13.2.2 Blue Growth and Source-to-Sea Sustainable
Integration
Blue Growth, the long-term European strategy, aims to support sustainable growth
in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole. Seas and oceans are drivers for the
European economy and have great potential for innovation and growth. The strategy
consists of three components: the development of sectors that have a high potential
for sustainable jobs and growth, such as aquaculture, coastal tourism, marine
biotechnology, ocean energy and seabed mining; the provision of knowledge,
legal certainty and security in the blue economy; and sea basin strategies to ensure
tailor-made measures and to foster cooperation between countries (including the
Mediterranean Sea) (European Commission 2012). The following x chapters discuss
blue growth under the spectrum of ecosystem services valuation, aquaculture and
virtual research environments.
Chapter 6 presents BlueBRIDGE (H2020) project, which aimed at the enlargement of the spectrum of growth opportunities in distinctive Blue Growth areas, and
specifically it provides a brief overview of the virtual research environments (VREs)
developed within the BlueBRIDGE project with focus on aquaculture
(BlueBRIDGE 2020). Aquaculture can be core to Blue Growth targets with benefits
exceeding the private benefits. The efficient and sustainable management of aquaculture production, at micro- but also at macro-level, requires the use of cutting-edge
technology, novel IT applications and integrated socio-economic tools. The tools
and the methodology developed within the scope of the BlueBRIDGE project allow
for the use of advanced IT applications and facilities and the introduction of the
wider socio-economic and environmental effects of aquaculture into the production
management. This can support well-informed management and decision-making.
Developing and proposing tools and methods enable the estimation of an integrated
value of production that looks beyond output maximization. Easy to use tools
facilitate all producers and the sector overall to engage in the technology race and
use it at their own benefit. From a policy perspective, the outputs of the project
enable the well-informed and forward-looking decision-making and target setting.
In Chap. 7, COASTAL (H2020) framework is demonstrated, which aims to
increase land-sea synergies via an innovative dual approach using systems dynamics
coupled with participatory methods by involving local stakeholders from representative EU coastal regions to codesign business roads map and policy alternatives
(COASTAL 2020). The source-to-sea continuum considers the land and the sea as a
single component (e.g. from land to freshwater, delta, estuarine, coastline, near shore
and ocean, connected through flows of waters, including sediment, pollutants,
materials, biota and related ecosystem services). Coastal areas and marine water
are inevitably impacted by land-based activities (agriculture, forestry, heavy industry
and urbanization) due to unsustainable land use, soil degradation and pollution of
inland freshwater.
Initial work of the COASTAL project has yielded preliminary findings which
indicate that new, innovative practices such as combined activities, alternative forms
13 Conclusions and Recommendations
249
Integration
Blue Growth, the long-term European strategy, aims to support sustainable growth
in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole. Seas and oceans are drivers for the
European economy and have great potential for innovation and growth. The strategy
consists of three components: the development of sectors that have a high potential
for sustainable jobs and growth, such as aquaculture, coastal tourism, marine
biotechnology, ocean energy and seabed mining; the provision of knowledge,
legal certainty and security in the blue economy; and sea basin strategies to ensure
tailor-made measures and to foster cooperation between countries (including the
Mediterranean Sea) (European Commission 2012). The following x chapters discuss
blue growth under the spectrum of ecosystem services valuation, aquaculture and
virtual research environments.
Chapter 6 presents BlueBRIDGE (H2020) project, which aimed at the enlargement of the spectrum of growth opportunities in distinctive Blue Growth areas, and
specifically it provides a brief overview of the virtual research environments (VREs)
developed within the BlueBRIDGE project with focus on aquaculture
(BlueBRIDGE 2020). Aquaculture can be core to Blue Growth targets with benefits
exceeding the private benefits. The efficient and sustainable management of aquaculture production, at micro- but also at macro-level, requires the use of cutting-edge
technology, novel IT applications and integrated socio-economic tools. The tools
and the methodology developed within the scope of the BlueBRIDGE project allow
for the use of advanced IT applications and facilities and the introduction of the
wider socio-economic and environmental effects of aquaculture into the production
management. This can support well-informed management and decision-making.
Developing and proposing tools and methods enable the estimation of an integrated
value of production that looks beyond output maximization. Easy to use tools
facilitate all producers and the sector overall to engage in the technology race and
use it at their own benefit. From a policy perspective, the outputs of the project
enable the well-informed and forward-looking decision-making and target setting.
In Chap. 7, COASTAL (H2020) framework is demonstrated, which aims to
increase land-sea synergies via an innovative dual approach using systems dynamics
coupled with participatory methods by involving local stakeholders from representative EU coastal regions to codesign business roads map and policy alternatives
(COASTAL 2020). The source-to-sea continuum considers the land and the sea as a
single component (e.g. from land to freshwater, delta, estuarine, coastline, near shore
and ocean, connected through flows of waters, including sediment, pollutants,
materials, biota and related ecosystem services). Coastal areas and marine water
are inevitably impacted by land-based activities (agriculture, forestry, heavy industry
and urbanization) due to unsustainable land use, soil degradation and pollution of
inland freshwater.
Initial work of the COASTAL project has yielded preliminary findings which
indicate that new, innovative practices such as combined activities, alternative forms
13 Conclusions and Recommendations
249