Welcome to our podcast series featuring Juan Diego Urriago Suarez, a Senior Marine Biologist Researcher with a vast experience in marine conservation, coral restoration, and artificial reefs projects. Juan Diego established the first centralized marine research department in the Emirate of Fujairah and instituted the first official guidelines for coral restoration and artificial reefs projects in Fujairah Waters. He has also developed conservation strategies to advise policymakers on sustainable ways to deal with the environment, including cetaceans, turtles, coral reefs, MPAs, and the only endemic vertebrate in the UAE. With the largest field coral nursery and over 120,000 coral fragments farmed in the coastal waters of Abu Dhabi, UAE, Juan Diego has been an instrumental figure in coral conservation efforts. He has also designed, constructed, and installed artificial reefs to provide habitat structure for fish stock enhancement and to enhance marine life for underwater landscape display in man-made underwater/floating villas and resorts (7 stars) in Dubai. His work on MPAs biological criteria and spatial distribution modeling of deep-sea corals has contributed to establishing the first deep-sea corals National Park in the Caribbean, and with over 900 scientific dives worldwide as a divemaster, Juan Diego has a wealth of experience to share with us.