Opportunities For Humanity in 2025

The Ocean economy is undergoing significant growth, fueled by dynamic sectors such as marine aquaculture, offshore wind energy, and tourism. However, this expansion brings new environmental challenges, as high-demand industries continue to exert pressure on marine ecosystems. Small-scale fisheries remain vital for global food security and coastal livelihoods, yet they are increasingly vulnerable to climate change and competition from other Ocean-based activities.
Societal HarmsProtection Efforts
Societal HarmsProtection Efforts

Marine animal food production reached a record 115 million tonnes, 

meeting a global demand with environmental costs. Marine aquaculture has almost quadrupled since the 1990s, reaching 35.3 Mt in 2022 and now corresponds to 31% of the total production of marine animal foods. In comparison, global marine capture fisheries production has remained relatively stable since the 1990s, reaching 79.7 Mt in 2022. However, while sustainable aquaculture production is possible, the sector is very diverse, with some aquaculture production systems generating significant environmental impacts. Overall, the global apparent consumption of aquatic animal food increased by 3% per year between 1961 and 2021 — outpacing both the growth of the world’s population (1.6% per year) and the consumption of terrestrial meats. Over the same period, the internationally traded value of aquatic animal products grew by an average of 4.0% annually, highlighting their increasing importance as one of the most extensively traded food commodities worldwide. These trends underscore that strengthening the sustainability of aquatic food production is essential to reduce environmental impacts and harness emerging economic opportunities.

Marine-derived pharmaceutical sales rose 7.5%, despite persistent inequity.

In 2024, a landmark global database containing 308.6 million gene clusters of marine origin was published, marking the largest collection of its kind to date and highlighting the acceleration in bioprospecting for new marine genetic resources. Future potential is vast given that 70–90% of marine species are still undescribed. The global market for marine-derived pharmaceuticals was valued at US$ 4.1 billion in 2023, while the marine oligosaccharides market — including pharmaceuticals but also cosmetics and other uses — reached US$ 3.56 billion in 2024. Both markets are growing rapidly, with marine-derived pharmaceuticals sales increasing by 7.5% between 2018 and 2022. However, access to marine genetic resources remains highly inequitable, with nearly half of all patents owned by a single company. Moreover, a critical point is the harvest of sufficient amounts of compounds without harming the marine environment.

US$ 2.6 trillion ocean economy powers 134 million jobs but at an environmental cost.

Between 1995 and 2020, the ocean economy contributed between 3% and 4% of total global gross value added, doubling from US$ 1.3 trillion to US$ 2.6 trillion. Its share of global employment also rose, from 3.5% to 4.7%, with 134 million full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, 43.9 million people were engaged in marine fisheries, aquaculture, or unspecified subsectors. The expansion has been largely driven by two sectors with high environmental impacts: offshore oil and gas (US$ 988 billion in 2020) and coastal and marine tourism (US$ 789 billion in 2019), the latter employing 80 million FTEs. Offshore wind and marine renewable energies, however, experienced the fastest growth, with gross value-added rising from US$ 38.2 million in 2000 to US$ 4.6 billion in 2020. Reducing the environmental costs of ocean-based industries — through expanding alternative energy sources and improving sustainability — presents major opportunities for sustainable economic growth.

Small-scale fisheries support 88% of marine harvest jobs and US$ 51.8 billion.

Marine small-scale fisheries account for a significant fraction of the total annual marine landings with an estimated 25.1 million tonnes (31.2% of global landings), representing an average (2013–2017) US$ 51.8 billion annual landed economic value, higher than the revenues of cruise tourism, port activities or offshore wind. Although data remain incomplete and vary across regions, available estimates suggest that small-scale fisheries generate around 40% of global fisheries catches. They employ approximately 12.9 million people in the harvesting segment, which represents 88.1% of total employment in marine fisheries value chains; they contribute directly to sustainable development by providing livelihoods, cultural value, and critical nutrition — especially to vulnerable societal groups. Strengthening the sustainability and resilience of small-scale fisheries — including addressing pressures from other ocean sectors — is key to safeguarding their vital role in eradicating poverty, hunger and malnutrition.