It’s late August, daybreak, somewhere in the Ionian Sea. The sand is warm and the sun has just risen over the horizon. A small egg, deep in the sand, cracks open. A tiny turtle hatchling crawls out of the nest and uses the rising sun and the stars as its compass to guide its first uncertain steps towards the sea. At the same time, on a well-protected beach in the heart of the Aegean, a Mediterranean Monk seal is nursing its pup, while the second largest animal in the world, the fin whale; the animal with the largest brain ever recorded in the animal kingdom, the sperm whale; shy Cuvier’s beaked whales; many dolphin species and the tiny Harbour porpoise that lives exclusively in the waters of Thrace all bask in the waters of the Mediterranean.

For over two decades WWF Greece has focused its efforts on the direct and indirect threats to species such as marine turtles, cetaceans, and Mediterranean Monk seals. We join forces with scientists, local authorities, and government representatives to care for our common home, the natural environment. We try to find solutions that are respectful of nature, we carry out policy interventions, we study the needs of each species in depth so that we can enhance our protection actions, while we dare to innovate and try new methods to benefit nature and society. As a dynamic member of the WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative, the network of WWF national offices working for the good of our common sea and its species, we delve into the protection of the wealth of our common sea!