The UK has a long maritime heritage and the marine and coastal environment continues to play an important role in the national culture and economy. United Kingdom waters cover an area approximately three times greater than its land and the UKs coastline is the longest in the EU. Over half a million people are directly employed in maritime activities (e.g. shipping, tourism, fisheries) and 95% of international trade into and out of the UK passes through its sea ports (EU Maritime Policy Facts and Figures United Kingdom). In 2004 sea-fish with an initial value of £513 million were landed by the UK fishing fleet. It has been estimated that the total turnover of the marine sector in 1999–2000 was just under £70 billion, of which almost £40 billion was due to Oil & Gas and Leisure. Beyond the direct maritime economy the UKs marine environment provides a number of important goods and services to the UK. Along the coast, more than £150 billion of assets are estimated to be at risk from flooding by the sea, with an excess of £75 billion at risk in London alone (estimated from Halcrow, 2001).
Previously curated at: http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1322/ The publish date on this item was its original published date. Main files in this record: marine_and_costal_projections_full_report.pdf Item originally deposited with Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) document repository by Miss Kate Winfield. Transferred to CEDA document repository community on Zenodo on 2022-11-24