The PADI AWARE Foundation® is researching Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera) and across the Canary Islands – from Tenerife and Gran Canaria to Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Graciosa.
If you have dived in any of these locations, you can help influence how MPAs are shaped in Spain.
What Is an MPA?
MPAs are a conservation strategy that has been used to preserve marine ecosystems for decades. They are critical for the health of marine and coastal ecosystems that support both people and planet.
Well-designed MPAs in appropriate areas can deliver substantial socio-economic and environmental benefits, supporting biodiversity, climate resilience and community well-being.
Governments around the world have agreed to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030, a goal known as 30×30. The main way they plan to do this is by creating MPAs.
PADI and the PADI AWARE Foundation have included the expansion of MPAs as one of their five goals within the PADI Blueprint for Ocean Action through the Adopt the Blue™ program. Divers can help grow MPAs by collecting vital data, supporting local conservation efforts and protecting critical dive sites.
As Spain works towards protecting more of its ocean, decisions are being made about where protection happens, how it works and which activities it supports.
Have You Dived in the Balearic or Canary Islands This Summer?
PADI AWARE is conducting an economic assessment of recreational diving in the Balearic and Canary Islands, working in partnership with the Med Sea Alliance, whose members are working together to restore the Mediterranean Sea. They are doing so by driving policy change to protect critical marine habitats, put an end to biodiversity loss and restrict illegal and destructive fishing at the local, national and regional level.
The aim of this project is not to measure how much dive businesses earn, but to understand how diving:
- Contributes to island economies
- Supports conservation goals
- Benefits from well‑managed marine protected areas
By comparing diving in protected areas with less protected ones, this work helps show how marine protection can be designed to protect the ocean while supporting sustainable dive tourism.
Here’s How You Can Take Part
PADI AWARE invite you to complete a short survey about your dive trip. Your responses will help:
- Show that divers value healthy marine environments
- Support stronger, more effective MPAs
- Influence how Spain delivers on its 30×30 commitments
Your response will directly inform policy conversations, media campaigns and advocacy efforts, helping shape marine protection in ways that promote ocean health — and sustain great diving — in Spain.
As a thank you, every diver who completes the survey will be entered into a drawing to win a PADI AWARE swag bag.*
It’s the PADI ethos in action — Seek Adventure. Save the Ocean.℠ — where sharing your dive experience helps influence how the ocean you love is protected.
