Portuguese Ocean Satellite Account

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Portuguese Ocean Satellite Account

INE, I.P.

Satellite accounts intend to increase the capacity of observation of particular phenomena. In Statistics Portugal they are often developed in partnership, seeking to complement statistical methods with the specific knowledge available in other institutions. The Portuguese Ocean Satellite Account (OSA) was developed in partnership with the Directorate General for Maritime Policy (DGPM), Ministry of the Sea.

The Portuguese OSA is based on the conceptual framework of the Portuguese National Accounts and is considered an adequate instrument to estimate the relative macroeconomic importance of the Ocean Economy in the Portuguese Economy. It also supports the decision-making and monitoring of national policies, namely the economic pillar of the National Ocean Strategy.

OSA is considered a useful and timely information tool. However, it is acknowledged that it does not cover all relevant economic information, particularly the value of natural resources and of sustainability of economic growth.

Last update: 02 Aug 2021

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Context

Challenges addressed

Inefficient management of financial resources

Lack of public and decision maker’s awareness

The Portuguese OSA addresses the challenges of:

Measuring the relevance of the sea/ocean economy
Supporting decision making regarding the coordination of public policies for the ocean
Monitoring the National Ocean Strategy 2013-2020 (NOS 2013-2020) and National Ocean Strategy 2021-2030 (NOS 2021-2030) in its economic component, giving support to the Inter-Ministerial Commission for Maritime Affairs (ICMA). It also provides reliable and adequate information for Portugal in the context of the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) and other processes where data for the Ocean Economy is decisive.

Beneficiaries

Directorate General for Maritime Policy (DGPM), Ministry of the Sea
Autonomous regions (Azores and Madeira)
Ocean-based sectors
Academia
General public
Municipalities

Scale of implementation

Subnational

National

Ecosystems

Deep sea

Estuary

Open sea

Beach

Theme

Islands

Fisheries and aquaculture

Tourism

Transport

Location

Portugal

Azores, Portugal

Madeira, Portugal

West and South Europe

Process

Summary of the process

Building Block 1 (Value Chain Logic) lies the foundation for our approach, while Building Block 2 focuses on the use of the tool. Thus, the two Building Blocks build upon one another.

Building Blocks

Value chain logic

The scope of the Ocean Economy, considered in the Portuguese Ocean Satelite Account (OSA), aggregates activities in two main areas: "established activities" and "emerging activities” which, in turn, are divided into groups. It considers nine groups, eight of which correspond to established activities (groups 1 to 8). The last group (group 9) includes new uses and resources of the ocean, which congregates emerging activities (see figure). The adopted criterion for the classification of economic activities as established or emerging obeyed the international logic of maturity level of the markets, namely what is followed in the EU, in the study “Blue Growth” for the purpose of international comparisons.

Overall, we adopted a value chain logic considering, inter alia, the level of industry disaggregation permitted by the National Statistical System. Given this restriction, the methodological option was to consider Maritime and Marine Equipment Services as independent groups, including cross-economic activities in other groups.

Enabling factors

Mature statistical systems with quality and detailed data
Broad discussion with several stakeholders on the concepts, definitions, and aggregations of the account
Very good articulation among entities

Lesson learned

Time consuming activity in the first exercise due to its pioneering character (pilot exercise)
Difficulty in obtaining information on emerging activities
Results compensate the effort: this organization of data allowed illustrating heterogeneity of the different groups (dynamic, productivity, resilience, etc.)

Understanding the impact of ocean activities on the national economy

The main objective of the Portuguese Ocean Satellite Account (OSA) is to provide an economic information system for the sea. The OSA was considered the most appropriate tool to estimate the size and importance of the ocean economy to the Portuguese economy and to obtain information on the structure of production activities related to the ocean.

The OSA privileged the simultaneous treatment of supply and demand. Information was obtained, not only for the production account (output at basic prices, intermediate consumption, Gross Value Added - GVA), but also for relevant economic variables such as household and public administrations consumption, imports and exports. Thus, it was possible to estimate the contribution of the "Ocean" to GVA and national employment. Additionally, an estimate was made for paid and unpaid employment, not only due to its relevance, but also to allow assessing the results plausibility.

By applying the Integrated Input-output Symmetric Matrix System to the main results, it was possible to determine, in addition to the direct effects, the indirect effect of the Ocean Economy activities on the national economy.

The compilation of OSA at NUTS I level allowed having information for Azores and Madeira (islands), illustrating regional differences, namely different output patterns.

Enabling factors

Mature statistical systems with quality and detailed data.
Very good articulation among entities.

Lesson learned

New technical and coherence challenges in the second exercise, regarding NUTS I desegregation.
Detailing information at regional level allows improving data quality and robustness of concepts, namely concerning coastal tourism. Some concepts defined for national level are not adequate for regional level.

Impacts

There is a clear recognition of the importance of the Portuguese Ocean Satellite Account. The data provided:

Supports decision and policymaking related to the sea
Supports the monitoring of the National Ocean Strategy 2013-2020 (NOS 20132020) in its economic component
Supports the Inter-Ministerial Commission for Maritime Affairs (ICMA)
Provides information in the context of the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP)
Provides information on the socioeconomic context of Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), as well as economic and social analysis in the core of OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic
Supports the definition of the National Ocean Strategy 2021-2030, taking into consideration the results of the previous monitoring (NOS20132020), and will take into account the results of the future SAS editions for monitoring purposes
Supports other processes where data for the Sea Economy are decisive, including for private decision-making or for awareness of the public.

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 14 – Life below water

Story

Portgal é mar

EMEPC

Portugal is located in the Southwest of Europe, in the confluence of three tectonic plates: the Eurasian and Nubia to the East, and North American, to the West. It is a country traditionally focused on the ocean and its resources, whose people are culturally looking overseas: Africa at the South, North and South America at the West. It is one of the European countries with a major shoreline and extension of the Continental Shelf Project, ongoing on the United Nations. That is our main inspiration for being a pioneer in developing an Ocean Satellite Account (OSA). How can we preserve our ocean resources and develop our ocean economy without knowing its importance?

The OSA represented, on average, 3.9% of Gross Value Added (GVA) in the 2016-2018 triennium and 4.0% of employment (Full Time Equivalent - FTE) of the Portuguese economy, in the period 2016-2017. The performance of the economic activities considered in the OSA was above the overall national economy: between 2016 and 2018, the GVA grew 18.5% (the national GVA increased 9.6%) and, between 2016 and 2017, employment grew 8.3% (in the national economy the change was 3.4% in the same period).

Results for the Autonomous Regions (Azores and Madeira) are also available. In 2016-2017, 10.7% of the GVA of the ocean economy was generated in these regions, 6.1 percentage points more than the relative weight that these regions have globally in the national GVA.

Applying the Integrated System of Symmetric Input-Output Matrices of 2017, which enables to obtain an expanded picture of the inter-sectoral relations of the economy allowing to capture indirect effects, it is estimated that, in 2018, the direct and indirect impact of the ocean economy on the national economy has been translated into 5.4% of GVA and 5.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).