Love The Oceans was founded by marine biologist Francesca Trotman. Francesca studied Marine Biology at University of Southampton. In 2013, during her second year at university, Francesca took an internship in Mozambique and witnessed her first shark killing in Jangamo. Francesca decided she wanted to investigate the sustainability of the shark finning industry in Mozambique, and returned to university to find a supervisor and research assistants to help her. In 2014 Francesca returned for 4 months with 3 research assistants to help the community collect data on the artisanal fisheries, focussing specifically on the elasmobranch (shark and ray) fisheries.
After her return to England, during the analysis of the data for her Masters’ dissertation, Francesca realised her results were supporting the hypothesis that the shark finning industry is highly unsustainable. However, she did not have enough data to make the results statistically significant, making it impossible to publish scientific papers and lobby for legislation change. Francesca therefore founded Love The Oceans whilst completing her Masters to continue these investigations.
Soon after founding the organisation, after researching successful conservation strategies and how to create long-lasting change, Francesca realised Love The Oceans needed a multi-pronged approach and the mission of the organisation was revised to the broader aim of establishing a Marine Protected Area in Jangamo Bay and the surrounding region. As a result, the organisation was expanded to encompass a huge range of activities.
The team decided to include the vision of complete self-sustainability for the community in the creation of Love The Oceans, making a successful conservation outcome eventually independent of Love The Oceans’ presence in the area. To achieve this, education would have to be improved, both in general, but also specifically relating to Marine Resource Management, ecotourism and Sea Safety to spark passion for marine life in the next generation. This is why Educational and Community Outreach has been an integral part of Love The Oceans’ work from the start.
The vision of Love The Oceans is to create a successful conservation strategy that can be replicated up and down the coastline of Mozambique and other developing nations to alleviate poverty and empower local communities to protect their oceans.