Mundus maris asked their followers on facebook what they wanted to know from scientists, artists and practitioners about the ocean.

We have passed these questions on to Dr Maria Lourdes (Deng) Palomares, a marine scientist from the Philippines, who has been working in international scientific cooperation for many years, but is equally engaged in contributing her extensive knowledge about the sea, its creatures and the people of the sea in her home country. Dr. Palomares is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Sea Around Us Project at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Earning her PhD from Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse, France in 1991, she is now also the Teamleader of the SealifeBase, an effort to document marine biodiversity in the public domain, similar to the hugely successful FishBase (all fish species known to science).

Dr Palomares speaks to us about why the ocean is important to her since the time she was able to swim as a kid in the then clean Manila Bay. She goes on to outline the key threats to the health of the ocean and what everyone of us can do to heal the damage done.

Click here to watch the interview on the Mundus maris YouTube channel.