‘It’s very political’: the almost impossible job of being a marine planner

From the Galápagos to Bermuda, ocean planners often find themselves caught between two worlds – choosing between fisheries and fish

‘It’s a fantastic experience to be next to a 12-metre-long whale shark, or to get close to a predator like a tiger shark,” says the marine scientist Alex Hearn. “Nothing quite measures up to slipping into the water and swimming alongside one of these incredible creatures.”

Most days, however, Hearn, a biology professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, is at his desk grappling with algorithms in an attempt to protect the world’s oceans. Hearn is a marine planner – like a city planner, but for the sea.