Oceana | Protecting the World's Oceans

Communications Officer, Communications

Based in: Madrid, Spain

I have always felt a special attraction to the environment. I remember very fondly the weekends I spent with my family and friends in the forests of the Basque Country, the Navarrese Pyrenees, Picos de Europa...And I also remember the summers on the beach of Zarautz on the Guipuzcoan coast where I used to spend hours and hours splashing in the water, amid the waves.

Unfortunately, most people believe, we believe, that the sea is only that: a vacation spot that ends a few meters from the beach. We are not aware of the importance it has for life on land. The seas attenuate extreme continental climates, and it is estimated that by 2010, 80% of the world’s population will live less than 100 km from the coast. Additionally, millions of people depend on the food harvested from the oceans.

Unfortunately, human beings do not seem to be prepared to manage the wealth that our planet holds, much less if it is hidden beneath the sea. If a fishing ground is depleted, we build more powerful boats to reach more distant ones. If a species is extinguished, we fish a different one. Can you imagine someone hunting lions, tigers, gorillas, giraffes and elephants to the point of extinction?

That is my job as a Communications Officer: To show public opinion the wonders hidden beneath the oceans, and the threats encroaching upon them.