Joaquim Garrabou
Senior Researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC)
Joaquim Garrabou is a senior researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC). For more than 30 years, he has been studying how Mediterranean warming damages rocky seabeds and soft coral communities, leading a team focused on preventing mass mortality events through the expansion of marine protected areas.
He also coordinates Observadores del Mar, a citizen science network that, since 2012, has connected divers, fishers, and sailors with scientists to collect data on species, marine litter, and climate change.
This collective work has recently received an honorary mention from the European Union for the OdM Climate project, which already mobilizes more than 500 divers to monitor sea temperature.
1. What is your research focused on today and why is it crucial for the resilience of the Mediterranean?
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges our society faces. It has been a reality for decades, and its impacts are accelerating.
As a researcher, I contribute to generating scientific evidence to ensure that the ocean continues to provide its multiple services for climate mitigation and adaptation. In particular, my work focuses on promoting marine protected areas as effective tools to increase resilience against the impacts of climate change.
2. Observadores del Mar has been active for over a decade. What makes the platform unique and what kind of data does it collect?
Observadores del Mar is a marine citizen science platform whose main goal is to contribute to ocean conservation. Over more than 10 years of activity, it has engaged thousands of citizens, civil society organizations, public administrations, and researchers from various scientific institutions, expanding knowledge about the ocean, raising awareness of marine environmental challenges, and building bridges between the scientific community and key marine stakeholders.
The platform has generated highly valuable data across five main scientific areas: the arrival of exotic species, climate change impacts, vulnerable species, marine litter, and biodiversity.
Thanks to the collaboration of more than 100 researchers, volunteer observations follow scientific protocols adapted to citizen science, supported by dedicated training. This ensures the generation of rigorous and meaningful data to support marine conservation. This scientific rigor and participant training are likely the platform’s most distinctive features.
3. The EU has just awarded an honorary mention to Observadores del Mar. What does this recognition mean?
The award recognized one of the main milestones of Observadores del Mar: the creation of a citizen-based monitoring network to track the effects of climate change along the Spanish Mediterranean coasts.
Through hybrid training sessions, both online and at sea, and thanks to the collaboration of more than 30 diving centers that “catalyzed” the participation of over 500 divers, key data was collected on fish and jellyfish species that serve as indicators of climate change. The project also quantified the effects of mass mortality events and the blooming of the marine phanerogam Posidonia oceanica.
These activities were made possible through the OdM Climate project, which undoubtedly represents the largest participatory monitoring effort ever carried out along the Spanish coasts.
4. You have said that you “never thought you would witness this collapse of species.” What solutions do you see to mitigate the effects of marine heatwaves?
Indeed, when in 1999 we witnessed the first mass mortality event affecting around thirty species along the coasts of France and northern Italy, we hypothesized that, in the context of climate change, such events could recur in the future.
Unfortunately, this hypothesis has not only been confirmed, but mass mortality events have now become the new normal in the Mediterranean. One of the main consequences is that some species are undergoing local extinction processes in different areas.
We are witnessing a radical transformation of the seabed: complex and diverse communities that once defined the Mediterranean are being simplified in real time, before our eyes.
5. At Ocean Connections, we use the term “green storydoer” to describe someone who transforms sustainability ideas into concrete action. In your view, what makes you a green storydoer?
My work to promote and enhance the effectiveness of marine protected areas, with the aim of strengthening resilience to the climate emergency, has multiple dimensions.
It spans from transdisciplinary scientific approaches to better understand impacts, to social awareness actions and knowledge transfer aimed at improving marine management and conservation.
