The appointment of Catherine Chabaud as France's Minister for the Sea brings things full circle: few people embody the combination of adventure, responsibility, and political foresight as impressively as Catherine does. As the first woman to sail solo in the legendary Vendée Globe, she recognized early on that the ocean is more than just a venue for sporting achievements – it is the backbone of our planet.

At the IUCN Congress, Frank had another opportunity to meet with Sylvia Earle and her team to discuss the latest developments in Mission Blue's global network of Hope Spots®. With our shared goal of strengthening support for ocean conservation, we look forward to joining the marine conservation groups working with Mission Blue.

As a newly fledged member of the IUCN, Frank's vote at the Members' Assembly helped the adoption of several key motions to shape the future of global conservation in Abu Dhabi this past week.

Germany must seize current opportunities and establish a sustainable blue economy, according to unanimous feedback from members of parliament at the third Parliamentary Ocean Evening hosted by the German Ocean Foundation at the Zeiss Großplanetarium in Berlin.

Frank Schweikert's keynote speech at the annual conference of the European Marine Science Educators Association in Ostend conveyed a clear message: Europe must raise awareness, integrate the ocean mission into strategic programs, mobilize investment, and translate scientific findings into action.

This week, we travelled from Cuxhaven up the Elbe to Hamburg with the team from Struensee Gymnasium Hamburg. The result was clear: we found massive traces of microplastics in all of the water samples.

In a joint dialogue with industry, science, and the fishers of Niendorf, we are working to develop a framework for the future of fishing, one that will include scientific research, ocean health, and environmental education.

The research vessel ALDEBARAN is currently underway in the Baltic Sea. As part of the national Research at Sea competition, students Lena (Gymnasium Stiftung Louisenlund) and Sarah (Privatschule Mittelholstein) are investigating whether pollutants from shipwrecks in Neustadt Bay could pose a threat to humans and the sea. The various water samples they are taking near a wreck will be analysed with the support of the Institute of Toxicology at the University of Kiel, which is testing the samples for possible contamination.

We are proud to support the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science with eleven endorsed Decade Actions - our newest endorsement sees the research and media ship ALDEBARAN confirmed as a UN Ocean Decade Contribution until 2030.

The Foundation welcomes the acceptance of its application for membership of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and looks forward to working with them.

After a week of research, Teresa Hauser, Melissa Horras, and Theresa Unz from the South Württemberg Student Research Centre are back in port.

Congratulations to our three winning teams from the Schülerforschungszentrum Südwürttemberg (Tuttlingen), the Louisenlund Foundation together with the Holstein Mitte school and the Struensee Gymnasium Hamburg, who have won this year's Research at Sea competition.

The German Ocean Foundation was represented at the third UN Ocean Congress (UNOC3) in Nice not only as an observer, but also as an active shaper of a new era for the ocean. In cooperation with Objectif Sciences International (OSI), we took part in the Hackathon for Ocean Participatory Science - an innovative format that brings together citizens, scientists and organisations from all over the world.

The UN Ocean Conference in Nice and Monaco was undoubtedly the most important international summit on ocean protection to date.

We were at the Blue Economy Financial Forum in Monaco on the weekend together with hundreds of representatives from the worlds of science, business and finance. The UN Ocean Conference has opened today in Nice.

We have just received fantastic news: our project has been officially endorsed as a contribution to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development!

The One Ocean Science Congress begins this week as a precursor to the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France. We will present our Citizen Science project with one of 600 posters to 2,000 scientists from all over the world.

The Foundation, together with Step. and GO!, Terra Scientifica, Objectif Sciences International and the Forum de Genève, is organising the hackathon, which will give over 50 participants the chance to develop innovative solutions for the protection and sustainable management of the ocean.

From 4 June, our team will be in Nice to present our citizen science and marine education projects in La Baleine, at the Université Côte d'Azur and on board the METEOR and the Malizia Explorer in the port of Nice.

If you are working on a marine conservation project, apply now and become part of the global movement to protect the ocean! Submit your marine conservation project and be one of the nominees. The winning team will receive prize money of 20,000 euros to advance their project.