Previous estimates that the ocean around British Columbia is worth CA$5 billion (~US$3.8 billion/~€3.83 billion) to the Canadian GDP may be an underestimate, according to a new study.
The study was conducted by the University of British Columbia and shows that some serious computational issues in the original research have resulted in an underestimate.
The main issue is that industries a little removed from the ocean were not included in the calculations. These sectors include research, education and professional services, not to mention carbon storage and more.
The research shows that making policy purely based on the dollar value of the ocean is highly misguided. Doing so not only fails to take into account a huge amount of value that is not included, but it also fails to consider the ocean’s impact on human wellbeing!
You can find the original study here.