Sara Apresentação is a junior researcher at NOVA School of Law (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa). Sara has a BA in Biology from Universidade de Lisboa (2017, final grade 16), and an MSc in Law and Economics of the Sea from NOVA School of Law, (2022, final grade 18) with a thesis entitled “Is the Portuguese fishing sector as blue as it should be?”. Currently working on a project entitled: “Women in the Blue Economy – roles and impacts: an empirical-based study” at NOVA OCEAN Knowledge Centre, aiming at increasing women’s representativeness in the blue economy’s sectors. She is responsible for interviewing fishers in Setúbal’s small-scale fishing community to collect data on female fishers' unreported work. During Sara’s recent academic career, she has been focusing on identifying small-scale fisheries problems and working towards the sector’s social, economic, environmental, and governance sustainability, always with the support, engagement, and empowerment of fishers and other stakeholders. With that in mind, from April 2021 to August 2022, Sara developed the role of Community Engagement Officer at GhostNetWork, a temporary umbrella Sea Shepherd Portugal’s NGO, dedicated to recycling unused fishing gear and spreading awareness among fishers about the environmental impact of lost gears. Developed an art project with a local high school, involving students in creating artwork for the containers where ghost nets are disposed of at the harbor. Intern at Direção-Geral de Política do Mar, collaborating on a proposal to evaluate the National Maritime Spatial Planning within the 2021-2030 National Ocean Strategy framework. The main tasks included investigating key indicators to evaluate the Portuguese fisheries' performance following the 2021-2030 National Ocean Strategy. Member of the communication and education team for the NGO “Ocean Alive” to present and detail Ponta do Adoxe’s native marine species to various groups (e.g., students, journalists, and decision-makers). And performed several awareness campaigns with fishers and the general public on marine pollution, and the conservation of Sado’s seagrass meadows. Tutored three first-year students of the Bachelor's degree in Biology (Faculdade de Ciências of Universidade de Lisboa), providing academic materials and guidance. She was also a volunteer assistant at this university, supporting one doctoral project. Sara has authored two chapters of the 2022 book “Mar e Direito em Contexto”, coordinated by Dra. Assunção Cristas named “Maritime Policies for Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fisheries: an Environmental and Legal Approach” and “The Evolution of the Role of the Ocean: How Politics, Science and People are Engaged in this Process - A Review of Portugal's Maritime Identity”. In June of 2023, she presented her master’s thesis at the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), during the Lecture cycle of the Resource division. Sara published her first peer-reviewed paper, resulting from her master's thesis, entitled “Towards Sustainability: A Framework for Evaluating Portuguese Small-Scale Fisheries” (Journal of Sustainability; doi.org/10.3390/su16083174). The paper provides a framework for evaluating sustainability in small-scale fisheries, analyzing its applicability to the Portuguese small-scale fisheries case.