‘Blue economy’ represents 5.1% of GDP, 4.1% of employment

  • Lusa
  • 8 June 2022

According to the DGPM's Blue Economy Observatory, the sea also has a weight of 5.4% of total gross value added (GVA) and 4% of direct GVA, based on the latest available data, for 2018.

The ‘blue economy’ relating to the sea represents 5.1% of Portugal’s gross domestic product and 4.1% of employment, according to data from the government’s Directorate General of Maritime Policy (DGPM).

According to the DGPM’s Blue Economy Observatory, the sea also has a weight of 5.4% of total gross value added (GVA) and 4% of direct GVA, based on the latest available data, for 2018.

In Portugal’s total exports, the blue economy has a weight of 5%.

With regard to ports, transport and logistics, in 2020 a total of three million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units – a standard measure used to calculate the volume of containers) were handled in Portugal. There were 661 registered vessels flying the Portuguese flag and 61,000 active seafarers.

In the sam year, 213,382 coastal security actions were carried out and 7,576 related documents issued.

In the same year, 169,000 tonnes of fish were caught, worth €262 million, with exports of goods from the fish chain representing 1.6% of the total.

Aquaculture production in 2019 was 14,000 tonnes, with 12,900 tonnes sold.

Portugal also had two renewable energy plants at sea in 2020, with 25,400 kilowatts (KW) of installed capacity.

Coastal tourism, in turn, generated income in the order of €1 billion in 2020.

Maritime works to shore up the coastline, meanwhile, covered 18.4% of the mainland’s coast critically threatened by erosion.

In 2019 and 2020, a total of 86,000 students took part in activities 56 nautical sports training centres, and there were 686 graduates in maritime courses in higher education.

Escola Azul (Blue School), an educational programme overseen by the the Ministry of Economy and the Sea, which promotes ocean literacy, covered 2,927 students in 2020, 32,035 teachers and 234 schools.

Spending on research and development in the field totalled €105 million in 2019 (the latest year for which there is data), or 3.5% of the national total.

The National Strategy for the Sea 2013-2020 monitoring report of December 2021 stated that 6,926 operations worth €1.3 billion were financed through Portugal 2020 in this field.

The combined turnover of companies directly related to the major sectors of activity of the blue economy in 2019 amounted to €412,640,613,433.