Angelo Villagomez

I was invited to speak at a meeting hosted by Creation Justice Ministries called Current Threats to our Ocean and the Moral Call to Respond.  The organizers asked me to speak about the rollback of marine national monuments by the Trump administration. Hello everybody, my name is Angelo Villagomez and I was born near the ocean. I was born in a village on an island next to the Mariana Trench. I call Saipan, the largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands my home. I am Chamorro, and I was raised in the Catholic faith, which feels appropriate to share with this audience. Today I work for an organization in Washington, DC called the Center for American Progress. And here I’ll just show you a picture of me as a kid with some of my relatives, and here are some pictures of the sorts of things I do as an adult.  I only have a few minutes for remarks, so I thought I’d start with a story. In January 2007 – almost 20 years ago – my friend Cinta Kaipat, a local elected offi...

Remember blogging?  I'm trying to blog more.  If you're one of the handful of people who read this blog, maybe you've noticed an uptick in my writing here?  I started my first blog in 2004. It was mostly about my life and as I developed a voice it eventually evolved into The Saipan Blog .  The kids today are really into the 1990s.  So it's only a matter of time until they're into the 2000s again, too, right?  In the spirit of self-absorbed blogging from the mid-2000s these are a few of the things I've been up to in recent weeks. Deep-Sea mining is keeping me busy.  A year ago I wouldn't have said I worked on deep-sea mining. But thanks to the Trump administration, I’ve been writing about it, talking about it, and occasionally yelling about it (in a professional, policy friendly way).  I recently published a piece at the Center for American Progress on why Alaska and U.S. territories often get damage instead of dollars when it comes to extractiv...

Meeting with NOAA in 2024.  Conservation voices have a fraction the influence of fisheries voices in managing US oceans. Last year, my colleagues Kirsten Grorud-Colvert, Jenna Sullivan-Stack, Steven Mana’oakamai Johnson, and I published a short piece in Nature calling on philanthropy and NGOs to " Study protected waters newly opened up to fishing ." I publish the short article below in its entirety: In April, the United States opened up one million square kilometres of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing. Before then, for a decade, the region had been a marine protected area — in which all fishing was prohibited. Courts reclosed the area this August as part of an ongoing legal battle. Other protected areas, including the Papahānaumokuākea, Rose Atoll and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts marine national monuments, are under review (see go.nature.com/44Zambm). We urge research and philanthropic organizations to support scientific mon...

Additional reading: 5 Ways Scientists, NGOs, and Governments Can Support Indigenous-led Conservation The Trump administration argues that opening America’s seafloor to deep-sea mining is essential for strengthening our economy and securing our energy future. From a Pacific Islander perspective, this rush to extract metals from the ocean — especially near the Mariana Trench and American Samoa — ignores hard-earned lessons and risks repeating past mistakes. In many Pacific cultures, including my own Chamorro heritage, we navigate our world by “walking backwards into the future.” Pacific voyagers do this as they navigate across vast ocean spaces by reading the stars and waves. Hundreds or even thousands of miles from land, by looking behind the canoe to assess the direction and speed of the wake, they can determine where they’ve been, and this helps them know where they are going. Misreading a current could send a canoe hundreds of miles off course, which can be devastating when tryin...

I’m not a kelp guy . But a few years ago I was linked up with Aaron Eger and the Kelp Forest Alliance (KFA) and found myself invited to a working group on kelp restoration at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis  (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara, California. From Outsider to Co-Facilitator: A Global Kelp Forest Workshop Fast forward a few years, and we just met together for the third time, bringing together a global community of practice to explore the critical intersection of kelp forest ecology, cultural heritage, and contemporary conservation challenges. As a co-facilitator of the workshop now, I helped set the tone for a deeply collaborative and respectful dialogue centered on the unique expertise and long-standing kelp stewardship of Indigenous Peoples. The New Thesis for Durable Nearshore Conservation We collectively drew from our shared well of knowledge, and reflected on discussions and outputs from the first two years of meeting (We're not ready to...

Angelo and Marcela kick off the first Upwell in 2023 At a time when climate change, environmental degradation, and social inequality are increasingly intertwined, many young people are searching for spaces that connect their values with real‑world action. The Upwell conference was created to meet that moment—offering a forum where ocean and climate policy are discussed not only through a scientific or technical lens, but through the lived experiences of communities most affected. For students eager to understand how justice, policy, and environmental stewardship intersect, Upwell serves as both an introduction to the field and an invitation to help shape its future. REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE IN UPWELL ONLINE What Is the Upwell Conference? Upwell: A Wave of Ocean Justice is an annual conference and convening focused on equity, justice, and power in ocean and coastal policy. It brings together advocates, policymakers, researchers, Indigenous leaders, community organizers, and students t...

Following the last three years of overwhelming demand for Upwell programming, we are excited to convene the event in a larger venue and expand to a two day experience. Join us for both days to connect, learn, and shape what’s ahead together. WATCH UPWELL 2026 ONLINE The first day of Upwell, taking place on June 2 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, will focus on learning and networking for the Upwell community.  We have reserved 5 classrooms in the library's conference center and each room will host a series of interactive activities along specific tracks including, Youth Advocacy, Policy, and Career Development. The activities taking place in the Policy Track are organized by the Center for American Progress and the Ocean Defense Initiative.  I'm excited to share our panel discussion topics and our speakers.  Each panel will be 50 minutes long, with 25 minutes for a moderated discussion followed by 25 minutes of Q&A with the audienc...