WORLD COMMENTARY We can be an oceanic superpower in a complex, untested new frontier for sustainable growth and development
Countries on the Indian Ocean rim, with 30 per cent of the world's population, are waking up to the enormous potential of their marine resources to address poverty, food security, and sustainable livelihoods.
Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Steven Ciobo will visit Mauritius this week for a meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, the only regional forum linking most countries on the Indian Ocean rim, to promote the blue economy. 
The meeting will focus on fisheries and aquaculture, renewable ocean energy, seaports and shipping and seabed exploration and minerals.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop introduced the blue economy theme at last year's IORA ministerial meeting in Perth: the concept is about marine economic activity as a driver of sustainable growth and development.
Mauritius and Seychelles already have embarked on a strategy for implementing blue-economy principles in their economies.
Other Indian Ocean rim states are considering how to seize the opportunities emerging from blue economy sectors for higher growth.
The blue economy incorporates not just traditional maritime industries such as fisheries, shipping and ports but developing industries like aquaculture, renewable energy technologies for wind, wave and tidal power, bio-products (pharmaceutical and agrichemicals), blue carbon (carbon sequestration) and desalination.
A recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit on the blue economy argues the oceans are likely to become an economic force this century, driven by new technologies that make it economically viable to tap marine resources and demographic trends fuelling the search for food security and alternative sources of minerals and energy. Seaborne trade is expected to quadruple by 2050.
By 2030, two of every three fish on our plates will have been farmed, much of it at sea.
Offshore wind capacity is forecast to rise almost tenfold by 2030. There will be a surge in investment in coastal infrastructure, industry and tourism as the global migration to cities and coasts deepens. Rising sea levels and storm surges as a result of climate change will drive investment in defensive infrastructure development.
We have failed to grasp the importance of the oceans to our national wellbeing. However, Australia's well placed to advance the blue economy in our region. As an island continent we have significant national interests in the oceans. When our claim to the Antarctic landmass is included, Australia becomes the country with the largest jurisdictional claim to an area of the earth's surface - about 27.2 million sq km, of which about half is over ocean.
This large area of global jurisdiction makes Australia an oceanic superpower. Our ocean industry sectors such as marine tourism, offshore oil and gas, aquaculture, commercial and recreational fishing, and shipping contribute significantly to the national economy: a recent evaluation of Australia's maritime industries conservatively valued the ocean economy in 2011-12 at more than $47 billion, having almost doubled since 2002-03.
Australia's oceans host some of the most important marine habitats in the world. The oceans surrounding us also hold the key to our climate. The cycles of droughts and floods are controlled by ocean circulation patterns and their interaction with the atmosphere in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans is critical.
There are plenty of opportunities for Australia to contribute to the development of the blue economy agenda in the Indo-Pacific, whether it be providing good data to better manage data-poor fisheries, combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, helping with aquaculture systems, mapping wave-energy resources, assisting with dredging science for port developments or eco-engineering approaches to coastal development.
The economic potential of the world's oceans is significant: the concept of the blue economy in our neighbourhood is evolving, with more countries and businesses wishing to tap ocean resources for economic growth and investment.
In   March, Bishop launched InnovationXchange to catalyse new approaches to our development assistance. It's encouraging that InnovationXchange has as one of its projects innovating in the blue economy.
Blue growth represents a new frontier with untested industries and complex opportunities.
Let's work with our regional partners and see the value.Anthony Bergin is deputy director at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and co-author of Sea Change: Advancing Australia's Ocean Interests.