Q&A: An Ecologist's Passion for Preserving the Ocean's Pristine Places

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala leads a project that aims to identify and protect the world’s most unspoiled marine environments.

A widely published marine ecologist who grew up on Spain's Mediterranean coast, Sala is seeking to identify isolated places that warrant protection from overfishing. His expedition to Kiribati's southern Line Islands in the remote South Pacific is featured in the September issue of National Geographic magazine.

There were so many! Swimming over a pavement of giant clams in the lagoon of Millennium Atoll [also called Caroline Island] and diving with 75 gray reef sharks are two of my most vivid memories.

We have a long list. Next is Palau in September this year, where President Remengesau wants to create a very large marine reserve. And in October we are going to remote Rapa Island, in southern French Polynesia, and to

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