Angelo Villagomez

This essay was published within the pages of  Our National Monuments , a new book by celebrated photographer QT Luong .  I co-wrote this with Gina McGuire, a Native Hawaiian scientist who serves on the community group for the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument with me.  Our audience for this essay is all Americans, especially those who will never visit these islands and who have probably never even heard of them, and we aim to tell them why we think these islands play an important role in the American story. We are Native Hawaiians and Chamorros, born and raised on different islands with unique people.   We are connected by our values, the Pacific Ocean, and our shared commitment to protecting and understanding our oceanic resources and cultures so we can pass them down to future generations.   As stewards of Moana (the ocean), we humbly ask to share our understanding of how the significant history and natural resources of our remote Pacific Islands...

  I helped organized and opened up a science symposium at the 16th International Deep Sea Biology Symposium.  These are my remarks. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to everyone, depending where you are.  Why don’t we go ahead and get started. Hello, my name is Angelo Villagomez with the Blue Nature Alliance and I’d like to welcome you all to “Achieving Truly Global Stewardship of the Deep Ocean.”   I will be your host for the next two and one half hours as we explore actions and ideas that will help achieve fairer access to the benefits and stewardship of the deep ocean.   First off, I want to thank all of you for joining us today.   Issues of ocean justice and social equity can sometimes be difficult to discuss, and doing so openly and honestly requires a great deal of trust and humility.   We ask that you listen actively to what the speakers and other participants have to say.   I realize that listening for agreement can be so...

This is a letter that a group of scientists wrote in collaboration with the Friends of the Mariana Trench to support the proper management of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument.  It was submitted to the Federal Register on July 26, 2021. We, the undersigned, are scientists concerned with the proper protection and management of the Mariana Trench and the marine resources of the Pacific Ocean, and submit these comments on the Draft Monument Management Plan and Environmental Assessment. We submit these comments with the leadership and local expertise of the Friends of the Mariana Trench, a local NGO which represents the voice of the local community and consists of a cross-section of indigenous and resident people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and other interested parties who are dedicated to the conservation, preservation and protection of flora, fauna and geological features of the oceans; and the proper management of the Marianas Trench Marine Nation...

In 2018 my alma mater Rollins College recognized my career with an alumni achievement award . I received the award April 2018 and at the ceremony I got to meet the mayor of Oakland and the US Secretary of the Navy, who were also award recipients. A few months later they published a story about my career in our alumni magazine  (and dubbed me the Undersea Overseer) which made me sound way cooler than I actually am. After I won the award, I was asked to give a talk at an Alumni gathering in Washington, DC in November 2018. I've never written about The First and Last Pew Charitable Trusts Saipan Boonie Dog Show and the gentle ribbing I get for it at work.  I included it as part of my remarks at that alumni gathering and share it here for your enjoyment. In 2008 I led the community effort to build support for a marine protected area around the Mariana Trench, running a grassroots campaign to build and document support from the island communities, I won’t give you a full...

After talking about near shore, smaller protected areas off the West Coast, I will take you further west into the Pacific ocean, home of the largest offshore marine protected areas on the planet. Hello everyone, My name is Angelo Villagomez, I am a Native Pacific Islander, descended from voyagers, raised within a culture whose existence is dependent on the bounty of the ocean, but trained in the scientific method of Western scientists. If you are tweeting this conference, please use the hashtag CHOW 2021, and we have one just for our session: hashtag Diverse Ocean. You can tag me with At Tao Tao Tasi if you have any questions or comments, and I will follow up with you afterwards The Pacific Islands seem isolated and distant to many people across the world. But from the perspective of my people, the Chamorro people, the Native inhabitants of the Mariana Islands, the Pacific Ocean isn’t the middle of nowhere. It is the center of everything and it connects us all. I am here to ...

Earlier this week I gave a five minute talk on "white savior" and "noble savage" tropes in conservation.  Sometimes I speak off the cuff, but this time I read from prepared remarks.  Here's a recording of me giving this speech, along with the text. Colonization is alive and well in the United States today. I was born on Guam, one of the five US territories, and identify as Native Chamorro. The official stance of the United States government is that I belong to an “alien race” of “savage and restless people” unable to understand “Anglo-Saxon principles.” When I lived at home in the islands, I did not have the same rights as other American citizens, including representation in the White House or Congress, and people I did not have the power to vote for made decisions on my behalf. Any reasonable person with a sense of justice should be able to see why this is problematic, not just for conservation, but for all decisions made on behalf of a colonized commun...