"love your ocean"

Officially recognized as a UN Ocean Decade Activity

The "love your ocean" initiative at boot

Nowhere else can water sports enthusiasts experience sustainability topics more intensively than at the "love your ocean" initiative in Hall 11 of boot Düsseldorf, which is curated and organized by the German Ocean Foundation. With well over 200,000 visitors, boot is the world's largest water sports trade fair and an absolute Mecca for all lovers of the sea and water sports in Germany.

We are delighted to have been running this project together with boot Düsseldorf since 2017, with the Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco and the environmental activist Emily Penn. At our "love your ocean" area, we offer partners from business, science and society a space to present their innovations and pioneering projects for more sustainability in water sports. Together with more than 80 partners, we offer visitors of all ages the opportunity to find out about the latest developments in ocean sustainability, listen to presentations, take part in workshops and discuss with our network of experts on site.

Since 2021, the initiative has been under the umbrella of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Seven islands dedicated to the seven outcomes of the UN Ocean Decade are spread out over an area of almost 800 square metres. There are workshops and hands-on activities for young and old, especially for schoolchildren, for whom a special session with our marine biologists can be booked as part of the boot4school program. On the Water Pixel World stage, people from all over the world present their sustainability projects in 15-minute intervals.

Three important events round off our programme: the highlight of the marine research competition "Research at Sea" gives the school teams the opportunity to present the research results collected during the ween spent on the ALDEBARAN last summer. The German Ocean Foundation also organizes the Ocean Forum on the Water Pixel World stage, where scientists, researchers and NGOs briefly present their latest projects. The annual Ocean Tribute Award recognizes the best international initiative working to protect the ocean with a prize of 20,000 euros.

We present the seven outcomes of the Ocean Decade:

  • Goal 1 A clean ocean where sources of pollution are identified and reduced or removed.

    This means that marine pollution - especially plastic waste, ghost nets and other litter - must be tackled in order to preserve the health of the marine ecosystem.

  • Goal 2: A healthy and resilient ocean whose ecosystems are understood, protected, restored and managed.

    The second goal of the UN Ocean Decade is to create a healthy and resilient ocean in which marine ecosystems are understood, protected, restored and appropriately managed. This includes researching the impacts of human activities and climate change on marine biodiversity and developing strategies to protect and restore marine habitats.

  • Goal 3: A productive ocean that supports a sustainable food supply and a sustainable marine economy.

    The third goal of the UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030) is to create a productive ocean that provides a sustainable source of food for the global population. This includes promoting knowledge, innovation and solutions to improve the ocean's role in sustainably feeding the world's population, even under changing environmental, social and climatic conditions.

  • Goal 4: A predictable ocean, meaning that society understands and can respond to changing ocean conditions.

    A predictable ocean whose functioning and changes are so well understood that society can respond appropriately. Climate change is the greatest threat to the oceans. Corals, which are the nursery for countless sea creatures, are particularly affected by rising water temperatures. Protecting what we love was therefore the motto of the theme island "A Predictable Ocean".

  • Goal 5: A safe ocean where lives and livelihoods are protected from threats.

    Many man-made ocean hazards threaten coastal dwellers, water sports enthusiasts, ecosystems and economies. In order to be prepared for these threats, we rely on attractive information and educational offers to better protect our ocean. In order to achieve this, the "Safe Ocean" theme island offered various activities to get visitors excited about our oceans and raise awareness of the dangers.

  • Goal 6: An accessible ocean with open and equal access to data, information, technologies and innovations.

    Science, governments, educators, businesses, industry and the public need better ocean knowledge. Better and equal access to data and information about the ocean strengthens our ocean awareness. That is why the actors on the "Accessible Ocean" theme island have set themselves the task of informing visitors about our oceans and showing them what ideas and technologies are available to protect our oceans.

  • Goal 7: An inspiring ocean, meaning that society understands and values the ocean in relation to human well-being and sustainable development.

    At the "An Inspiring Ocean" theme island, young visitors in particular were invited to join in: They learned in a playful way what threatens our oceans and how we can protect them.

Our workshops for young and old:

Painting and craftwork can help you learn a lot about marine life and how we can protect it.

Topics such as plankton, microplastics and waste management and their significance for our ocean were vividly presented at boot 2025. You could make your own toothpaste or craft sea creatures while learning all about them. Whether decorating marine life shapes or crafting new shapes from old plastic, the workshops were appealing to young and old alike.

