The Blue Genes Retreat, held on February 16-18, 2024, was an interdisciplinary event dedicated to explore the human relationship with the Ocean. It gathered over 25 scientists, artists, activists, and community leaders at the Club Nàutic Cala Canyelles, Girona, Spain. The primary goal was to explore how an artistic-scientifi c dialogue can transform into tangible, impactful ocean preservation projects, hence co-creating solutions that would align with the objectives of the EU Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030 (hereafter Mission Ocean and Waters). A specifi c output of this retreat was the strategic planning of the "Enbluement" event, a satellite event of the 2024 Un Ocean Decade Conference, scheduled for April 2024. This event would seek to blend artistic expression with scientifi c understanding, aiming to create emotional and intellectual connections to ocean conservation

Acknowledgments are due to the PREP4BLUE project, funded by the European Union through its Horizon Europe Program, Grant No. 101056957

With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)

Peer reviewed

24 pages