§ Océano Abierto 2026 · Side event of the SeaWilding Conference 2026
An open afternoon to talk about the ocean
Thursday 29 October 2026 · 3 pm to 7:30 pm · Espai Mestral, Port Olímpic, Barcelona
Four conversations with the people who research, dive, litigate and care for the Mediterranean, and twelve organisations you can join that same afternoon. Entry is free, subject to prior registration and to availability.
Ask, speak up and leave knowing how to get involved
Océano Abierto is the free parallel activity (side event) of the SeaWilding Conference 2026. It is not one of its sessions: it is another space, another afternoon and another audience. For four and a half hours, the Espai Mestral at Port Olímpic becomes a place for conversation between the people who work at sea and the people who live next to it.
There are no lectures. There are four 45-minute round tables: 35 minutes of dialogue among the participants and a conversation with the audience; a round of projects told in five minutes each; and three networking breaks to walk around the twelve stands in the exhibition area, two of half an hour and a ten-minute closing one, where each organisation shows you how to join in: a citizen-science programme, a volunteering scheme, a course, a campaign.
It is for you if you live in Barcelona or near the sea and wonder what you can do for it. If you dive, or want to start. If you are studying, or have just started working on something to do with the ocean. Or if you simply want to know who looks after the Mediterranean and how to help.
An afternoon on the quay
(Preliminary programme)
Doors and stands open at 3 pm. The conversations start at 3:30 pm. You can arrive and leave when you like; registration covers the whole afternoon.
Surface
Seabed
Arrival and networking
Doors open at 3 pm. Check in at the entrance and start wherever you like: the twelve organisations are already at their stands, with the people who research, dive and litigate for the ocean. Half an hour to ask, introduce yourself and decide who you want to talk to again later on.
Welcome
The organisers explain in five minutes how the afternoon works.
Round table
Citizen science: the sea we observe together
What can someone with no scientific training add to our knowledge of the sea, and how do they start? The organisations that collect coastal data with citizens answer the question "how do I sign up today?".
With: Andrea Comaposada (Anèl·lides), Macarena Marambio (Observadores del Mar / ICM), Associació Cetàcea, Roxanne Hendrix (Innoceana) · Chair: Mónica Navarro
Round table
Who speaks for the sea? Rights of the ocean and of marine animals
If the ocean and the animals that live in it have rights, what changes in the law, in the courts and in what each of us can do? The rights of nature already written into a constitution, ecocide as a crime, marine animal sentience brought into law, and how to communicate on behalf of those who cannot speak.
With: María González Lacabex (Animalex · Intercids), Maite Mompó (Stop Ecocidio Internacional), Natalia Greene (Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN))
Networking between stands
Half an hour of open conversation between the stands. The people who have just spoken are at their organisation's stand: the moment to ask the question that did not fit in the panel, to ask for a contact or to sign up for a day at sea.
Project round
One campaign and two projects, five minutes each. Questions at their stand, at the close.
With: María González Lacabex (Intercids), Clara Comas (Good Karma Projects), Bernat Bas (DELT Project)
Round table
Underwater: from recreational to scientific diving
What does a diver see that nobody else sees, and how does that become data and protection? What scientific diving is, how to get there from recreational diving, how reefs and ecological solutions are designed to bring life back to the seabed, and how a project born underwater protects the breeding of cuttlefish and squid.
With: Coty Zeckua (CMAS), Natural Art Reef, Boris Weitzmann (Projecte Sepia) · Chair: Macarena Marambio (Observadores del Mar / ICM)
Round table
Starting out at sea: early-career ocean professionals
How do you get into marine science and conservation today, and which networks support the first steps? For anyone studying, starting out or changing course.
With: Inés Mas de la Peña (ECOP España), María Arredondo (Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA)), Ona Santisteban (National Geographic Young Explorer) · Chair: Andrea Comaposada (Anèl·lides)
Close and networking
The last minutes are for staying on. Each organisation has at its stand the way to get involved it announced (volunteering, citizen science, scientific diving, training): whoever wants to join signs up right there, with the person who will take them on.
All conversations are in Spanish.
