The blue economy approach in the context of sustainable development: An analysis of Türkiye

The Blue Economy concept, which is based on sustainable development, aims at sea-based sustainability in production. Blue economy approach defines to ensure economic growth without harming the environment and ecosystem covers activities such as aquaculture, marine tourism, shipbuilding, maritime transport, marine energy, etc. With the United Nations' inclusion of the blue economy within the scope of sustainable development goals, the importance of water resources has become more visible Turkey is a peninsula country due to its location surrounded by seas on three sides. The study focuses on analysing the activities within the scope of blue economy in Turkey in terms of sustainable development and economic growth. In the study, the effects of sea-based sectors, which are imports of aquaculture products and exports of shipbuilding in Turkey, on economic growth are investigated. The data set covers the period 2000-2020, ARDL model and bounds test approach were used to determine the short and long term relationships of the variables. The purpose of using this model is to estimate short and long run parameters together and to eliminate the problems arising from non-stationary series. The empirical findings of the study confirm that there is a significant relationship between economic growth, aquaculture imports and shipbuilding exports in Turkey in both short and long run. While seafood imports affect economic growth negatively, shipbuilding exports affect economic growth positively. It is presented as a suggestion of the study that economic growth can be achieved by continuing the planned increases in aquaculture exports, developing sustainable fisheries as a result of policies to prevent overfishing and reducing aquaculture imports, in order to achieve blue economy-oriented sustainable development.