Ocean Economy : Sailing high or still trapped at the shore?

Since long, we have been hearing about making the ocean economy a pillar for Mauritius. In the last budgets, several projects on blue economy were announced. Many conferences, seminars, meetings, missions and even a ‘Roadmap’ on the subject have been held. Nevertheless, till date, the ocean economy seems not to really take off. Proponents still see a bright future for this field but what is holding back the evolution of this emerging sector?

There is no doubt that our vast exclusive economic zone presents enormous opportunities for economic development and job creation. Vassen Kauppaymuthoo, Oceanographer, Registered Professional Environmental Engineer and Professional Diver, explains that Mauritius is a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) and it may be considered as an Ocean State, that is  a State which has an economic jurisdiction over a vast area of ocean, and in our case, more than 2.3 million square kilometres. “However, our perception as islanders is sometimes limited to our land mass and we tend to forget that we live on a tiny portion of land surrounded by vast areas of an ocean. This conception needs to be changed and people need to realise that our lagoons and oceans form part of the major “common” (public domain) asset of our small Republic and that we may derive major advantages if we know how to make use of them while protecting our natural environment and using them in a sustainable manner.”

The Head of Department of Ocean Economy at the Board of Investment (BoI) Dr Drishty Ramdenee explains that the Blue Economy is a new sector. “Mauritius is one of the new south countries in the Indian Ocean to have initiated Blue Economy projects. With our Exclusive Economic Zone of 1.96 million square kilometres, this sector presents great potential in terms of development and investment. However, its development demands lots of work in terms of capacity, financing, knowledge and time. As such the development of the ocean sector contains diverse sub sectors such as aquaculture, biotech marine, among many others. The structuring of all these sub sectors requires frameworks to monitor their development and activities,” explains Dr Drishty Ramdenee.

Understanding the components of the sector

Ranjeet Bhagooli, Associate Professor of Marine Science / Biosciences at the University of Mauritius avers that to be able to assess the progress made in the “blue economy” one has to firstly thoroughly understand the multiple activities that underpin the blue economy. “The major drivers of these activities, services and existing, emerging and new industries include demand for protein and food security, R&D in ocean technologies and health care industries, demand for alternative energy sources and minerals, freshwater shortage, growth in marine trade and global tourism, coastal urbanisation, development and conservation and national and international regulations.”

He recalls that gradual progress is happening and we are in the right direction. “The existing industries are being further optimised while emerging and new industries need urgent and appropriate attention in terms of research and massive investment.”

How far we have progressed?

Dr Drishty Ramdenee highlights that in the last three years, there has been a diversification in the fishing sector. “We have seen the setting up of the National Fishing Fleet by an enterprise, the transformation of fishing products in Mauritius, the diversification in the aquaculture sector and new born sub-sectors such as the biotech marine and the future oil tanker project (petrolier marin). So various projects are already set up or are being set up but all these need adequate support. The Ministry of Ocean Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries, Shipping and Outer Island and the BoI are working together to bring scientific support and monitoring to these. Also research and development are done to detect what type of organism is needed in our waters. We also look at the structural technical expertise and management regarding these projects. And the BoI has the major role of coordinating these projects.”

Dr Drishty Ramdenee also underlines that the government has set up legal frameworks to monitor the sector. “We also have the Africa Mineral Development Centre in Mauritius which will bring technical support and advisory for us to have better practices in terms of development. He trusts that when compared to foreign countries, Mauritius is in fact moving fast in terms of Ocean Economy. “We are already on the same benchmark with the best countries in the world. For example, Mauritius is one of the first countries besides Canada and Australia to have the Marine Spatial Planning System. The government has a singular and vision but it takes time and effort.”

Nadeem Nazurally, lecturer at University of Mauritius in the faculty of Ocean Studies Department of Marine and Ocean Science, Fisheries and Mariculture states that our economy is very much dependent on the tourism sector; we still have to diversify to other aspects of the blue economy. “We have progressed a lot in terms of advancement in marine aquaculture whereby we have one fish farm exporting fish products to Europe and US. Several Mauritian investors want to invest in various aspects of the blue economy such as aquaculture (of various species) and port- related businesses. All of these businesses are in line with sustainability and environmental protection and conservation as well but the main issue is initial high investment for them. The government needs to provide incentives to local companies investing in this new sector as well.”

The Republic of Mauritius is in a transition period, and there is a need to have fresh and innovative ideas in order to allow our economy to thrive, highlights the oceanographer. “We cannot rely any more on the traditional sectors of our economy which will not be able to bring us to the level of High Income Countries like the Seychelles did. We need to think out of the box, give chances to our dreamers and leaders to emerge, think differently with a different mind, not only with economic objectives, but with truly sustainable objectives incorporating the environmental, social and economic spheres. For the time being, ocean economy has been too much focused on economic benefits, without taking into consideration the two other components: environmental and social. Ocean economy may one day become a new pillar of our economy and I really believe that it will help our country to move forward. For me it is not a “can” but a “when.”

