1. The maritime economy and the data economy

1.1 Maritime, the world's second-largest economic sector

Covering more than 70% of the Earth's surface, the oceans and seas provide food, medicine, renewable energy and natural resources for billions of people around the world: more than half the world's population lives within 150 kilometers of the coast, and depends more or less directly on the seas for its livelihood.

The OECD thus refers to the economy of the sea as the sectors of activity with a link to the sea (maritime transport, fishing, offshore wind power, marine biotechnologies) but also to the natural assets and ecosystem services owed to it (fishery resources, shipping lanes, CO ₂ absorption, among others). The value of services and goods produced...