The Laje Viva Institute was born from the indignation of a group of divers towards illegal fishing that, unfortunately, is a reality in the Laje de Santos Marine State Park. One day, in a diving discussion email group, someone mentioned that they had spotted boats fishing at the Laje site, during the weekend, while people were diving. Enraged, protesting, thes person "shouted" in the list: We have to do something.

From this point on, a few divers decided to meet and start to take action. We had a clear objective: "Protect Laje de Santos from fishing and hunting".

On July 1^st, 1993, we founded the Laje Viva Institute, a non-profit organization with the objective of implementing actions that guaranttee the preservation and protection of the Laje de Santos Marine State Park (PEMLS).