  • Workshop Plastic Fisherman

  • Workshop Mare Mundi

  • Message in a bottle workshop

School classes can visit boot4school every day:

In the mornings, school classes have the opportunity to visit our marine biology team for an interactive introduction to life in the sea - this year, pupils learned more about the seven senses of sharks, observed how the THW divers work underwater in their diving tank and experienced the magic of seagrass up close under the microscope.

Our programme is designed for primary and secondary schools - from 1st grade to high school. Slots for a visit with us can be booked here. School classes are guided through the entire "love your ocean" area and can interact with all of the stakeholders.

On the Water Pixel World stage, we present projects
for a sustainable ocean:

Our stage programme includes a variety of speakers from all walks of life, from underwater photographers to activists, from non-governmental organizations to scientists. At boot 2025, 240 speakers gave exciting lectures, reports and project presentations, guided through the programme by our presenter Anneke Dürkopp.

Together with presentations by SHARKPROJECT, Geenpeace e.V. and Baltic Sea Herritage Rescue Project, actors and environmentalists such as Daniel Roesner and Hannes Jaenicke also took to the stage. The ambassador of the sustainability initiative "love your ocean" Emily Penn was also welcomed on stage several times to draw the visitors' attention to their individual "superpowers". The variety of perspectives and approaches on stage reflected the colourful programme of the "love your ocean" area and showed visitors that we can all do small things in different ways to make a positive contribution to marine conservation.

ocean tribute Award

Together with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and boot Düsseldorf, we present the ocean tribute award every year. Since 2018, this marine conservation award has honored initiatives, associations and projects that are particularly committed to protecting the ocean. Whether technical innovations, the expansion of research capacities, raising public awareness or the reduction of waste and nutrients - ocean protection is the goal of the ocean tribute award. The winner of the award is announced every year at the BLUEMOTIONNIGHT at boot Düsseldorf and is endowed with 20,000 euros.

This year's winner is the organization Ambiente Europeo with the project SeaLabs. With SeaLabs, sailors can collect important marine data in remote areas and turn every trip into a research expedition. To this end, the company equips participants with affordable sensor technology and an intuitive app and uses the potential of the sailing community to obtain large data sets.

This year's finalists were SeaLabs, enteron, The Healthy Seas Foundation, High Seas Alliance and Ocean Material.

Ocean Forum 2025

The German Ocean Foundation's Ocean Forum takes place annually on the Water Pixel World stage of the "love your ocean" area. At the Ocean Forum 2025, representatives from universities, NGOs and researchers spoke on topics such as deep-sea mining, ocean literacy, octopus intelligence and European marine policy. 

This year's programme included presentations from 11 speakers. We heard a call from Emily Penn, ambassador of the "love your ocean" sustainability initiative, for us all to find our superpowers in the fight against marine plastic pollution, about the Greenpeace campaign against deep sea mining, the Cool Blue Baltic project to establish marine gardens, Mare Mundi's research on the intelligence of octopuses in Croatia, ECOP Africa's ocean literacy projects, H2Org's revolutionary wastewater system that can simultaneously clean wastewater, reduce carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen, the German Ocean Foundation's Citizen Science project, which calls on water sports enthusiasts to collect temperature data in coastal areas, Aarhus University's research into the hidden powers of cable bacteria, the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance's goal of describing marine life before we lose it, the work of the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute in France and Frank Schweikert's work in the European Union's Mission Council to restore our oceans and waters.

The aim of the event is to draw attention to the seven UN Ocean Decade outcomes and to introduce the audience to new ideas and projects that are in line with the goals. The German Ocean Foundation is pleased to support the UN Ocean Decade with this and a number of other projects that have been recognized as official Decade activities.

  • Marius Berlemann, boot Düsseldorf

  • Laura Meyer, UNESCO-IOC

  • Emily Penn, eXXpedite

  • Seilna Ernst, Octopus Intelligence

  • Nardine Stybel, EUCC-D


  • Daniela von Schaper, Greenpeace Germany

  • Patricia Ricard, Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute

  • Promise Chris Nwachukwu, ECOP Africa

  • Julia Ritter, German Ocean Foundation

20250120_DMS_lyo_Diving_tank_Children in front of diver.JPG
2025-01-26_LyO_Frank_Schweikert_Blue_Innovation_Dock (1 of 11).jpg
20250120_DMS_lyo_seagrass aquarium_Dagmar with children_1.jpg
20250120_DMS_lyo_water pixel_UN Ocean Decade.JPG
20250125_DMS_lyo_H2Org_Hannes Jaenicke_Andreas Fath_Tire_moval_1.JPG
20250118_DMS_lyo_elasm+ocean_hai+kostuem_3.jpg