Why we are at a standstill?

Vassen Kauppaymuthoo says we have not been able to kick off those projects up to now because we lack a formal legal and technical framework to define the priorities and opportunities, opportunities which could then be marketed with certain conditions. “We lack innovative minds and drivers of change and we put too much emphasis on the economic aspects. Most of the people working on the project are economists or administrators, who sometimes do not have any concrete practical knowledge about the specificity of our lagoons and oceans as part of the public domain, belonging to all Mauritians. We also lack a focused scientific approach led by persons having cross-sectorial experiences which could allow people to believe in the project while ensuring that all the Mauritians participate in the process as having a stake in the public domain with a truly sustainable approach integrating the environmental features, economic benefits and social integration. One example is the approach towards aquaculture which cannot be reconciled with our touristic activities.”

He further adds that till date, Mauritius has not been able to propose a clear road map with a coherent approach within a proper administrative and legal framework. “In fact, I have been in contact with a few groups of investors but they have informed me that the strategic approach and administrative/legal frameworks are not clear enough to bring the project forward and to be attractive enough to kick start certain projects in the field. Some measures have been announced in the last budget speech, but they are insufficient to stimulate this new sector for which the prospect is immense.”

Additionally, Nadeem Nazurally, on his side, states that people are very much hesitant to invest in this sector. “The high initial investment maybe is a big problem for people to venture in this sector. It is a new sector and a lack of knowledge as well as know-how is also hindering the investment capability of people. The initial investment might be high but the blue economy is also a high profitable business provided people have the right know-how and knowledge. Most of the businesses related to blue economy are also not a one-man job. It requires a selection of professionals in various field examples: Product development/ Marketing/ HR/ Scientists/ Economists and so on to make it successful.”

According to Ranjeet Bhagooli, the development of this sector requires a change in culture and massive investment along with enabling environments for ocean-related businesses to kick start and flourish. “It is also noteworthy that a sectorial approach may give the impression that not much is happening in this field. An integrated approach with a proper regulating authority, for instance through creation of a lead authority like a “Mauritius Oceanographic Commission” (MOC) under a Sustainable Ocean Development Act, may bring much more socio-economic impact and visibility in this field of development. Such a Commission operating independently could possibly control all the ocean-related activities while harnessing all the licencing fees, ensuring compliance with regulations/guidelines and channelling of appropriate investment in the ocean sector. Consequently, the MOC may accelerate the development of this sector.”

Challenges in the sector

Talking about the challenges, Ranjeet Bhagooli argues that the two major challenges remain the change in our seagoing culture and massive investment from both public and private sectors. “Investment in education at primary, secondary and university levels is imperative if one were to see the “blue economy” taking off. It appears that in the primary curriculum there are some aspects of the coast and ocean embedded in the topics covered. The secondary level education is bringing “Ä” and “Ö” levels subjects but only in a few private schools. These may be requiring to be incorporated at state secondary schools as well. There is also need to have PCGE programmes introduced in the field of marine/ocean sciences in an effort to produce well-qualified educators to serve the primary and secondary schools. At university level, the advent of multiple ocean-related undergraduate and post-graduate programmes of studies at UoM has been a major development and will indubitably contribute to creation of appropriate skills and competencies for further advancing the existing ocean-related industries and jump starting the emerging and new ocean-related industries.”

Future scope

Vassen Kauppaymuthoo had a firm belief in Ocean Economy since the completion of his studies in oceanography and environment in 1995 and he still believes that our nation may rise if we know how to manage this opportunity. “We live in troubled times, under the influence of climate change, rising sea levels, exhausted land resources and young generations looking for new and innovative avenues. Ocean economy represent a major avenue for the future of Mauritius and the future of humanity, but we will not be able to embark on this new adventure if we do not find a new way to look at them, not only as a source of revenue, but also as a mother who feeds people and fishing communities, who helps us face climate change by absorbing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, who stores and transports the energy from the sun. We sell oceans on post cards through tourism which is a major driver of our economy and we should not replicate the errors which we have made on land. Ocean economy should be focused on opportunities linked to oceans with an inclusive, innovative and sustainable approach in order to allow us to really derive the benefits linked to this potential new pillar.”

Ranjeet Bhagooli also seems to be optimistic. “With the 2.3M km2 of sea territory, that is, more than a thousand times of the land mass, one is bound to see a bright future in the marine/ocean sector, subject to well-considered investment in education and business environment.”

Career pathway

The scope for the upcoming and future generations is as wide as the ocean itself, says Ranjeet Bhagooli. “New job prospects will crop up with appropriate investments both in the public and private sectors. However, it will depend on the pace of development in this sector. There are several projects being discussed or are in the pipeline and include the Deep Open Water Applications (DOWA) project, development of offshore aquaculture, renewable energy from the ocean, among others.”