Oceanosanos is born as an OCC campaign in 2017 to reconnect citizens with the oceans, their biodiversity and their importance for our well-being and sustainable survival.
Since then, the campaign has been exposing the threat of the Southwest Atlantic Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing fleet, with its negative environmental impact, associated Human Rights abuses, and foreign vessels operating from the port of Montevideo.
This campaigned established a database of the information and minimum requirements that should be met by fishing operational logistics at their arrival in the port of Montevideo, thus improving transparency and environmental, social and safety standards for the ships that operate there.
In addition, Oceanosanos monitors several foreign IUU fishing vessels, exposing their behaviour and routes, taking photographic documentation at the port of Montevideo, and collecting key information with Marine Traffic and Global Fishing Watch.
The objective of this campaign is to raise awareness and inform Uruguayan society about the ocean environment, with an emphasis on the coastal communities that depend on it for their livelihood, reaching thousands of visits on their social networks, more than 50 notes in radio and television between 2018 and 2019.
Thanks to the work of Oceanosanos' team, the First Conference on Oceans to be hosted in Uruguay was carried out in July 2019, which brought together renowned specialist speakers from Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Spain and authorities from Uruguay (Armada, DINAMA, OPP). Among the more than 250 participants, the four presidential pre-candidates attended, and each of them was recognized, including the current President Dr Luis Lacalle Pou.
Oceanosanos is currently promoting the Small Scale Sustainable Fishing Program together with fishing communities, to reduce mortality of threatened species and improve the quality and profits obtained by the fishermen. It has also carried out educational campaigns in schools with more than 150 children, including beach cleaning and mural painting, in addition to the summer educational actions in 2020.
Oceanosanos presented President Lacalle Pou with the Blue Ocean Agenda, which includes a programmatic plan of actions and tasks in relation to Marine Protected Areas, sustainable fishing and IUU fishing, among other important topics for Uruguayan environmental health.
