Many nations aspire to development of the Blue Economy (BE), however, the concept remains vague and there is wide need for a practical framework for implementation and evaluation of success. Based on our experience in Australia and Canada, where there is increasing BE activity, new developments being added to areas with existing uses are leading to ocean crowding and increasing the risk of undesirable outcomes. We propose a blueprint for implementation of an integrated approach to BE in an area involving four steps: 1) articulation of common BE objectives (ecological, economic, social-cultural and governance), 2) development of a governance framework in which BE objectives can be applied in management of all activities in an area, 3) a process to address conflicts, risks and trade-offs, and 4) evaluation of cumulative effects and performance of management. We illustrate the blueprint using candidate objectives relevant to the addition of offshore wind energy development. While there is a potential problem under BE for ocean crowding and for ‘plan crowding’ caused by a proliferation of sector-based planning, we suggest that there is the potential for the BE concept, properly implemented, to assist in overcoming long-standing deficiencies in existing sector-based approaches and to avoid deficiencies in planning and management associated with new or expanding BE industries. Implementation of BE will also facilitate achieving ambitious aspirations associated with national and international initiatives including the High Level Oceans Panel and Sustainable Development Goals.

中文翻译：

---

蓝色经济实施蓝图

许多国家渴望发展蓝色经济（BE），然而，这个概念仍然模糊，广泛需要一个实用的框架来实施和评估成功。根据我们在澳大利亚和加拿大的经验，这些地区的BE活动不断增加，在现有用途的地区增加新的开发项目会导致海洋拥挤，并增加出现不良后果的风险。我们提出了一个在该领域实施综合生态效益方法的蓝图，涉及四个步骤：1）阐明共同的生态效益目标（生态、经济、社会文化和治理），2）制定一个治理框架，在该框架中生态效益目标可以适用于某个领域所有活动的管理，3) 解决冲突、风险和权衡的过程，以及 4) 管理的累积效应和绩效评估。我们使用与增加海上风能开发相关的候选目标来说明该蓝图。虽然BE下存在海洋拥挤和基于部门规划扩散引起的“计划拥挤”的潜在问题，但我们建议，正确实施BE概念有可能帮助克服长期存在的缺陷现有的基于部门的方法，并避免与新的或扩展的BE行业相关的规划和管理缺陷。 BE 的实施还将有助于实现与国家和国际倡议相关的雄心勃勃的愿望，包括高级别海洋小组和可持续发展目标。