Marine Sciences in Venezuela face the need to evolve from an exploratory and extractivist oceanography to an operational, systemic and sustainable model. Framed in the ideas of Thomas Kuhn, this work analyzes the heterogeneity of the Venezuelan marine territory —structured in five strategic regions— and proposes a National Oceanology Plan adapted to the contemporary challenges of climate change and food security. Coastal upwelling is highlighted as an axis for fisheries and aquaculture transformation through the operational monitoring of environmental variables and predictive models. Likewise, the urgent need to refound the National Oceanographic Fleet and establish an interoperable National Oceanographic Information System (under standards such as Darwin Core) that rescues the country’s historical data heritage, strengthening the international leadership evidenced by initiatives such as the CARIACO Project. This transition does not only represent a technical adjustment, but an indispensable strategy to consolidate scientific sovereignty, the participatory governance of coastal communities and territorial security in Venezuelan maritime spaces.
