News
When Blue Means Green
Seattle and state leaders are aggressively pursuing an economic development strategy centered around a robust marine environment
By Stefanie Ellis April 1, 2022
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2022 issue of Seattle magazine.
Joshua Berger is on a mission to change Seattle, both nationwide and in his own backyard.
Berger is president and chief executive officer of Washington Maritime Blue, a nonprofit trade organization he founded three years ago to accelerate innovation and sustainability in the “blue economy,” or the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth and ecosystem health.
The opportunity, especially for a city nestled on the banks of Puget Sound, is enormous. Statewide, the maritime sector – one of Washington’s biggest and oldest industries – has an annual economic impact of a staggering $37.8 billion. According to the Washington Maritime Federation, it is directly responsible for more almost 200,000 direct and indirect jobs. Globally, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says the ocean economy is projected to reach $3 trillion by 2030.
Berger, a former tugboat driver who led the creation of “The Washington State Strategy for the Blue Economy” as Gov. Jay Inslee’s maritime sector lead, likens the opportunity to that of the green-building movement during the past two decades.
“Entire supply chains were coming together for green carpets and new heat pump systems, and the work happening in that space was having significant impacts on climate change issues,” he recalls. “And I thought, ‘Wow, we’re at least 15 years behind in the maritime industry.’ And this was 10 years ago.
“Yet in this region, we already have best practices for sustainability and how we’re impacting underrepresented communities. We’re nestled next to Boeing, are one of the fastest growing tech hubs, and have fishing, containers, ship building and recreational boating. I knew that if we could just put these pieces together, we could be a global leader.”
The maritime industry often conjures up visions of fishing gear and ship building, but in actuality is a vast landscape that has evolved to include tourism, aquaculture and sustainable fisheries, robotics, clean technology, waste management, transportation, biomedicine and climate change. The term “blue economy” has emerged as a promising new category of business, pushing the industry past its sometimes-antiquated way of operating.
The world’s economy is responding. Countries as diverse as Indonesia, Portugal, Croatia and Norway are making significant headway. Closer to home, states from Alaska to Massachusetts are spending money on research and development.
But, because of its long history as a maritime community, Washington state boasts several natural advantages. The Port of Seattle serves as a hub for global transportation and commerce. The U.S. Navy retains a significant presence in the region, while the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Western Regional Center houses the largest variety of NOAA programs at a single location in the United States.
In 2017, Gov. Inslee assembled a Maritime Innovation Advisory Council in Washington, charged with the overall goal of developing a world-class, thriving and sustainable maritime industry by 2050. Piggybacking on the governor’s plan to transition Washington State Ferries to a zero-emission fleet, Maritime Blue is supporting construction of the system’s first-ever hybrid-electric ferry, slated to begin service in 2025. There will be an option to buy four more ferries after the project, with a plan to have a full hybrid-electric ferry fleet in the next 20 years.
Additionally, Maritime Blue is working with a coalition of public and private partners, including Kitsap Transit, on construction of a high-speed electric, zero-emission passenger ferry between Seattle and Bremerton, also set to begin service in 2025.
The potential of the blue economy here, says Dave McFadden, managing director for the Economic Development Division of the Port of Seattle, is enormous.
“We know more about the moon than we know about the depths of our own ocean,” he says. “We live in one of the world’s top entrepreneurial ecosystems. We are leaders in cloud and IT and have so much ingenuity and innovation here, and have the opportunity to apply that to the maritime industry.”
One of the biggest strategies is the Maritime Blue Innovation Accelerator, a partnership between Washington Maritime Blue, the Port of Seattle and the Washington State Department of Commerce. The first maritime accelerator in the state, it’s also among just a handful of its kind in the United States. Now in its third year, the program – funded by the Port at $150,000 annually – connects a global network of mentors and advisers with maritime businesses to help them develop ideas, expand production and secure funding in a sector where capital is often scarce.
Through the accelerator, Puget Buoy founder and chief executive officer Dylan Diefendorf connected directly with fishermen to identify solutions to some of the challenges they face. His technology startup eventually created an environmentally friendly crab-pot and buoy system that prevents entanglements with whales, dolphins and sea turtles.
“When I learned that whales get entangled in ropes from fishing gear, and often die of exhaustion from the weight that they’re dragging behind them, I knew I wanted to do something to change that,” Diefendorf says.
Another company, Fishtail AI, performs audits on the carbon dioxide emissions of shipping vessels and provides low-cost supply-chain financing for businesses that make sustainable inventory and transportation decisions. Yet another environmental tech outfit, EcoSpears, develops green and sustainable technologies that extract and eliminate polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and other toxins from the environment.
In addition to innovation around sustainability, the maritime industry also needs a refresh of its representation. Former Washington State Rep. Gael Tarleton, who served as cochair for the Maritime Innovation Advisory Council, says the maritime economy must develop a more inclusive and diverse workforce.
Accelerator participants Ebony Welborn and Savannah Smith are the cofounders of Sea Potential, a company that offers diversity and consulting services to maritime businesses and works to connect BIPOC youth to the marine environment and opportunities in the maritime industry.
“This is a very old industry, and we’re having to create new structures and culture that didn’t exist before,” says Welborn, who says she and Smith were often the only people of color in their science classes. “There is a lot of unintentional harm being created, and some individuals don’t have the knowledge they need to be inclusive and that’s why we’re here. We aren’t here to judge. We’re here to help.”
Educational efforts are also underway. The $32.5 million Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center at the University of Washington’s EarthLab was created as a way to work toward oceans that benefit everyone equitably. Maritime High School, a collaboration between Highline Public Schools, Northwest Maritime Center, the Port of Seattle and the Duwamish River Community Coalition, opened in Des Moines last September to prepare students for maritime-related careers.
At Fishermen’s Terminal in Ballard — the heart of the Seattle area’s fishing fleet — the Port of Seattle is preparing to start construction on the Maritime Innovation Center toward the end of this year. Housed in the old Seattle Ship Supply building, the Port is funding the $20 million project with help from the state of Washington, which is contributing $5 million. Other funding partners are being sought. The 12,000-square-foot space, which was damaged by the Nisqually Earthquake in 2001 and originally thought to be uninhabitable, will be taken apart piece by piece, and rebuilt from the ground up.
The Innovation Center will offer incubator space for entrepreneurs developing early-stage business ideas and technologies, and future accelerators will support businesses with defined products and business plans trying to scale their efforts.
“We’re taking the oldest building we own and turning it into a modern center with the highest level of sustainability,” McFadden says. “This is our commitment to the future. We did a scan of the Seattle incubator community, and it showed that there was nothing in maritime. And when we started five years ago, there were probably three maritime accelerator initiatives in the world. Now, there are close to eight or 10 of them.”
With all the activity, Berger believes the region and state is poised to become a national and global blue economy leader – if leaders proceed with a sense of urgency.
“We have what it takes to make a really transformational shift,” says Berger, “but we have to do it collaboratively. And we have to do it now, not another 10 years from now.”