Ocean observing brings billions to the economy and provides 30,000 jobs says new US IOOS report

The Ocean Enterprise – a study of US for-profit and not-for-profit activity in the oceans has been released this month. It shows that ocean measurement, observation, and forecasting accounts for billions of dollars of the U.S. economy annually and provides up to 30,000 jobs. This is the first national-level assessment of the scale and scope of the ‘ocean enterprise’.

The report demonstrates that for-profit and not-for-profit American businesses supporting ocean measurement, observation and forecasting are a critical component of maritime commerce and the blue economy. These businesses develop the infrastructure necessary to generate new data and to work with publicly available data to deliver value-added products and services. From the instruments that make strides in ocean observing every day to the app that tells a tourist whale-watching expedition if today is a safe day to go out, the ocean observing and data represent a significant industry cluster.

Download the full report here