Jellyfish drifting through blue Azorean waters, photographed by Nelson Raposo

Conversation 5 — Environment

Blue Azores

By Adriano Quintela & Bernardo Brito e Abreu

Photographs by Nelson Raposo. Portraits by Andrea Santolaya.

“All life began in the deep blue sea,” says the iconic David Attenborough at the start of his new documentary, Ocean, filmed in his 99th year. He explains that a lifetime of filming the natural world has taught him something Azoreans know instinctively: the most important place on earth is not on land.

David Attenborough

Blue Azores is a homegrown, outward-looking project launched in 2019 with a simple but powerful aim: to put the ocean first. It commits the region to protecting 30% of Azorean waters by 2030 — not as lines on a map, but as living places where fragile ecosystems such as hydrothermal vents and deep-sea corals are safeguarded.

Planet Earth seen from space, the Blue Marble — The Blue Marble. The most important place on earth is not on land.

At its heart is a vast marine park — nearly 300,000 square kilometres, half of which is fully protected and the other half which is highly protected, where some sustainable fishing is allowed.

Map of the Blue Azores marine park showing the network of marine protected areas across the Azores archipelago — The Blue Azores marine park — nearly 300,000 square kilometres of protected waters

Cameras film for the first time a modern bottom trawler scraping the seabed with a metal chain, sucking everything into its giant mouth of a net: coral, sand, rocks, and of course every species unfortunate enough to be caught.

Portrait of Adriano Quintela with radio headphones — Adriano Quintela. Portrait by Andrea Santolaya

Portrait of Bernardo Brito e Abreu underwater — Bernardo Brito e Abreu. Photograph by Nelson Raposo

Between them, science and policy meet. They admit that fighting for ocean protection can often feel terrifying — because they truly understand what is at stake, and what is being lost — but their belief in Blue Azores is unwavering.

“We talked together over beer at one of the highest points on the island, Bernardo’s family home Pico do Refúgio, where the blue sea glittered peacefully around us.”

Read the full conversation in Ilhéu Magazine Issue B

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