Aidan Wells: Transforming Marine Education in California

Written by Anjalee Senarath (Diverseas Volunteer & Creative Writer) | Interviewed by Brigitta Gunawan (Founder of Diverseas)

The Californian coast has long been known for its scenic oceans and beach getaways. While the beauty of the Golden State of the US continues to shine on the surface, a community of enthusiastic ocean conservationists is working in the background to protect the central coast of California by proposing a national marine sanctuary - The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. The first tribally nominated sanctuary US, this project aims to conserve and sustain the local land and waters, fondly protected by the Chumash people for generations. 

Diverseas had the privilege of having a conversation with Aidan Wells, a Californian born climate activist who is passionate about protecting the local coasts and seas. Aidan works as the 2024 West Coast Ocean Protection Ambassadors together with the Northern Chumash Tribal Council. One of the main aspects that Aidan is working on is delivering proper marine education, specially targeting the younger generations.

“From a very young student’s perspective, the marine education is not adequate right now,” says Aidan.

One of the best ways to protect our oceans is to make people understand more about it. Given the fact that the future of global seas is clearly endangered, gearing up the future generations with proper marine education is a great way to embark on it.

Aidan’s efforts on delivering marine education are well structured and targeted. Currently, he’s working on developing a curriculum for 5th-grade teachers to teach NGSS 5-ESS3-1 standards focusing on indigenous values and marine sanctuaries. The indigenous communities of the Chumash land hold invaluable knowledge on the behaviour of the local sea currents, marine life and the ocean ecosystem that they’ve inhabited for thousands of years. Integrating this ancient generational wisdom with policies from federal and state governments to curate comprehensive marine education is a future plan and a necessity that will hopefully broaden into other coastal lands beyond California, according to Aidan. 

The Chumash Heritage Sanctuary will protect 116 miles of California’s central coast and 4,543 square miles of ocean space from industrial pollution causes such as offshore oil expansion and seismic testing. The involvement of multiple communities into this conservation effort will create more tourist attraction towards the natural beauty, history and culture of the coastline, and also generate more job opportunities for people. According to Aidan, one of the common misconceptions that many people have about protected areas and sanctuaries is that it’s a form of restriction. But he thinks that it’s rather a form of being more responsible and accountable for our actions, in order to extend its benefits and beauty to a much wider community for a longer period of time. 

For Aidan, being an integral part of the Chumash Heritage Sanctuary establishment process is a journey in itself where he explores ways to captivate young minds about the importance of marine education, love for the local environment, heritage, culture and sustainability. He also believes in the need to clear misconceptions around jobs and opportunities in the field of marine conservation, if more kids are to join the field in future with more passion. We truly enjoyed talking with Aidan Wells on our ocean career chats segment, and we are very excited to see his commitment flourishing and making bigger waves in the future.