Anna Oposa is co-founder of conservation NGO Save Philipines Seas, but she also has another title there: Chief Mermaid. And although the title might raise a smile, it has also helped to raise funds for serious marine conservation work.
The title of Chief Mermaid’ began as a joke, Oposa said.
According to Oposa, after seeing that other organisations had title like Chief Executive Officer, Chief Finance Officer etc, she thought it would be funny to put Chief Mermaid on her calling cards instead.
It stuck everyone from government officials to children, we teach call me Chief Mermaid! It works though – the title shows, even just a little bit, that I may take problems of the sea seriously, but I don’t take myself too seriously.
Save Philippine Seas aims to conserve and restore coastal and marine resources via environmental education and community-based projects.
According to Oposa, her connection to the sea started early.
My dad pioneered environmental law in the Philippines, so I grew up exposed to all kinds of environmental issues, from illegal logging to illegal fishing to air pollution, she said,
My dad insisted that me and my brothers become scuba divers because according to him, we wouldn’t know the true beauty of the Philippines unless we saw what was beneath.
I became a scuba diver when I was 15 and liked diving, but I still didn’t see anything related to conservation it as a career.
While originally starting out in the arts, Oposa was wrapping up her undergraduate thesis when she learned about a marine illegal wildlife trade case called the rape of the Philippine seas.
It led me to like-minded people online and Save Philippine Seas (SPS) began as a social media campaign created by a handful of people who met online as a response to that case, she said.
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