June 10, (THEWILL)- As the United Nations launched the second-ever fully digital rendition of its annual World Oceans Day event on June 8, in partnership with Oceanic Global, Chairman, Travel Writers’ Corps of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bayelsa State Council, Mr. Piriye Kiyaramo, has called on governors of littoral states in Nigeria to establish ocean-based industries.
He said such included commercial fishing, aquaculture, seafood processing, marine shipping, port activities, shipbuilding and coastal tourism.
He said the ocean economy, which consists of the sum of the economic activities of ocean-based industries, including assets, goods and services provided by marine ecosystems, is vital to the littoral states as a tool for wealth and job creation.
According to Kiyaramo, who also is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of an Abuja-based Blue Economy online newsmagazine: “Even the World Bank explicitly stated that the blue economy includes established ocean industries, such as fisheries, tourism and marine transport, as well as new and emerging activities such as offshore renewable energy, aquaculture, seabed extractive activities and marine biotechnology and bio-prospecting.”
He noted that the world’s oceans are a massive resource for sustainable development and a crucial buffer against climate change, informing that: “The ocean produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen, is home to most of earth’s biodiversity, nourishes billions of people and employs millions worldwide.”
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