Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit

Aonad Taighde ar Ghnéithe Socheacnamaíocha na Mara

National University of Ireland, Galway

The aim of this portal is to provide useful marine economic data and related links on the economics and the natural and social resources of the coast and oceans surrounding Ireland. In Ireland, and indeed much of Europe, research on the economic value of the marine sector has been limited to date. This is mainly due to the difficulties in empirically measuring a multi-sector resource such as the marine economy. The fragmented, cross sectoral nature of the marine economy and the difficulty in distinguishing between land-based and marine-based activities has meant that national economic datasets do not explicitly contain a marine sector. However, given the increased impetus on marine spatial planning for commercial and environmental sustainability regulation in areas such as fisheries, marine energy, and aquaculture, national  governments and marine policy makers are in need of a range of economic indicators for the sector.

Availability and easy access to a wide range of natural and human-activity data on the oceans and coastal regions of Ireland is also the basis for strategic decision-making on coastal and marine policy. Much data has been collected on the natural resources both on and off the Irish coasts but less attention has been given, until now, to the collection of data on the economic activities taking place in Irish waters. SEMRU in the National University of Ireland, Galway have completed a first round of data collection in order to value (1) marine economic activity in Irish waters - the Irish Ocean Economy, (2) the socio-economic characterisation of the alternatively defined Irish coastal regions - the Irish Coastal Economy and (3) ecosystem service values from the literature. This data is presented in the following 3 databases:

* Ocean Economy - Market value data

* Coastal Economy - Population and coastal Economic Statistics

* Marine Ecosystem Service Value Estimates

* Water Quality Estimates

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