Lily Valentina Niederhofer

2026 Eco-Hero

2nd PLACE

Lily Valentina Niederhofer
Age 11
Almancil, Portugal
The Octo-Defender: Strategic Policy and Youth Mentorship for Marine Conservation

At 12 years old, competitive swimmer Lily Valentina Niederhofer has turned an independent research project into an international conservation and policy effort. When she discovered plans to build the world's first industrial octopus farm in the Canary Islands, she was troubled not only by what confinement would mean for animals known for their intelligence and need for solitude, but by what it would mean for people. She learned that industrial octopus farming depends on vast quantities of wild-caught fish — sardines taken from the coast of West Africa — threatening the food security and livelihoods of coastal communities far from where the farms would operate. She decided to act, using the skill she already had.

At nine years old, Lily began researching octopuses simply because she loved them. What she found alarmed her. In October 2023, she started training for open-water swimming — something she had never done before despite years of competitive pool swimming. On 25 May 2024, she completed a 2-kilometre swim in the Atlantic Ocean off the Algarve coast, raising over USD 12,000 for Compassion in World Farming and generating national and international media coverage. Supported by the One Ocean Planet Foundation, the campaign grew beyond fundraising into a broader communications and advocacy effort.

During a family road trip across the United States in the summer of 2024, Lily asked her parents to reroute so she could meet lawmakers in person. Working alongside Social Compassion in Legislation, she delivered in-person testimony to politicians and staffers in California, Oregon and Washington. California subsequently signed AB 3162 into law, becoming the first U.S. state to ban both octopus farming and sales — a bill Lily personally met with legislators in Sacramento to support. She continued providing remote and written testimony for active legislation in Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon and New Jersey, endorsed the reintroduced federal OCTOPUS Act and delivered a call to action at the European Parliament in Brussels. This sustained global movement celebrated a monumental victory when developer Nueva Pescanova officially abandoned its plans for the Canary Islands facility, proving that preventative policy and youth advocacy can stop industrial exploitation before it starts.

Believing that young people do not need to wait to create real impact, Lily co-founded Generation Blue and Hero Kids alongside the One Ocean Planet Foundation. Generation Blue, accredited by the European Commission, supports structured ocean literacy programmes in schools. Through Hero Kids, Lily runs weekly international calls mentoring peers from Chile, Germany, Spain, the UK and the United States, helping them design and lead their own projects. Currently ranked among the top ten swimmers in Portugal for her age group, she also serves on her school council and competes in tennis. Her future goals include continuing to support anti-farming legislation in both the U.S. and Europe, and helping develop an AI-based ocean-literacy platform to give children worldwide free access to quality marine science and policy education.

"I didn't start with a plan. I started with something I cared about and a skill I already had. In the pool, there are times when you train as hard as you can and your times just don't drop — but you learn that the only way through a plateau is to keep going. Advocacy works exactly the same way. Use what you love to protect what you love. And don't stop until you are proud."

oneoceanplanet.org/generation-blue
instagram.com/swimforimpact