An internationally-revered global Marine Protected Area specialist, Max Bello spends a lot of his time meeting members of ocean and coastal communities from all around the world, working alongside them to help foster and facilitate greater protection for the many expansive marine areas they call home.

In his first Column for Oceanographic Magazine, this week Max ‘the government whisperer’ Bello is reporting back from Robinson Crusoe Island in the Juan Fernandez marine protected area, where 15 years ago, he worked with communities to establish two of the largest MPAs in the world – the Juan Fernandez and the Nazca-Desventuradas.

This past month, Max and the team from Blue Marine Foundation have made their return to the region to once again work with local fishermen and members of the community to strengthen and expand those protections by completing the 200-square-miles still in need of protection, and complete the circle around the two critical marine areas.

“I am very happy to be back here after 15 years to help this community go even further,” says Max. “They are looking to expand what is remaining still in this 200 miles and complete the circle of protection in these two places – Juan Fernandez and Nazca-Desventuradas.”

The planned protection will also incorporate a large swathe of the high seas that connects Juan Fernandez to Nazca-ridge surrounding the community of Rapanui on Easter Island.

“This is the bold action we need, which is why we are here with Blue Marine Foundation to actually help this community do the best they can – as they have been doing – and do the best we can, as humanity, to protect the ocean,” says Max.

Here’s what Max Bello has to tell us here at Oceanographic Magazine: