OCEANIC OASIS NURTURES WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES

IMAGINE A FOREST, except under the sea.

- DARREN SMITH

This place promotes life by providing food, shelter from predators, and safety for raising young. Like trees, the habitat produces oxygen, reduces erosion, and sequesters carbon, thus mitigating climate change. Meadows of seagrass are such places, and Raquel Gaspar aims to protect them. She works in Portugal at the Sado Estuary Natural Reserve, which is home to charismatic species such as bottlenose dolphins and seahorses. The seagrass meadows there are also a nursery for the local fisheries, including cuttlefish, sea bre