Thinking Blue
By Michael Blanding, University of Rhode Island Magazine
The ocean has always served as a pleasant backdrop to images of Rhode Island, appearing in postcards and tourist brochures as an omnipresent blue entity. Beyond its merely aesthetic role, however, the ocean plays a crucial role as the lifeblood of the state’s economy. Rhode Island has more than 400 miles of coastline, curling around bays, inlets, and estuaries that reach deep into the Ocean State’s interior and lend themselves to a wide range of industries. Between 6 and 9 percent of Rhode Islanders work directly within the so-called blue economy—dwarfing the 3 percent who make their living by the sea in Massachusetts, Texas, and California—and bringing some $5 billion into the state’s economy.
But even that number belies just how connected state residents are to the ocean. “It’s an economic number, but it’s so much bigger than that,” says Jennifer McCann, director of U.S. Coastal Programs at URI’s Coastal Resources Center (CRC). “It’s who we are—it’s what makes Rhode Island, and it’s what makes Rhode Islanders.” In March 2020, she coauthored a report on The Value of Rhode Island’s Blue Economy. “Our history is rooted in the blue economy, from the Narragansett people who have long lived on our coastlines, to the water that powered the Industrial Revolution, to the geological features of our bay that have made it an ideal location for the defense industry,” McCann says. The dominance of the ocean has only gotten stronger over the years, as the state has prospered by commercial fishing, shipping, and ocean-focused tourism, as well as burgeoning industries such as aquaculture and offshore wind.
blue economy
noun
blue econ·o·my | \ˈblü, i-ˈkä-nə-mē\Definition of blue economy
: local and global businesses and economic sectors that rely on use of or proximity to oceans and coastal areas—especially those concerned with employing sustainable use of ocean resources and minimizing impact on ocean environments and habitats.
The University of Rhode Island has played a key role in developing the blue economy, with the location of the University’s main campus in Kingston—just 5 miles from the shore—both an advantage for research endeavors and a selling point for students. “The number one reason many students come to URI is the attraction of the ocean and the many aspects of marine sciences and policy they can study here,” says URI President Marc Parlange, who cites his interest in climate, hurricanes, and wind engineering as part of what drew him here. “The ocean infuses every aspect of the University.” For example, he points to the fact that URI was the first university in the U.S. to establish graduate programs in ocean engineering and adds, “We offer a unique range of ocean-focused courses and programs—from Literature of the Sea to underwater archaeology; from marine affairs to environmental and resource economics, and more.”
Aboard URI’s R/V Cap’n Bert, former fish trawl assistant Joe Zottoli, M.S. ’18 (left), and Captain Steve Barber haul nets during a fish trawl. URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography has performed fish trawl surveys since 1959. The state-funded surveys of the bottom fish and invertebrate community in Narraganset Bay help keep tabs on fish populations to ensure sustainable fisheries, thereby supporting the long-term viability of Rhode Island’s blue economy. The R/V Endeavor is visible on the horizon.
Even closer to the sea than the Kingston Campus, the Bay Campus in Narragansett is home to URI’s acclaimed Graduate School of Oceanography and the University’s Department of Ocean Engineering, as well as the CRC, established more than 50 years ago at the request of the state to assist in planning and developing Rhode Island’s many overlapping coastal industries. More recently, URI has partnered with the University of Connecticut to form the National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology, consolidating the University’s many defense-related research projects, and partnering with the U.S. Navy and local defense contractors to help design next-generation submarine and robotic technology.
Parlange hopes to lead the University into a new era, one focused on further developing the blue economy. He aims for the Bay Campus to become a hub of innovation, where students will work closely with startup companies to create new technologies for ocean-related industries. He wants to grow URI’s graduate programs, making URI the destination for international and for both in- and out-of-state students to study ocean-related subjects. As a first step to that, URI budgeted an extra $1.5 million last year for its Ph.D. programs, with the intention of attracting new students in many areas, including environmental economics, coastal ecology, oceanography, engineering, humanities, and business. “These are students who could have gone anywhere and chose to come here because of the outstanding interdisciplinary cohort of faculty, staff, and students we are building,” he says.
