Aegean needs special protection, warns Archipelagos hydrobiologist

I met hydrobiologist Anastasia Miliou, the scientific director of the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, on the small island of Lipsi in the southeastern Aegean on an August morning. The Archipelagos logo on her T-shirt and an impressive collection of scars on her hands and feet had me intrigued and I couldn't stop asking her questions.

One of the first fascinating things she told me about was the creation of a unique marine life sanctuary in the waters of Lipsi and its surrounding islets.

"Every year, we record dozens of injured marine animals - of various species including dolphins, turtles, etc - but we don't have the infrastructure to treat them," explains Miliou. "To be precise, there are some very basic facilities but they are in a manmade environment: in a tank, in a city. What we are working on creating here, in an isolated bay on the island's...