“The sea is our friend. We want to be friends with our sea. This is the challenge: to take care of it, to protect it, because it takes care of us and protects us. The sea is very important in the life of the planet and in the lives of people and animals,” stated José Manuel Bolieiro, in the Aula Magna of the University of the Azores, in Ponta Delgada, before approximately 320 students from primary schools on the island of São Miguel.

The ceremony marked the launch of the children's book collection “Blue Action Patrol”, developed within the framework of the Educating for a Blue Generation (EGA) Program, implemented by the Oceano Azul Foundation and the Lisbon Oceanarium, and carried out in the region in partnership with the Blue Azores program.

Over the coming months, about 10,000 books will be distributed to all first-cycle students across the nine islands, aiming to foster "ocean literacy" and build a "new blue generation of ocean ambassadors," according to Blue Azores, a program led by the Government of the Azores with the Oceano Azul Foundation and the Waitt Institute.

“When people tell you that we are small because we are nine very small islands, we have to say the opposite. We are enormous because we have a lot of sea,” Bolieiro emphasised.

The President of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-P/PPM) expressed his “pride” in the creation of a Network of Marine Protected Areas to protect 30% of the archipelago's sea.

“In protecting the sea, the Azores are leading the way. They are not lagging behind; they are doing what others have already done. We are doing it first so that others will follow our example: protecting our sea. That is why we created the reserve of marine protected areas. We are pioneers in the world,” he highlighted.

In the Azores, the EGA has already involved 2,100 students in beach clean-up actions and 10,864 in ocean literacy actions, having trained 439 teachers since 2019.