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A Love Letter to the Ocean

Guest Essay

A Love Letter to the Ocean

By Dr. Enric Sala

I want you to fall in love with the ocean. Because when you love something, you do everything you can to protect it. And right now, the ocean — and the abundance of life it harbors — desperately needs protecting.   

The ocean covers 70% of Earth. It is essential to the health of the planet itself, and to all of our communities, whether we live near coastlines or not. Consider these facts:

  • The ocean generates roughly half of the oxygen we breathe.  
  • Its bounty feeds billions around the globe and supports economic livelihoods.  
  • It slows global warming by absorbing 25% of carbon dioxide emissions and capturing almost all of the heat caused by these emissions.  
  • And it is home to more than 240,000 amazing species — and likely millions more that have yet to be discovered.

For nearly a decade, I worked as a marine ecology professor and researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego in California. But every time I sat down to write a scientific paper, it felt more like I was writing an obituary. Each new finding — caused by human activities like overfishing, over extraction of resources, and the stresses of global warming — read like new details in a description of how the ocean would eventually die.

So, I quit my job in academia and in 2008, founded Pristine Seas, an initiative with the National Geographic Society dedicated to protecting the ocean’s vital places through scientific research and — just as important — storytelling and advocacy. 

A Glimpse Into What's Possible

Right now, only 3% of the ocean is fully protected from harmful practices. That’s why, with the support of the Bezos Earth Fund, Pristine Seas is working to advance the global goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. In the central and western Pacific, our team is exploring, documenting, and researching the ocean to help establish new marine protected areas. This region contains the highest marine biodiversity on the planet, most of which is unprotected from extractive activities such as fishing, drilling, and mining. 

The Bezos Earth Fund has been instrumental in working with Pacific Island leaders over the past two years, pledging $100 million to support the design of a new initiative for the protection of the “Blue Pacific Continent.” It’s an area that encompasses 44 million square kilometers across 22 Pacific Islands and territories and is five times the size of the U.S. 

In the Marshall Islands, we’re working with the Earth Fund to support the protection of 48,000 square kilometers of water encompassing two uninhabited atolls called Bikar and Bokak. The coral reefs in this area are a time machine, like diving in the ocean of 1,000 years ago. In these atolls, my team and I saw the healthiest coral, giant clams, and reef fish populations in the region. These remote places are our best baselines for what the ocean could look like if we truly let it be. 

A Lesson in Ocean Conservation

When the ocean is left alone, it can heal itself. For example, in 1999 I visited the village of Cabo Pulmo in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Shortly before our baseline survey of their waters, the government granted the community’s request to close the area to protect it — because they had hit rock bottom due to overfishing. We went back ten years later and couldn’t believe what we saw: an underwater kaleidoscope. The reefs had bounced back to life.

The community reaped the benefits, from highly profitable ecotourism to a recovery of the fishing industry. Because fish had been allowed to grow bigger and more abundant during that decade, they were able to reproduce and swim beyond the borders of the protected areas (a phenomenon called spillover), yielding greater and more profitable catches around it.

This was one of our earliest lessons in conservation, and it came from the people who depend the most on the ocean for their livelihoods. 

Protected Ocean, Protected Future

To date, our team has carried out more than 45 expeditions, which have led to the designation of 29 marine protected areas, from the Arctic to the South Pacific. These places are the Yellowstones and the Serengetis of the sea.

We have an opportunity right now to not only imagine what’s possible, but to also take action. A protected ocean means a safer future for us all.

Most people will never know what it feels like to dive deep under the waves. I hope these images give you a sense of wonder and appreciation for the ocean and all the life it sustains. Because I believe that to inspire change, we have to appeal to people’s beating hearts as much as their thinking brains. 

After all, who wants to write obituaries when you can send love letters instead?  

Enric Sala is an Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society and the founder of Pristine Seas. He served as an executive producer and scientific advisor to the new documentary film, Ocean with David Attenborough.

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