Significant economic and environmental benefits of seabed mapping within the UK Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) revealed in new report.
The value of the seabed has been poorly understood, with just 27% of the UK EEZ mapped with high confidence, despite seabed mapping holding the potential to drive growth and innovation across a range of maritime sectors by enhancing navigational safety, facilitating job creation and supporting economic development.
With the maritime industry making up a vital part of the UK’s national infrastructure, the U.K. Hydrographic Office commissioned a new project to conduct a complete assessment of the full economic value of seabed mapping, with the goal of improving the quality, access and coverage of seabed mapping data across the UK EEZ.
Figure 1. Cost benefit ratio of costs and benefits of seabed mapping.
Eunomia Research & Consulting (Eunomia)’s new report estimates the average total benefits of seabed mapping in the UK EEZ is around £8.9 billion, vastly outweighing an estimated annual investment of £103 million each year, delivering an average estimate of £86 benefit for every £1 spent (Figure 1).
Due to the lack of publicly available data on public and private sector spend, there is significant uncertainty in this cost benefit ratio figure. Similarly, this number presents an average for all seabed mapping activities across the UK EEZ, whereas in reality the manifestation of this ratio will be geographically and temporally variable. Nonetheless, the results of the analysis categorically demonstrate the significant economic and environmental benefits that could be realised through improving seabed mapping coverage to modern standards across the UK EEZ.
The report also estimated that 97% of the value derived from seabed mapping is from market sectors (with offshore energy and shipping, trade and ports being the most significant contributors), with 3% derived from non-market sectors, with potential benefits of seabed mapping for environmental conservation, compliance with legislation, and across maritime sectors including shipping, offshore energy, and coastal tourism.