sea in Canada, three tidal energy devices were recently approved for deployment, each powerful enough to provide 2,000 homes with electricity. This will reduce fossil fuel demand, helping free the ocean from new oil drilling and the risk of oil spills, as well as pollution from burning the fuels.

Still, more research is needed to understand the environmental impacts of marine energy. Experts caution that projects must be built with the local ecosystem in mind. One risk is that animals might collide with moving turbines, although evidence so far suggests many animals can swim around them. The new devices in Canada will be monitored for environmental impacts, and the knowledge gained will inform future projects. By carefully studying new installations like these, researchers can gather the information needed to get the industry flowing.

The bright blue future

In truth, a sustainable blue economy already exists. It’s present in small-scale artisanal fisheries, local seaweed and shellfish harvests, and sustainable practices that maintain ocean life for the future.

Large or high-tech modern projects can threaten the delicate balance that many people and cultures still maintain with the seas. But if approached with care and responsibility, some modern marine industries could become part of the fabric of good human-ocean relations. As we navigate the second half of the U.N. Ocean Decade, we’ll see whether aquaculture, bioprospecting and marine energy have sustainable staying power.

Feature image credit: Getty Images/Unsplash