An area which deserves priority in Malta's national Budget on 26 October is the Blue Economy. This encompasses a wide range of activities connected to seas and coasts, including maritime transport, ports, coastal tourism, fisheries, aquaculture, shipbuilding, marine renewable energy, and emerging technologies. These activities fall under different ministries and authorities in Malta, whose responsibilities also intersect with European and international governance frameworks.
According to the European Commission's Blue Economy Observatory, Malta's established Blue Economy sectors directly employed around 26,400 people and generated approximately €1 billion in gross value added (GVA) in 2023. This represented 8.9% of national employment and 5.4% of national GVA.
Coastal tourism accounted for half of the sector's GVA and 64% of its employment, followed by port activities and marine living resources. These figures underline both the importance of the Blue Economy and Malta's dependence on activities connected to the sea.
Yet the Blue Economy is not just an economic category, important as this is. It involves environmental, social, cultural and political relationships, with opportunities, risks and competing interests.
Recent European and Mediterranean discussions highlight some of these challenges. At the MED9 summit, Prime Minister Robert Abela emphasised connectivity, affordable energy and resilient infrastructure, while calling for the EU's future budget to recognise the geographical circumstances of island states. Similar concerns featured in subsequent European Council discussions, including maritime security, supply chains and energy provision.
These are particularly important for Malta, whose insularity creates specific dependencies on maritime connectivity. European climate measures, including the Emissions Trading System, also raise questions about competitiveness, decarbonisation, the distribution of costs and the risk of competitive disadvantages for Malta's maritime sectors.
The Malta Maritime Forum, which represents different sectors in the industry, has made various proposals for Budget 2027, including investment in port resilience, maritime skills, cleaner fuel infrastructure and better policy coordination. Its recommendations include strengthening the Marsaxlokk breakwater, improving cargo infrastructure, investing in maritime education and implementing the National Maritime Transport Strategy through clear responsibilities and deadlines.
The MMF also proposed a permanent interministerial structure to coordinate maritime policy across transport, finance, energy, climate, infrastructure and foreign affairs, ensuring that urgent priorities are acted upon rather than delayed.
Such proposals deserve serious consideration. They also demonstrate the importance of multidisciplinary expertise and cross-sectoral consultation in addressing fragmentation and improving coordination within this vital sector.
A sustainable and equitable Blue Economy also requires more attention to the people and communities affected by maritime activities.
Earlier this month, Friends of the Earth Malta highlighted coastal pressures through its Save Our Shores campaign, raising concerns about public access, pollution, overdevelopment and the protection of marine ecosystems. Coastal local and regional councils, fishing communities, workers and residents also have important perspectives, which may sometimes converge and sometimes differ.
A more recent case in point concerns fishers' groups that have expressed concern about the proposed land reclamation at Bengħajsa, at the tip of Birżebbuġa, as reported in the Times of Malta (19 October). Hence the importance of impact assessment in such development proposals. This should also include social impact assessment, in order to analyse the possible impacts on different stakeholders and communities.
Thus, it is important to connect strategic issues with people's lived experiences. For example, walking along the Sliema-Gżira promenade, I notice how the reduction in tourism activity during quieter periods can coincide with less visible waste and rubbish, thus reducing inconvenience for residents and pedestrians. This raises a practical question: should cleaning, maintenance and enforcement resources be adjusted more effectively to seasonal pressures?
Similarly, climate change and extreme weather require investment in emergency preparedness. Are the necessary workers, equipment, institutions and technologies adequately resourced, coordinated and ready to respond to storms, flooding and other coastal emergencies?
Indeed, maritime development can create employment and investment while also producing environmental pressures, conflicts over space and unequal social impacts. Examples of the latter may include seafarers' working conditions and rights, fishing livelihoods, coastal access, gender inequalities, environmental justice, maritime heritage, and quality of life.
Budgetary investment should therefore strengthen not only maritime infrastructure and economic competitiveness, but also governance, monitoring, enforcement and meaningful stakeholder participation. Malta's Blue Economy should be assessed not only by the wealth and employment it generates, but also by its contribution to environmental sustainability, social justice and people's quality of life.
Michael Briguglio is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta
www.michaelbriguglio.com