Sustainability and equity are two sides of the same coin. Equity is a prerequisite for a sustainable ocean economy, where humanity safeguards marine and coastal ecosystems, sustainably uses ocean resources, and ensures equitable distribution of benefits — especially for the more than 3 billion people who depend on marine resources for their livelihoods.

Questions on how to achieve this kind of sustainable and equitable "blue economy" have emerged across ocean industries. Here, we offer a deep dive on what equity looks like in the ocean sector.

What are the challenges to creating an equitable ocean economy?
Ocean equity addresses fairness in how people are treated in ocean industries and how policies regulating the use of the ocean are developed and implemented.

The first issue is the distribution of ocean benefits.

Access to ocean resources is limited and distributed inequitably. A small number of national actors and corporations dominate the ocean economy and capture many of its benefits. For instance, five high-income countries are responsible for 86 percent of all fishing on the high seas (China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Spain) and 13 seafood companies control 11 to 16 percent of the global catch.

At the same time, most costs from ocean-based economic activities are borne by marginalized and local communities that rely on fisheries as their main source of protein. Equity and justice in the ocean rely on a top-down structure and are disproportionately shaped by a few powerful, wealthy actors.

The second issue is inclusion in decision-making about ocean resources.

Policy decisions made about the ocean not only impact the health of marine ecosystems, but also the rights and well-being of the communities that depend on the ocean for food, livelihoods, cultural value and coastal protection.

The problem is that local communities are frequently left out of decision-making processes related to ocean development and management. Take the fact that women make up 85 percent of the fisheries workforce, yet are often not accounted for in fisheries management positions, leading to policies that undermine their livelihoods. These barriers, frequently due to social conventions, limit women’s purchasing power to invest in better boats and equipment and explore new fishing methods or fishing grounds.

Read the full article about ocean equity by Micheline Khan and Eliza Northrop at GreenBiz.