Many countries across the world are earning significant dividends from the blue economy. Despite having a continental shelf area of 50,270 square kilometres (km) and a coastline length of 1,120 km, Pakistan has yet to tap this potential source of GDP. Thankfully, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is focusing on exploring this resource. Thus as per Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of a blue economy, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, in collaboration with the Bank of Punjab (BoP), has launched an excellent initiative for the fishermen community’s socio-economic uplift. Under the scheme, the fishermen will be able to get capital for upgrading their vessels. The new programme must be looked at as the government’s first practical step in developing Pakistan’s marine economy. Pakistan is an essential maritime actor in the Indian Ocean region (IOR). And now that the government is appreciating the value of the seas, we must leave no stone unturned to enhance our fisheries’ exports. This new joint venture of the Maritime ministry and BoP is what Pakistan needed direly, especially considering our fishing industry’s significant contributions to our foreign exchange. The government also deserves appreciation for this new step, as it will ensure the fishermen community enjoys the fruits of socio-economic uplift. The soft loans initiative will undoubtedly cater to the needs of the industry’s workers. However, as stated earlier, this initiative is just the first of the many schemes that the government has to take if it is serious about earning from the maritime sector. The next step must be to train our fishermen community according to international best practices. This sector requires substantial state investments for building and operating the necessary infrastructure to become profitable. This is the ideal time for the state to incentivise local investors and attract foreign investments by making our blue economy plan more lucrative. But before anything else, Pakistan needs to protect its waters and aquatic life from all kinds of pollution as well.