New Report Targets Marine-Based Jobs

Attracting businesses in aquaculture and aquatic biofuels are among the report's recommendations

The Tampa Bay area has to pool its resources if it hopes to create jobs and diversify the local economy. And a new report released today has some unusual recommendations.

The plan was produced by the Tampa Bay Partnership and SRI International, a nonprofit researcher based in Washington, D.C. It calls on the region's businesses and county governments to coordinate their efforts to develop new businesses. And it's not just the usual wish list, like enticing financial services companies to move south. It looks to foster some of our unique assets, like our closeness to the water.

Katherine Johnston is a senior economist with SRI.

"Biofuels is one aspect of it, there are huge things happening in marine instruments and electronics, things that are used in the defense industry, things that are even related to the oil spill in the Gulf," says Johnston. "The sensors and monitors and all the instrumentation that helps explore that problem and address it."

The other businesses targeted include old favorites, such as high-tech electronics and medical research. But Johnston says Tampa Bay is such a sprawling area that most people in any county don't know what's going on with their neighbors. So a regional collaboration has to begin before any of their other goals can be achieved.