NOAA today announced the release of new prototype data on the U.S. ocean economy, calling the statistics “the most comprehensive and accurate produced to date” that validate previous ocean economy estimates and concluding that the marine economy generated $373 billion in GDP in 2018 and outpaced overall GDP growth between 2017 and 2018 (5.8% marine-related GDP growth vs. 5.4% overall).
The largest ocean economy sector contributors to domestic GDP are tourism and recreation ($143 billion), national defense and public administration ($124 billion), offshore minerals ($49 billion), transportation and warehousing ($25 billion), living resources ($13 billion), ship and boat building ($9 billion), power generation ($4 billion), research and education ($3 billion), construction ($2.5 billion), and professional and technical services ($31 million).
In an accompanying report, NOAA notes that feedback is sought on refinement of the estimates and development of a comprehensive Ocean Economy Satellite Account, with input specifically sought on:
- Whether the definition used in the report accurately represents the ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes economy;
- Gaps or extraneous elements in the current definition of goods and services for the ocean economy;
- Datasets to use for estimating shares of goods and services that are only partially in scope;
- Who would use the new statistics and for what purposes;
- Ocean economy statistics beyond value added, output, employment, and compensation that would be useful;
- Why the new statistics are needed; and
- Benefits from the new statistics that could not be obtained elsewhere
Deputy NOAA Administrator and Asst. Sec. of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Tim Gallaudet called the data “the first-of-its-kind estimate of the U.S. marine economy” that “provide a critical baseline to inform, track progress and accelerate America’s economic recovery.”
NOAA’s National Ocean Service Acting Director Nicole LeBoeuf said that the data “clarify just how dependent America is on our waters,” with Bureau of Economic Analysis Acting Director Mary Bohman stating that “[f]or the first time, the United States has ocean data that can be compared with our official statistics on other U.S. industries and with the ocean economies of other nations…[and] offer a baseline for understanding the importance of the ocean economy, including recreation, seafood, transportation and ship building.”
