A marine biologist hopes to inspire Bermudians to care for the ocean and its creatures.

Belen Garcia Ovide, who will be giving a talk at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute tomorrow, believes that healthy oceans will lead to a better planet.

“We have a responsibility to protect marine areas that are important for the whole climate on earth. By protecting oceans, we also protect the biodiversity within it and contribute to reducing our carbon emissions, which is one of the main problems in the environmental crisis we have,” she said.

Ms Ovide’s passion for the sea led her to form Ocean Missions, which aims to protect the waters around Iceland, where she carries our her research.

She said: “Because we are a little bit behind Europe [here in Iceland] in terms of ocean conservation, we realise that people have not been taking care of the oceans at all.

“There is nothing here about ocean management or marine protected areas and less than one per cent of our waters are fully protected.

“Our goal [at Ocean Missions] is to make Iceland shine as a nation that cares about our waters but there is still a lot to do to accomplish that goal.”

Ms Ovide has a master’s degree in coastal management and is researching micro-plastic ocean pollution at the University of Iceland.

She believes that everyone can play a part in solving the global issue.

“Everyone needs to act and take their own responsibility to mitigate the plastic and also clean [around the coastline],” she said.

“On Sunday, I hope to wake people up and [inspire them to] take some action to protect the oceans.”

Tickets for the talk, the first in a new season of the BUEI Talks: Island SOS (Sustainable Ocean Strategies) sponsored by Chubb, are $10 for BUEI members and $15 for non-members. The event will begin tomorrow at 3pm.

Visit ww.buei.bm or call 294 0204 to reserve a space.