Twelve organisations, twelve ways to join
Each one has a stand from 3 pm to 7:30 pm. Walk up, ask, sign up.
An organisation that, in its own words, promotes knowledge of and care for the marine environment through outreach, education and research.
A non-profit that, since 2012, "turns scientific research into active conservation". It studies cetaceans and seabirds on the Catalan coast.
The World Underwater Federation, an international non-profit created in 1959 by delegates from fifteen countries, with a scientific committee and scientific diving specialities.
“A non-profit organisation dedicated to environmental conservation and the protection of endangered species” that puts AI-equipped drones at the service of conservation work: detecting, tracking and analysing specimens. It was born to detect sea turtles and monitor their nesting, saving volunteers and partners many hours of work.
"The Spanish network for the Global ECOP Programme, endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade", for anyone living in Spain who is within their first ten years of a career in any field related to the ocean.
A non-profit that develops environmental education and awareness projects. It brings MEDPELLETS, its line of action, research and outreach on plastic pollution in the Mediterranean, focused on pellets: small plastic spheres between 3 and 5 mm across.
Innoceana is a global marine conservation organization that empowers communities to protect and restore our ocean through research-driven conservation, education, and advocacy for a sustainable marine future.
A non-profit of legal professionals from across Spain who work to improve the laws that protect animals and how they are enforced. It brings the campaign «La del pulpo».
"A non-profit specialised in marine restoration and in the design of ecological solutions to conserve and regenerate marine ecosystems", which combines science, local experience and citizen participation to create underwater spaces that bring life back to the sea.
A marine citizen-science platform coordinated from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC). Its method fits in five steps: choose a project, observe and photograph, share, talk, act.
Born in 2016 in L'Escala with small-scale fishers to improve the breeding of cuttlefish and squid: it places spawning structures on the seabed and recovers the eggs left on fishing nets, which are incubated and returned to the sea. EUROPARC Star Award 2022 for innovation.
"A network of ecopreneurs and ocean allies working to restore planetary health through ocean-positive solutions", organised in youth-led local communities.
Free, with registration
Entry is free. Registration is required because it is how we control capacity: the room holds 100 people and places are assigned in order of registration until they run out.
How it works
- Press "Register for free". The form opens in a new tab: it is a JotForm form, an external service.
- Enter your name, surname and email, accept the processing of your data and send. It takes a minute.
- If there is a place left, you will receive a confirmation email within minutes. Keep it: it is your registration.
- If the places are already taken, the form itself will tell you when you open it and you will not be able to send it.
If you have any question, or need any adjustment to attend, write to hello@seawilding2025.org.
Espai Mestral, Port Olímpic
Moll de Mestral, s/n, Sant Martí, 08005 Barcelona. The Port Olímpic events hall, on the Mestral quay, facing the sea.
- Metro: line L4, Ciutadella | Vila Olímpica station.
- Tram: T4, Ciutadella | Vila Olímpica stop.
- Bus: lines 47, 59, 136, H16, V21, V23 and V27.
- Bicycle: Bicing stations 170 and 397, on Avinguda del Litoral.
- Car: BSM Port Olímpic car park.
- Accessibility: the Moll de Mestral entrance is adapted for people with reduced mobility.
Who organises it
Co-organised by
With the support of
Associació SeaWilding: an association for marine conservation and restoration, a bridge between science, civil society and public administration for the future of our ocean. Bluewave Alliance: an initiative that, in its own words, devotes all its resources to supporting and driving projects that seek to rejuvenate the Mediterranean. Animalex: "the first law firm in Spain dedicated exclusively to Animal Law". Port Olímpic: the city's harbour, which defines itself as a space committed to the environment and sustainability, open to the sea and to the city.
The conference, across the promenade
Océano Abierto is the open activity of the SeaWilding Conference 2026, which brings the scientific, legal and management communities together around the rights of the ocean at the Institut de Ciències del Mar from 28 to 30 October 2026. The conference is ticketed; this afternoon is not. Several of the people speaking there that same week sit down here to talk with you. If you want to know what the conference is about, the programme is published.