Maria Angeles Galvez

Pioneered marine conservation in Latin America through coral reef protection

Maria Angeles Galvez (1925-2001) was a marine biologist who saved the Mesoamerican Reef System. Her 1960s research at the UNESCO Belize Barrier Reef Reserve identified coral bleaching 20 years before global awareness. Galvez's 1968 paper in Nature magazine proposed the first coral restoration techniques. She established the first marine protected area in the Yucatan Peninsula in 1972, later expanded into the Mesoamerican Reef Alliance. Her Coral Guardians Handbook became the region's conservation bible. Galvez's work influenced the 1994 Protocol for the Protection of the Mesoamerican Reef. The Maria Galvez Marine Institute now trains 200+ conservationists annually. Her 1960s underwater photography techniques are still used in reef monitoring.