World Oceans Day 2026

World Oceans Day is an excellent opportunity to remember and reflect on the sea. The sea is part of who we are, not only in Greece, a country with dozens of kilometers of coastline and many of our fellow citizens dependent on the sea for their survival, but also more broadly as a species.

More than 50% of the oxygen we breathe comes from the sea. Carbon dioxide, as well as the heat generated, is absorbed by the sea at extremely high rates. To the sea-and this refers to a healthy sea with thriving ecosystems-we owe the regulation of Earth’s temperature, oxygen, water and the water cycle, coolness, and food.

On the other hand, today the marine environment faces threats of such magnitude and scale that what is strange is not that we are talking about marine protection, but that we are not. The three major interconnected crises of our time, the Climate Crisis, the Biodiversity Crisis, and the Plastic Crisis,are threatening marine ecosystems in unprecedented ways.

• Single-use plastics account for 50–70% of marine pollution.
• Polyester fibers, a plastic material often used in clothing, made up about 75% of the microplastics found in the Arctic Ocean.
• Global overfishing has been rising almost continuously since the 1970s, with approximately 35.4% of all fish stocks now being fished at biologically unsustainable levels. Furthermore, over 90% of large predatory fish populations have already been overfished, while the Mediterranean faces serious threats, with up to 91% of stocks considered overfished, and at the same time
• the impacts of the climate crisis are destabilizing marine ecosystems
• Finally, iconic species such as cetaceans, dolphins, rays, and sharks are currently threatened by human activities such as shipping, tourism development, hydrocarbon extraction, and deep-sea mining.

On the other hand, the inadequate implementation of policy commitments, non-compliance with environmental legislation, and a lack of political will create a problematic situation for marine conservation. Even where marine protected areas and conservation measures exist, they often exist only on paper: a telling example is that of the 174 marine protected areas in Greece, only 12 are subject to a legal framework and are effectively protected.

In order for us to continue to love the sea and rely on it for our survival, it must exist. It must endure, thrive, and be able to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem services. And that means it must be protected through very specific, political measures.

World Oceans Day cannot exist without discussing the political protection of the sea, the place of environmental legislation on the political agenda, and the specific measures that mitigate destructive human activity.

We Sea You, the first observatory for the systematic monitoring of political commitments to marine protection in Greece, was created to do exactly that. To remind us that marine protection is, through and through, a political issue, and it is the responsibility of all citizens.

World Oceans Day  means marine protection.