Angelo Villagomez

I still remember the first time I watched Chasing Coral on Netflix almost ten years ago. Like many ocean advocates, I was transfixed. The visuals were stunning—time‑lapse coral bleaching, underwater photography that bordered on art, heroic scientists racing against time to document a crisis before it disappeared. The movie did what it was supposed to do: it made coral reefs feel immediate, fragile, and endangered. And yet, as the credits rolled, something felt wrong. It took me a while to put my finger on it, but eventually the discomfort resolved into a simple question: where were the people? Not the scientists. They were everywhere— wetsuits, GoPros, dramatic voiceovers about sacrifice and discovery. The people missing were the ones who live with coral reefs every day: the communities who fish them, pray with them, argue over them, and depend on them not just for livelihoods, but for identity. I remember talking to my friend and colleague Dr. Steven Manaʻoakamai Johnson about it. ...

The God Squad is using the self-inflicted Trump energy crisis to justify expanded Gulf drilling Without mentioning that hostilities were initiated by Israel and the Trump administration, Secretary Hegseth claimed that “recent hostile action” by the Iranian government has made expanded oil and gas drilling a national security imperative. He further argued that production in the Gulf of Mexico “provides a vital buffer, insulating our economy and military from foreign instability.” However, this claim of a national security imperative is baseless, relying on a series of mistruths. Hegseth’s justification is especially specious considering the Trump administration started the war with Iran and has been simultaneously causing global instability through tariffs, illegal wars, and moves that have undercut NATO. Hegseth suggested this action would “power our military and protect our nation,” but the U.S. Department of the Interior reports that offshore oil production is currently already at...

Peter Edwards, Olivia Lopez, Charitie Ropati, and Angelo Villagomez (left to right) at Upwell 2023 discussing metrics for Redefining Conservation Success I hope that you will join me at Upwell: A Wave of Ocean Justice this June 2-3 in Washington, DC. Please register today . Due to popular demand, Upwell is moving to a larger venue this year and we are adding a second day. We are holding this year's event at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Day one, held on June 2, has a focus on networking and learning, with four concurrent sessions arranged by theme taking place in classrooms at the MLK library. Day two will take place on June 3 in the MLK library auditorium, with panels, conversations, and plenary addresses. Day one is in-person only, whereas day two will have in-person and virtual options. As Upwell returns for its fourth year, you’re stepping into a conversation that has helped shape how the conservation movement thinks about people, place, and power. What began ...

I was invited to give the keynote talk at the 2026 Mariana Islands Conservation Conference. The organizers of the conference asked me to speak of my role in efforts to oppose deep sea mining near the Mariana Trench -- which I did -- but I also took the opportunity to talk about the history of the Mariana Trench marine national monument. Conservation Tales from the Mariana Trench Before I start I want to thank the board of Tano Tasi yan Todu for inviting me to speak today, and the organizers of this conference. I’ve watched this conference online over the years, and I’m very excited to participate for the first time. I also want to wish all of you a happy National Napping Day. Hopefully you won’t sleep through my talk. I also want to thank everyone who participated in the deep sea mining RFI these last few months. Thank you to brave activisists who spoke up first and raised the alarm. Thank you to the environmental organizations and the government servants who quickly educ...

I'm speaking at a COMPASS townhall on Communicating Risk Effectively at Ocean Sciences meeting 2026 on Monday, February 23.  If you're there, please join us! Strategic Science Communication in Practice: My Remarks at the Communicating Risk Effectively Townhall Good afternoon. My name is Angelo Villagomez, and today I want to discuss how risk communication functions in practice, using the recent 60‑day campaign to oppose deep‑sea mining near the Mariana Trench as a case study. On November 11, virtually no one in the Mariana Islands had heard of deep‑sea mining. Then on November 12, the Trump administration announced a 30‑day plan to begin the process that could open areas near the Mariana Trench to industrial extraction. The timeline was abrupt, the issue was unfamiliar, and our community was completely unprepared for it. With no resources, no prepared messaging, and no existing coalitions, we had to build a comprehensive campaign from scratch—and we had to do it quickly. ...

I addressed the 2026 East Pacific Kelp Congress on January 21, 2026. Beyond 30x30: Re-Imagining Ocean Conservation Success The next time you are in one of those virtual professional settings where you are staring at a bunch of faces you don’t know and you have to do that awkward thing where you all introduce yourself, ask each person to finish their introduction by naming their special ocean place. Yesterday’s meeting repeatedly evoked memories of my special ocean place, Obyan Beach on the southern end of Saipan, the island in the western Pacific where I am from. Every time one of you spoke about purple urchin harvesting or removal, I flashed back to my childhood and my father teaching me how to gather sea urchins on the reef flat during low tide. He convinced me when I was about 8 years old that I was the world’s greatest sea urchin hunter, that nobody did it better in the history of the Chamorro people. For years this inspired me to gather sea urchins on my own, and to deliver...

A candid photo of some modern Indigenous conservationists, and some of our colleagues There’s a certain look people sometimes give me when I’m introduced as a Pacific Islander. Sometimes it opens doors.  We talk for five minutes and figure out that our parents know each other or that we're cousins.  Other times they close, like when the National Academy scientist told me I “didn’t look like someone who worked at Pew.” New friends may search my face for ancient wisdom or a hint of magical powers to commune with fish. It’s well‑intentioned, perhaps, but it reveals something uncomfortable: many people in conservation prefer Indigenous people as symbols rather than as full, complicated human beings. I am an Indigenous scientist , a modern mixed-race Chamorro man , not your noble savage. Indigenous identity is messy. It is shaped not only by heritage, but by colonization, migration, intermarriage, economics, and politics. Every one of our peoples carries its own story of su...