Member of the European Parliament since July 2014 and full member of the Fisheries Committee, Vice-Chair of the Parliament Intergroups on "Seas, Islands, Rivers and Coastal Zones" and on "Climate change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development".
RSS is Doctor in Biology by the University of Liverpool, Principal Researcher at the University of the Azores and Invited Professor of the University of Southampton. RSS is a member of the Portuguese Academy of Sciences and of the Portuguese Navy Academy. He has published more than 200 scientific papers on ocean sciences. RSS is member of the Scientific Council of the Oceanography Institute of Paris and Commissar of the Sargasso Sea Alliance. He is President of both EurOcean and the EurOcean Foundation. RSS was President of Institute of Marine Research and Pro-Rector of the University of the Azores. In 2007, he chaired the meeting of experts for the UN Convention on Biodiversity, which defined the scientific criteria for the selection of marine EBSA (Ecological and Biological Significant Areas), adopted in COP9 in Bona.
He has received honourable mentions and awards, among them the "Autonomous Insignia of Recognition" given by the Azores Region (2012) and the "Gift to the Earth" by WWF in June 2002. Prince Albert II of Monaco honoured him with the title "Chevalier de l'Ordre de Saint Charles" (2013). In 2010, he was designated "Maritime Ambassador" by the European Commission.