Murkowski, Cantwell Spearhead Legislation to Empower Blue Economy and Support Coastal Communities

03/25/22

US Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced the Ocean Regional Opportunity and Innovation Act of 2022 (Ocean ROI Act of 2022), which would direct the Secretary of Commerce to allocate “Ocean Innovation Clusters”. (ocean clusters) to strengthen the country’s coastal communities and blue economy. Senator Murkowski is a strong supporter of ocean clusters, including the Alaska Ocean Cluster, which serves as a hub for private, public, and academic stakeholders to collaborate on ways to advance and improve the marine industry.

Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) are the original co-sponsors of the legislation.

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“The US has a number of burgeoning ocean clusters, including the Alaska Ocean Cluster, that have emerged as key enablers of blue economy development. It’s time the US caught up with our Arctic friends in Iceland and Norway, who have a long history of bringing together public, private and academic stakeholders to create sustainable value in the maritime industry through existing and emerging opportunities. Clusters provide members with physical workspaces – often including some sort of incubation space for projects – as well as opportunities for networking, funding and investment. By nurturing our existing clusters and creating new clusters where they don’t already exist, we are paving the way for some of Alaska’s most innovative minds to further advance Alaska’s blue economy — a significant and direct investment in our state,” said Senator Murkowski.

“From protecting orcas from ship noise to transitioning to a zero-carbon future for our ports and maritime industry, Washington’s ocean cluster called Maritime Blue is working hard to solve the complex challenges facing our economy. This bill would build on their success by creating a new $30 billion grant program to fund ocean innovation clusters and grow Washington’s maritime economy,” Senator Cantwell said.

Specifically, the Ocean ROI Act of 2021 would require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Administrator of the US Economic Development Agency and in consultation with the Administrator of NOAA, to designate at least one ocean cluster in each of NOAA’s five domestic fisheries regions and the region of Great Lakes. This would ensure that at least one cluster is reported in Alaska. The bill would also create grants for the operations and management of the cluster, as well as one-time capital investments for the physical infrastructure.

“We are grateful that Senator Murkowski recognizes ocean clusters as a framework to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development. Your leadership is invaluable as we seek to address local, national and global maritime issues,” said Garrett Evridge, executive director of the Alaska Ocean Cluster. “The timing could not be better to formalize a national cluster network. This legislation will help us respond to challenges while driving a modern and resilient marine sector.”

“The Alaska Ocean Cluster has been an incredible resource as we have aligned our technology with customer needs in the state. Ocean clusters have a great opportunity to accelerate startups focused on maritime solutions,” said Kortney Opshaug, CEO and Founder of Blue Ocean Gear.

“Our ability to provide value and solutions to communities and businesses in the Arctic has been strengthened by the advice, coaching and connections provided by the Alaska Ocean Cluster,” said Leslie Canavera, CEO and co-founder of PolArctic, “Expansion of Ocean National-level innovation clusters will facilitate coordination between businesses, tribes, communities and other stakeholders to realize the potential of the blue economy.”

Background: On June 8, 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released the first official statistics from the Marine Economy Satellite Account, showing that the marine economy accounted for 1.9 percent, or $397 billion, of U.S. gross domestic product in 2019 BEA also found that the growth of the ocean economy in 2019 exceeded that of the economy as a whole, from $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion in gross value added by 2030.