THIS IS AQUAMAN

Guardian of the future and 2021 Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate Luiz Rocha is part of a new generation of scientist-explorers committed to keeping the planet perpetual.

- JONATHAN HO

ACCORDING TO ARNAUD BOETSCH, Rolex’s Director of Communication & Image, “Rolex has long recognised its responsibility to play a part in creating a sustainable planet, a Perpetual Planet.” Indeed, this is something that as “guardians of the future”, Rolex Awards Laureates like Luiz Rocha go beyond merely venturing into the unknown and discovering uncharted lands, this new breed of scientist-explorers are committed to protecting the planet. Luiz Alves Rocha is the Curator and Follett Chair of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences. Rocha is a frequent visitor to the ocean’s mysterious and seldom-visited “Twilight Zone” whose wondrous corals and strange life remain unexplored. So named because sunlight does not penetrate the hundred metres or more beneath the ocean surface in the Maldives, it is here that Rocha casts light on the subject as he studies the ecology and evolution of coral reef fishes.

The sea has filled Rocha’s imagination from his earliest childhood in coastal Brazil and eventually driving him to master the highly technical diving required to reach depths 150 metres below the surface. In this crepuscular realm, unknown life thrives, including great forests of coral that provide both a nursery and pasturage for a host of unknown fish and other sea creatures.

Globally, shallow coral reefs are dying from the stresses of climate change. With its national income dependent on coral tourism and fishing, the Maldives government is keen to learn how to protect this precious national asset and discover whether deep reefs can serve as a haven for surface corals and the sea life they sustain.