Maritime is an industry of sectors that have the potential to economically boost the states in triplets of terms. Pakistan has got a huge potential of Maritime and anyone with a bleak knowledge of Maritime can visibly see that, but what must be the road map and what are the achievable must be monitored and properly tailored. The maritime sector has got the much higher potential in areas where there are oceans representing a significant and major jurisdictional area. In addition to that there has been another factor that has huge impact on attraction of maritime prospects i.e. opportunity. Oceans undoubtedly have unconquerable depths and their power to keep unfolding new forms of life every now and then and their vastness indeed captivates not only the businesses but also various human minds. The maritime sector is the pivotal tool of regulating the globalization of the world trade. Pakistan with rapidly growing maritime development in form of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Gwadar Port is at the cross road of developing and tapping Blue Economy. CPEC project has now entered its second phase with a focus on industrial cooperation, trade, agriculture, and socio-economic development that offer opportunities to enhance tangible gains from the first phase. While the second phase is significant for the completion of CPEC, it carries multi-dimensional prospects and challenges for the governments, businesses, and common public of Pakistan and China. Having the huge potential of the project, result-oriented strategies are needed to draw the required attention of Public-Private Partnership Projects for attracting investments, transfer of technology, relocating or establishing new industrial bases, business to business collaboration and agricultural development.

Diversity and inclusion is the key to foster innovation in the maritime industry, the human minds from various backgrounds are the key players of deriving the chemistry to open blue economic avenues. Pakistan needs to focus on its costal development by winning the confidence of the people long neglected by providing job opportunities and safe homes and shelters to the coastal communities. The World Bank in Morocco by imparting trainings to women in Aqua culture from rural areas has created a huge job pool that is directly supporting their economy and women in the country. Similarly the Marine Sector and other such other Maritime sectors if properly governed with can deliver huge amounts of food supply, energy and an advanced shipping transportation industries. This would not assist the country only economically but also help in achieving various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 SDGs have set 169 interests covering economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection.

The contribution of oceans and seas to trade and extraction of resources from the sea beds are huge and hence supporting sustainability the maritime economy is called the blue economy. A tangible example is Europe with low infrastructure development opportunity than Pakistan (since the country is an open ground for the all the latest maritime ventures with almost unpopulated and under developed land and virgin coasts) is generating € 500 billion/ year. There are various areas from where Pakistan can generate a huge potential that includes Fisheries for instance. Fisheries consist of 16% of the total animal protein consumed worldwide and it is the 6.5% of all the protein consumed worldwide. Fish farmers and supplying services globally assure livelihood to more than 600 million families. In fact the annual rate of food fish consumption has surpassed that of meat from all terrestrial animals. Pakistan by regularizing the three fishing zones of Pakistan i.e. Zone-I, Zone-II and Zone III can attract a huge market together from China, Norway, USA, Japan, Viet Nam, European Union and Thailand. Similarly Aqua Culture, Mari Culture, Costal Tourism, Marine Bio-Technology can make Pakistan a vital hub for maritime activities in the Indian Ocean region.

Blue diplomacy can play a pivotal role if the maritime industries across the globe are invited on conducting workshops and specialized training programs on topics of various researches including areas of marine ecosystems, maritime law including other legal certainties that would not only provide but also ensure the security to attract ventures of public private partnerships. Pakistan has a huge potential of non living resources that includes the projects of sea bed sustainable mining, oil extraction and gas exploration. Pakistan can be a major key player by utilizing its Gwadar Port in promoting trade and commerce in and around the oceans and continents of the world. This can only be achieved if our port infrastructures and shipping services are properly governed and managed. Growth in sea borne trade is directly related and proportionate to development of legalized regulations to promote global tourism and business in Pakistan. Pakistan can play a pivotal role in container shipping industry by mobilizing its marine labour workforce amid Covid-19 pandemic crisis by imparting them with technical vocational trainings. The particular industry has significantly grown since 1970s in 1973 US, European and Asian containership operated 4 million TEUs, which by 1983 rose to 12 million TEUs and by 2015 Shanghai Port was handling more than 36 million TEUs annually. Pakistan has a huge potential through Gwadar Port to promote autonomous shipping and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in maritime industry. Indeed Pakistan has the potential to revolutionize not only smart shipping but also the whole maritime industry.

Pakistan’s costal line is 1001 km of which 734.5 km lies in Balochistan and 266.5 lies in Sindh. Both of these coasts have immense potential for tourism development. The picturesque beaches of Makran and Gwadar offer tremendous opportunities for development of tourism along the coast. The coasts are largely virgin from tourism point of view. Maritime and coastal tourism is among the fastest growing areas within world’s largest industry of tourism. Pakistan maritime tourism has the potential of contributing towards the economic growth and poverty reduction. The sector’s capacity to generate employment and income owing to its backward and forward linkages makes it much pertinent for economic diversification and development. The future of tourism from the perspective of blue economy lies in redefining the local authorities including Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation, Relevant Ministries including (Tourism, Commerce & Trade, Foreign Affairs, Maritime Affairs, Culture, Sports). Pakistan has various islands including the Bunddal and Buddu and 19 sites designated as Ramsar Sites with surface area of 1,343, 807 hectares and 08 of which are along the coast.

There is a huge scope for Pakistan to exploit various sectors of the blue economy by formulating frameworks destined to facilitate the activities for giving an initial start to a huge vision of utilizing mighty seas.