Carlos Mallo Molina

Carlos Mallo Molina helped lead a sophisticated, global campaign to prevent the construction of Fonsalía Port, a massive recreational boat and ferry terminal that threatened a biodiverse 170,000-acre marine protected area in the Canary Islands. Proposed to be built on the island of Tenerife, the port would have destroyed vital habitat for endangered sea turtles, whales, and sharks. In October 2021, because of the campaign, the Canary Islands government officially canceled the port project. In lieu of the port, Carlos is now realizing his vision for a world-class marine conservation and education center—the first of its kind in the Canary Islands.

A Marine Paradise

Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands, a Spanish territory in the Atlantic Ocean. Its southwestern waters are home to one of greatest concentrations of biodiversity in Spain and its territories, including a 170,000-acre marine protected area (Zona Especial de Conservación Teno-Rasca)—Spain’s most important. The area hosts a dazzling array of marine life, including 21 cetacean species, endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles, blue sharks, and giant squid, among other species. 

Six million tourists visit Tenerife annually, drawn to the island’s lush marine environment ideal for scuba diving and whale-watching. The island’s southwest coast is recognized by the World Cetacean Alliance as a whale heritage site—one of only five in the world—due to a unique resident population of more than 350 tropical pilot whales.

Yet, despite its ecological treasures, Tenerife’s marine environment has been under siege for decades, suffering from unsustainable development and mass tourism. Over half of its vital seagrass meadows have vanished, fish populations have plummeted, and its marine species face increasing threats from pollution and overfishing. 

In 1999, the Spanish government proposed to build Fonsalía Port on the western side of Tenerife—in the middle of the marine protected area—for a sprawling ferry terminal and recreational marina. First, the government had to construct a highway—completed in 2016—that would connect the island’s communities to the proposed port. In 2015, the government announced its plans: the 15-acre port would cost US$203 million and have capacity for 470 recreational boats and berthing for five large passenger ferries. 

In 2010, the construction of the Granadilla Port in eastern Tenerife had harmed marine species and damaged the ecosystem; large beds of endangered seagrass were destroyed. A port at Fonsalía would have devastating consequences for marine life, including habitat destruction, noise pollution, and vessel traffic through the whale heritage site. Environmentalists predicted hundreds of vessel strikes on whales and other marine species. 

A Friend of the Oceans

Carlos Mallo Molina, 36, was an accomplished civil engineer—specializing in port construction—who made a life-altering decision to switch careers and become a marine conservationist when he discovered the threat posed by the Fonsalía Port to the marine life of the Canary Islands. He was born in Galicia on the Spanish mainland and moved to Tenerife in 2012 after college. Initially, he worked as a project manager on major construction projects, gradually learning about conservation and falling more and more in love with the waters of Tenerife—his “happiest place in the world.” He also spends a lot of time in Costa Rica, where his NGO Innoceana—founded in 2018—has become a global force for environmental conservation and marine education.

Stopping the Port

In 2015, while leading parts of the design and construction team for Tenerife’s new highway, Carlos discovered the local government’s plans for the Fonsalía Port, which would be located adjacent to the island’s most biodiverse marine ecosystem. An avid scuba diver, he began to map the underwater area where the port would be built and came to understand how it would devastate the marine ecosystem. In 2018, deeply concerned about the environmental impact of the port, Carlos took the huge step of leaving his well-established engineering job and founded Innoceana to oppose the port and protect the Canary Islands’ marine ecosystem. Going against his own colleagues—and trying to persuade them to abandon the port project—was a major transition in his life and career. 

With colleagues at Innoceana, Carlos created a baseline database on local marine species populations, their habitats, and the status of the ecosystem’s health. Drawing on his engineering knowledge, he wrote technical reports demonstrating the problems with Fonsalía Port and outlining alternatives to meet transportation demand, such as reinforcing an existing port. Carlos engaged the Spanish media to cover the campaign against the port, drawing broad public attention to the issue. Under his leadership, Innoceana staff designed an interactive educational digital platform, called Innotales, to raise awareness about the wonders of Tenerife’s marine life, including a children’s book about a sea turtle searching for seagrass in the Canary Islands. He also facilitated the creation of a virtual scuba dive into the marine areas that would be damaged by the port, enabling people to see Tenerife’s underwater marine life and better understand the need for protecting it.

Working tirelessly with the Salvar Fonsalía Citizen Platform, uniting local residents, divers, and international organizations, Carlos helped collect more than 420,000 signatures on a citizen petition opposing the construction of Fonsalía Port. Government officials had no choice but to acknowledge the outdated and inadequate environmental impact assessment for the proposed port, which clearly threatened marine life.   

In October 2021, facing enormous public pressure from Carlos and the coalition, the Canary Islands government decided overwhelmingly to abandon the construction of Fonsalía Port—a significant victory for the environmental movement in the Canary Islands. Thanks to Carlos’ leadership, the campaign safeguarded the 170,000-acre Teno-Rasca marine protected area—the only whale heritage site in European territorial waters, hosting 21 species of cetaceans and habitat for endangered green and loggerhead sea turtles.  

Carlos’ fight didn’t end with stopping Fonsalía Port. Determined to ensure that the site would remain a haven for marine life, he spearheaded, with Innoceana, the development of the Canary Islands’ first marine conservation and education center, located at the heart of the proposed port site. The new center will feature innovative educational programs, including an ocean classroom to help the community fall in love with the ocean. Securing more than $2 million in funding from the European Union, Carlos is transforming a once-threatened area into a global hub for marine conservation. And, by fostering connections between people and the ocean, he is nurturing a new generation of environmental stewards.