Economic activities that are connected to the maritime economy can add value and potential to Portuguese exports, without requiring a large investment. “All we have to do is renovate the industries that we have allowed to decline”, claims Nogueira Leite, the president of the sea cluster.

In Portugal there is real potential to exploit activities linked to the sea, but António Nogueira Leite, the president of the Board of Directors of Oceano XXI – the Sea Knowledge and Economy Cluster, states that, “this strategy began in the North of Portugal” and it must quickly be adopted by the rest of the country.

“The North Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N) was the only commission that had a specific strategy, Pronorte that was dedicated to the sea. This is what the rest of the country requires as well. In the North of Portugal there is more pressure coming from universities and their agents to explore the sea’s resources”, he explains.

The Oceano XXI association was established about 18 months ago and the Institute for the Development of the Knowledge and Economy of the Sea and the Associação Fórum Mar Centro were the founding partners. It currently boasts 65 associates nationwide and one from Galicia and consists of companies, associations and universities. They are organising the first Fair of the Sea at the Exponor on 16th June, in partnership with the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AEP).

“It is a very important event because it shows that there is already a reasonable number of entities linked to the maritime economy and they are interested in discussing this work”, explains Nogueira Leite.

The sea cluster is responsible for “ serving as an interface between projects linked to the sea and the NSRF (The National Strategic Reference Framework)” and the cluster is preparing to “find initiatives to promote the association’s autonomy” that do not depend on government programmes. Nogueira Leite believes that “we do not need to ask (the government) for more laws and more money, just more willingness to create a more competitive environment”. This means “investing in the production of tradable goods that can be exported, and not in other construction works or public-private partnerships that only benefit the private sector”. With regard to the future government, he has not had “any indication” in relation to a possible maritime portfolio.However, he does reveal the hopes of the cluster, “We need more support for maritime policies, not just from the marine minister, but on a higher level, we need support that comes directly from the Prime Minister”, he states. 

According to agents working in the maritime industry, European policies have been detrimental for Portugal and Nogueira Leite believes that “the government is obliged to ensure that Portugal’s interests are considered by European institutions”, if “the Spanish have not been affected we need to understand why and we must decide if they have been over zealous in the application of EU polices here”.

He admits this renewed focus on the maritime economy in Portugal will require “a lot of persistence and patience” and he sees it as a way of combating the financial crisis. “It will be easy to develop what we already have in place without a great deal of investment, for example by focusing on traditional activities where any improvements will have huge repercussions: our naval industry has been growing, there is still room to increase our fishing industry despite the EU restrictions, we can focus on maritime tourism as part of beach tourism and also increase the competitiveness of our ports”.

INESC Porto and the Portuguese navy will form a partnership for a project in marine robotics

The Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering of Porto (INESC Porto) and the Naval Research Centre of the Portuguese Navy will sign a partnership protocol at the Fair of the Sea to develop autonomous marine systems that will support search and rescue operations in case of disasters as part of the European project ICARUS. With a budget of 17 million Euros, INESC Porto will lead the European project and the first robotic marine vehicles should be complete by 2013. 

Jornal de Notícias, 15th June 2011