24 Feb 2026
Photo by Maxwell Andrews The Orkney Islands Regional Marine Plan has been formally adopted by Scottish Ministers, establishing a statutory framework for managing marine activities out to 12 nautical miles from the coast. The plan, the second of its kind for the Orkney Islands Scottish Marine Region, sets binding policy for a wide range of sectors […]
24 Feb 2026
Photo by Kier in Sight Archives Researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban have developed a land-based tank method for cultivating Palmaria palmata — the red seaweed commonly known as dulse — that dramatically reduces early-stage mortality and enables year-round production of a species that has historically proved extremely difficult to farm. In controlled […]
04 Mar 2025
The Scottish Government has commissioned a report scoping potential scenarios for the blue economy up to 2045, highlighting significant risks and opportunities. The report identified four possible futures: End of the Rainbow, Winner Takes it All, Status Woe, and Live Fast, Die Young. Stakeholders that fed into the report agreed Scotland must pursue […]
19 Dec 2023
Ireland’s ocean economy grew its turnover by 17 per cent last year, while the number of jobs in the sector rose by 19 per cent, according to a report by the Marine Institute. The 2023 Ocean Economy Report provides an update on Ireland’s ocean economy for 2022 across three main economic indicators: turnover, gross value […]
13 Dec 2022
The Scottish Government has published their delivery plan for the Blue Economy Vision, which was published in March 2022. The document, ‘Delivering Scotland’s Blue Economy Approach’, was launched at the end of November and sets out the first phase of delivery towards the Vision. Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, […]
12 Jul 2022
The Marine Institute and the Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) at NUI Galway, are conducting a survey of marine and marine-related businesses as part of the regular reporting on Ireland’s Ocean Economy. Although the CSO and other State organisations provide some data on marine related economic activity, there is a need to supplement this data […]
21 Jun 2022
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) has published a briefing paper on deep-sea mining. Discussing the significant reputational, regulatory, and operational risks associated with plans to mine the deep seabed of minerals, the paper addresses how financial institutions should respond to the deep-sea mining sector. It also lays out how financial institutions wishing […]
07 Jun 2022
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) has published a briefing paper on deep-sea mining. Discussing the significant reputational, regulatory, and operational risks associated with plans to mine the deep seabed of minerals, the paper addresses how financial institutions should respond to the deep-sea mining sector. It also lays out how financial institutions wishing […]
