A Sustainable and Inclusive Blue Economy for the Philippine Archipelago

The Philippine Archipelago is surrounded by the West Pacific Ocean region on its eastern seaboard and the West Philippine Sea on the west. It is the apex of a coral-rich area known as the Coral Triangle, the center of marine biodiversity. The Filipino people have a long history of affinity to the sea that has been used as a source of food and means of transport and trade/business, yet the maritime potential of the country has not been fully utilized to propel its overall development using the blue economy platform. The status and potentials of the country in the fields of fisheries and aquaculture, marine biotechnology, ocean energy and transport, and manpower and infrastructure development for an integrated and future responsive development of a sustainable and inclusive blue economy are presented in this paper. The discussions encompass the twin goals of the blue economy, which are the inclusive growth of the people and protection of the marine resources.