Celebrating 15 Years of the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit

​This November marked a milestone for the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit (YOCS) as we celebrated 15 transformative years of empowering young ocean advocates dedicated to protecting our blue planet. Since launching in 2011, YOCS has grown into a cornerstone annual event - a space where youth voices lead, ideas flourish, and ocean conservation projects take root. 

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​This year’s Summit brought together more than 100 passionate youth participants and adult mentors on November 15 at the new Mote Science Education Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida. Against the backdrop of this incredible new venue, attendees engaged in a full day of networking, interactive skill building workshops, and project planning to drive action advancing ocean protection in their local communities.  

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​Backed by a dynamic YOCS Crew of high school student leaders, the 2025 Summit was once again authentically youth-driven in planning and implementation. This team guided the program, ensuring every session was relevant, engaging, and inspiring for their peers. 

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​Throughout the day, Summit attendees participated in a variety of themed experiential sessions, designed to increase participant’s knowledge of ocean conservation challenges and solutions. Focus areas for these engaging tracks included coastal and benthic ecology, ocean technology and innovation, creative arts for ocean advocacy, and leadership development. These sessions were led by teams of young leaders partnered with adult mentors, highlighting intergenerational collaboration as a theme throughout the event. Equipped with the knowledge and skills from these sessions, participants united with their peers to develop creative action projects for their own ocean conservation projects to implement in their local communities. 

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​​This year’s event also provided a moment to reflect on the Summit’s long-standing impact. Since 2011, thousands of youth participants have been equipped with the knowledge, skills, and funding to make meaningful changes for the ocean through the Sarasota based event and satellite Summits across the United States. 

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​Thank you to our youth participants, presenters, mentors, partners, and sponsors for your support of the 2025 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit, and the impact of this event over the past 15 years. A special thank you to Mote Marine Laboratory and your staff for your continued belief in this work and the critical role of youth leadership in driving ocean protection. We look forward to continuing to build on this momentum in the year ahead!