This paper focuses on marine energy，aiming to convey the current status of wave and tidal current energy conversion technologies，addressing issues related to their infancy compared to other renewable technologies（such as offshore wind），and provides a discourse on current technology readiness. The work is divided into two parts;the first encompasses a referred article that also summarises the status of the technology. The second part is a copy of a presentation in which the author gave as a plenary at the recent Grand Renewable Energy International Conference（GRE2014） and the Asian Wave and Tidal Energy Conference and gives a more recent update of global technology status. In both，the author also highlights activities in research and development that are currently geared to provide knowledge to augment plans for large scale multiple converter prototypes and commercial deployment at test sites and in the open sea. Discussions of policy，cost of energy and the financial mechanisms available to support such technologies would also be briefly examined in the paper and framed around the future prospects for marine energy technologies.