Monica Verbeek has led Seas At Risk, the Brussels-based NGO campaigning for ambitious protection and restoration of the marine environment, since 2007. Seas At Risk brings together the views of its 30+ members from all over Europe, giving a voice to millions of people that care deeply about the health and wellbeing of the sea and the ocean. She has been an advocate for strong ocean protection since the early 1990s, when she was a campaigner for Greenpeace, Netherlands. She holds a PhD in biology, with her passion for all things ocean sparked by her study of narwhals in the Arctic.