Story map: Our dynamic marine economy

This story map, originally published in June 2020, updates the first comprehensive assessment of the U.S. marine economy. Developed by NOAA and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, new marine economy statistics provide the most accurate picture yet of America's marine economy.

In 2020, the U.S. marine economy contributed $361 billion to GDP, generated $610 billion in sales, and supported 2.2 million jobs. By 2030, global marine economy growth is projected to reach $3 trillion.

With an enormous scope of ocean, coastal and Great Lakes' activities, NOAA is uniquely positioned to support sustainable growth. This story map updates statistics and provides a glimpse of NOAA's agency-wide contributions to our nation's dynamic marine economy.

The marine economy includes activity that:

• Takes place in marine areas such as cargo shipping;
• Uses essential inputs from marine areas such as seafood processing;
• Produces goods and services primarily for marine areas such as navigational equipment; and
• Occurs because of proximity to coasts such as vacations and rental property.

NOAA is uniquely positioned to grow the marine economy.

NOAA spurs new growth, new job sources and important leverage of major economic drivers. Following is a sampling of how NOAA support is key to the viability of the marine economy:

• NOAA's role in protecting the health of ecosystems is vital to the economic well-being of fisheries, tourism and other critical sectors. Protecting coral reefs, for example, is crucial to coastal resilience and preserving the enormous potential of life-saving drugs.

• NOAA tools are essential to enabling safe navigation, protecting the environment and ensuring America's economic competitiveness. U.S. seaports employ 41,000 workers, move $1.8 trillion of cargo annually, and directly and indirectly support more than 30 million jobs across sectors.

• NOAA's investment in transformative technologies — including unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and 'omics, a revolutionary approach to unlocking the genetic secrets of marine life — optimize economic contributions.

• NOAA's prioritization of enhanced environmental intelligence is establishing important new observing methods and accelerating developments in weather modeling through NOAA's flagship Earth Prediction Innovation Center, leading to more accurate and reliable weather forecast models that will support activities across the entire marine economy.

• NOAA's multi-sector partnerships with the weather enterprise and ocean observing communities help shape NOAA initiatives and speed the transition of research to operations, significantly bolstering safety, efficiency and industry response to consumer needs.