People who live near the sea are happier. Cristian Lagger (40) knew it when he was 10 years old. With his family on vacation, he did one of the typical snorkeling excursions to the depths of the transparent and warm waters of Brazil. He entered with uncertainty. He came out with the gesture of someone who discovers “the matrix” of a magical and infinite life beneath the surface.
“My parents Kathy and Ricardo remember that I was crazy. They had never seen me like this. He blew my mind. Today I close my eyes and see again those restless fish swimming around me, entering and leaving colorful corals. It was like being in the movie Avatar”, shares the now renowned marine biologist and leader of the expedition that discovered in 2022 an enormous chain of giant macroalgae forests in the icy waters of the south of the country.
A perfect continuity of terrestrial forests, with infinite potential for store carbon and mitigate climate change, among countless benefits.
News of the discovery spread around the world and placed Lagger and his team in the national and international science podium. It was an injection of joy and hope.
The researcher again felt that “spark in the heart” or “epiphany” of the milestone that marked his childhood and changed his history. Time united different stages of his life with the sea as the protagonist.
“I never cared about being the first to discover something. Yes I take on a mission: I want to show the secrets of the sea, especially the Patagonian. We have an urgent need to protect it. We cannot protect it because we do not know it. We are in a previous instance. “We don’t know what we have,” the biologist points out.
“’Confirmed, Cristian. We set sail tomorrow at first light,’” was the kickoff of that special mission in the South Sea back in September 2022. Satellite images and drones had identified giant macroalgae forests on hard substrates but having them in front of you was exciting, Lagger revives.
“We were thirteen professionals, including marine biologists, oceanographers, scientific divers, photographers, documentary filmmakers, audiovisual artists, educators and freedivers. On two 12 meter long sailboats and before we got into the water, everything was silent. When we saw the macroalgae about 20 meters deep, we couldn’t believe it, explains Lagger in conversation with Vivacon a curious and enthusiastic look similar to that of children when they discover something for the first time.
The passion. A pivotal find. The surprise. The anecdotes in the immensity of a virgin and inhospitable terrain. The sensation of entering “portals of unknown dimensions”.
Of “flying” between green columns. The risks. The salty and icy water. The poor visibility. The tides. Sudden changes in climate. Suits similar to those of astronauts for diving. The heavy body.
Ten whole days eating little and without the possibility of showering. The cameras to film, photograph and record everything. The octopus that landed on Lagger’s arm and accompanied him fearlessly on the adventure. The pencil to write on a tablet under water (“yes, there is a pencil like that and you pray the tip doesn’t break!” says the scientist). Team work.
And then: the data collected along with shocking underwater images made it to the cover of the magazine National Geographic Latin America in March 2023, within the framework of the “Submerged forests at the end of the world” project. They were also part of the documentary NatGeo Pristine Seas Antarctic Peninsula.
They had discovered “an ecological treasure” after years promoting exploration, research and conservation. The effort had been worth it.
Between land and water
Born in Rafaela, Santa Fe, and from Cordoba by choice, the scientist says that what happened in Brazil was the initiatory baptism of his vocation. Later, in high school, he won the Biology Olympics and was trapped in his universe forever. At 17 he decided to leave his payments and traveled to Córdoba to study Biological Sciences.
Since then, it has never stopped improving. She graduated and specialized in the sea. Together with his thesis director, he discovered marine species such as sea squirts, animals that live fixed at the bottom of the sea and that they feed by filtering water. She did doctorates and post-doctorates.
He trained as a professional scientific diver and studied sciencetelling, the art of telling science through images and words. In 2017, he was awarded a scholarship by the National Geographic Society. Its “hook” was always marine diversity, mainly that of the Pagan Sea and Antarctica.
Married to a biologist and with two children, Gael, 6 years old, and Benjamín, 11, Lagger opened itself to high-scale challengesAlthough he never stopped returning to his birthplace, paradoxically, like Córdoba, so far from the sea.
He currently works as a Conicet researcher in the Marine and Polar Ecosystems laboratory of the Institute of Animal Diversity and Ecology (IDEA/Conicet), he is an explorer of the National Geographic Society and Scientific Director of the Por El Mar Foundation (PEM). Devotee of the Spanish conservationist Enric Sala, although without forgetting the French biologist Jacques Cousteau in the ’80s, Lagger bets every day with the same energy that his expeditions help change the world.
“My grandparents and parents were not able to study at university. With my brothers Andrea and Rodrigo, we integrate the first generation of university students. I don’t have a history nor does anyone in the family like water. I must be an old soul or a lost soul,” Lagger jokes.
“Exploring and studying the seas and oceans is a privilege, but also an enormous responsibility. Many times We are the bearers of the voice of the sea, of beauty and its threats. When people understand what you are telling them, from the scientific and human side, they automatically connect with your cause,” she maintains.
“We scientists have to pay off that debt, get the academy out of the cloister. The new generations They have to stop imagining the scientist as a type of glasses, duster and microscope. Although sometimes we have bad moments, there are other very good ones. We had fun, we had a good time,” he says.
– It is impossible to imagine the underwater world if you were not there. What are the macroalgae forests What did they discover? What is its importance?
– Giant macroalgae forests are the continuation of our terrestrial forests, but in water. They are along almost the entire Argentine coast. They go from the south of Chubut to Tierra del Fuego. They have the same capacity (or even more!) mitigate climate change than the earth’s forests because they can store large amounts of organic carbon on a global scale. They are positioned on the international environmental agenda among the top positions for all their ecosystem and economic benefits (an average of 500 billion dollars per year). They are priority sites for their protection. However, in Argentina, they are still unknown on a social and political level.
Macroalgae forests currently occupy 28 percent of the world’s coasts, which means that, grouped in one place, They would occupy a space similar to that of the tropical forests of the Amazon. They support a high number of species. They provide shelter and function as breeding, spawning or nursery areas, significantly promoting the recruitment of a large number of organisms.
They directly and indirectly benefit humans, including protection from storm surges and sea level rise, among other variables.
– With your team, did you reach the peak with the discovery of these forests?
– It was very important, but the challenges are renewed. I am in love with my projects. The best expedition is the one to come. We recently sent Go Pro cameras with bait into the depths. We want to study the presence of sharks on the coasts of the Penguin Island National Marine Park (Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz), one of our most beautiful national parks. With bait stations, dogfish, brown cats, and sharks appeared, some in critical or vulnerable condition. As in the rest of the explorations, we poured everything into @laggercristian y @porelmar_org so everyone can see it. Nobody can believe that there are sharks in our sea.
– Can the underwater world save the surface?
– The bottom and the top are a whole. We cannot think of them separately. In that sense, it is imperative to change the direction of our actions in the next 10 years, with the enormous hope of protecting at least 30 percent of our seas by 2030. I had to sit down with decision makers or politicians who understand the need and urgency to do so but decisions take time. Today Argentina barely has 10 percent of its seas protected. Our country has to show environmental leadership in these times of planetary crisis, be an example of conservation and a beacon of hope for marine protection. The sea needs us, but we need it much more. You will always find the most interesting thing underwater.
Where is the darkness and poor visibility? In the depths or on the surface? In a broken planet begging for fresh airclimate change is at the center of the discussions of those who move the chips of power.
However, the movements on the board are very slow. Faced with this increasingly uncertain horizon, science offers solutions. Adjust the focus of empty debates. With a first and last name, marine biologist Cristian Lagger and his team add data and new chords to the already powerful voices of the ocean and the sea.
