Miguel A. Iñíguez, M.Sc. Naturalist (Argentina)
e-mail:
Miguel A. Iñíguez is president and founding member of Fundación Cethus. Dedicated to cetaceans since 1984, he has specialized in dolphins, orcas, and Commerson’s dolphins. He is author of “Orcas de la Patagonia Argentina” (1993) and “Toninas overas, los delfines del fin del mundo” (1996). He has lectured at Asociación Balaena - Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), Murcia University (Spain), Sociedad Oceánica de Cetáceos -La Isla de los Delfines (Spain), Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral (Argentina). He has been consultant for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (England), since 1991. Since 1998 he has given training workshops on cetacean watching for local, regional, and national governments, tour operators, non-governmental organizations, and Latin American and Spanish researchers. He is author of many popular and scientific articles. He is Argentine Delegate to the International Whaling Commission since 2002, and Argentine Alternate Commissioner to the IWC since 2004.
Fundación Cethus
Cristián de Haro, Ecology analyst (Argentina)
e-mail:
Cristian de Haro is vicepresident and founding member of Fundación Cethus. Dedicated to cetaceans since 1986, he has specialized in dolphins (particularly Peale’s dolphin) and the impact of the oil industry. He has lectured at Sociedad Oceánica de Cetáceos – La Isla de los Delfines (Spain), Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona – Asociación Keté (Spain), Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral (Argentina), Universidad de La Pampa (Argentina). He has represented Fundación Cethus in national and international meetingsmeetings and workshops. He is author of many popular and scientific articles.
Fundación Cethus
Cecilia Gasparrou, Biologist - High-school and college biology professor (Argentina)
e-mail:
Cecilia Gasparrou works at Fundación Cethus since 1993, participating in research on orcas, Commerson’s dolphins, and Burmeister’s porpoises in different sitessites along the Argentine Patagonian coast. She has represented Fundación Cethus with her research studies in national, regional and international meetingsmeetings and workshops. She participates in the Species Survival Network – Latin America since 2005, and coordinates issues related to WHMSI (Western Hemisphere Migratory Species) since 2003, representing Fundación Cethus.
Fundación Cethus
Marta Hevia, Biologist (Argentina)
e-mail:
Marta Hevia works at Fundación Cethus since 1993. She has participated in field research on Commerson’s dolphins, Peale’s dolphins and dusky dolphins at different sitessites in southern Argentina. She has participated in diverse international meetingsmeetings and conventions, as CBI (2004, 2005) and CITES (2003).
Fundación Cethus
Vanesa Tossenberger, Biologist - Chemical technician (Argentina)
e-mail:
Vanesa Patricia Tossenberger works with marine mammals since 1992, specialized on dolphins (particularly orca and Commerson’s dolphin). She works for Fundación Cethus since 1993, and represents the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in Latin America. She has represented Cethus and the WDCS in national and international meetings and workshops related to fauna conservation, and she is the official representative of Fundación Cethus at CBI, CITES, and SPAW.
Fundación Cethus
Jimena Belgrano (Argentina)
e-mail:
Jimena Belgrano is an advanced Biology student at Universidad de Buenos Aires. She works in Cethus since 1996. She has participated in field works to study southern right whale, sei whale, Commerson’s dolphin, and Peale’s dolphin. She is in charge of Proyecto Ballena Franca Austral (Southern Right Whale Project), province of Santa Cruz (Argentina) and of the Fundación Cethus conservation campaigns. She has represented Cethus with her research in national, regional and international lectures, meetings and workshops.
Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas
Dr. Mariano Sironi (Argentina)
e-mail:
Dr. Mariano Sironi is a founding member and Scientific Director at the Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Zoology. Since 1995 he has studied different aspects of right whale behavior and conservation at Península Valdés. He conducted the first detailed study on behavior and social development of juvenile right whales, and designed a technique to estimate the age of right whales, in collaboration with researchers from the New England Aquarium (Boston). He annually monitors the effects of the interactions between whales and kelp gulls. He coordinated the first study on the impact of swim-with-whale programs on the behavior of right whales. He taught Zoology at the University of Wisconsin (USA) and is an Adjunct Professor in Vertebrate Zoology at the National University of Córdoba (Argentina). He has lectured on right whales and fauna from Patagonia and the African savanna. He has collaborated in eight documentaries on whales and dolphins, with National Geographic Society, IMAX, and Discovery Channel, among others. He teaches about right whale conservation problems through debates, conferences, posters, and radio, TV and press interviews.
Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas
Julieta Martino, Biologist (Argentina)
e-mail:
Julieta Martino works at the Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas since 2004. She has participated in field works on interactions between right whale and kelp gulls and in the first study on the impact of swim-with-whale programs on the behavior of right whales. In 2006 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to carry out her doctorate at the University of Southern Maine (USA) as of 2007. Her thesis will focus on the effects of heavy metals on southern right whale tissues. She currently coordinates the Mardecetaceos.net Project, a regional website on non-lethal use of cetaceans.
Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas
Luciano Valenzuela, Biologist (Argentina)
e-mail:
Luciano Valenzuela is a biologist, graduated at Universidad de Buenos Aires and researcher of the Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas since 2000. He currently carries out his doctorate at the University of Utah (USA). His research project focuses on locating the feeding grounds of the right whales that visit Península Valdés, and in understanding the dynamics of group formation through the analysis of the genetic relationship between the right whales of this population.
Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas
Victoria Rowntree, Biologist (England)
e-mail:
Victoria Rowntree is a Research Associate Professor at the Department of Biology - University of Utah (USA), and director of the Southern Right Whale Program of the Whale Conservation Institute (USA) / Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas (Argentina). She studies behavior and demography of southern right whales since 1976, in the nursery area of Península Valdés, Argentina. She maintains the photoidentification catalog of the whales of this population, with photos and information about more than 2.000 individuals identified since 1970. She studies the structure of whale groups and the social interactions among females; the energetic consequences of kelp gull attacks on whales, and the ecology of cyamids or “whale lice”. She advises students from Argentina and Brazil about research on right whales, and the Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas to promote the conservation of whales in Argentina and Latin America.
Brazil
Centro de Estudos para a Conservação Marinha
Leandra Regina Gonçalves, MSc. Biologist (Brazil)
e-mail:
Biologist, Master in animal behavior, she studies the occurrence, distribution and behavior of Bryde’s whale in the coastal and oceanic areas of San Pablo coast. She works in the Bryde’s Whale Project since 2002, and she is the biologist in charge since 2005. She is evaluating the potential of non-lethal research on cetaceans in Laje de Santos Marine State Park.
She was director of Laje de Santos Marine State Park for 6 years, and also worked in other coastal-marine conservation units in the State of San Pablo. She organized the first workshop to develop diving regulations, with national and international presence (Ilha Anchieta State Park, 2001), and was in charge of the participative preparation of the first state regulation of the dive operators accreditation (Laje de Santos Marine State Park, 2002). She has coordinated the Diving Management Research Project in Galapagos National Park (Ecuador) for over a year. She coordinates the UICN-CMAP/Brazil Coastal-Marine Group since 1998, participating in specialists meetings in different countries and publishing many articles at national and international levels, on subjects related to the management of marine protected areas and the conservation of biodiversity, from the coastal area to the open sea.
Chile
Centro de Conservación Cetácea
Dr. Robert L. Brownell Jr., Biologist (USA)
e-mail:
He is Senior Scientist at International Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, and world expert on blue, gray and southern right whales. He is permanent member of the American Society of Mammalogists, the Society for Marine Mammalogy and the Society for Conservation Biology, among others.
Centro de Conservación Cetácea
Dr. Carole Carlson, Biologist (USA)
e-mail:
She is a recognized world expert on cetacean photoidentification techniques and the responsible development of whale watching. She is also scientific advisor of research and conservationist groups in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America.
She is the president of the Centro de Conservación Cetácea and coordinates non-lethal scientific research programs developed by the organization. The results of her scientific work have been presented as part of the official government delegation, and recognized by the scientific committee of the International Whaling Commission, the Action Plan for the Conservation of Marine Mammals (Permanent Commission for the South Pacific), and international workshops and seminars related to research and conservation of cetaceans.
Centro de Conservación Cetácea
Elsa Cabrera, Photographer and filmmaker (Colombia)
e-mail:
Executive director of the Centro de Conservación Cetácea, specialized on individual photoidentification of cetaceans.
Marine biologist from the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Magister on Sciences (MSc.) at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She was a pioneer researcher of humpback whales in her country. Since 1986, through non-lethal techniques, she carries out population studies on aquatic mammals, particularly on migrations and population size. She created Fundación Yubarta in 1991 and currently is the Executive Director.
Fundación Yubarta
Julio César Herrera Carmona, Marine Biologist (Colombia)
e-mail:
Biologist with a mention in marine biology from the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. He currently carries out the magister on sciences at the same university. He started his professional activity working on fisheries and oceanography. He is member of the aquatic mammals research staff of Fundación Yubarta since 2001, and participates in the field activities and information analysis.
Fundación Yubarta
Elizabeth Hernández Osorio, Biologist (Colombia)
e-mail:
Biologist, related with the Fundación since 2004. She has participated in two research projects on aquatic mammals in the Colombian Pacific. She mainly supports the environmental education processes and is part of the photoidentification group of Fundación Yubarta.
Fundación Yubarta
Angela Paola Recalde Salas, Biologist (Colombia)
e-mail:
Biologist, related with the Fundación since 2004, when she developed her degree work, entitled “Movimientos de ballena jorobada Megaptera novaeangliae entre dos zonas del Pacífico Colombiano: el Parque Nacional Natural Gorgona y la Bahía de Málaga y alrededores”. She has participated in two research projects in the Colombian Pacific and is part of the photoidentification group.
Fundación Yubarta
Wilfredo Henao, Naturalist (Colombia)
e-mail:
Naturalist, assistant to the Fundación since the beginning. He has participated in field activities, and his main interest is documentaries.
Fundación Yubarta
Juan José Capella Alzueta, MSc. Biologist (Chile)
e-mail:
Biologist, MSc. from the Universidad de Chile, with more than 40 papers, technical reports, conferences, and lectures. He is related to Fundación Yubarta since the beginning, and currently is Research Coordinator. He has a great experience in the study of the migration of humpback whales, combining his work in the reproduction areas (Colombian Pacific) with the feeding areas (Patagonian and Chilean Channels). He has a particular interest on the social structure of the cetacean populations.
Marine biologist from the Universidad Jorge Tadeo (Bogotá), and Magister on Sciences from the Justus Liebig University (Giessen, Germany). He was related with the Fundación Yubarta since the beginning (1991), being part of the Board of Directors and taking part in different research projects in Gorgona Natural National Park and Bahía Málaga, Colombian Pacific. He has supported the divulgation process about the activities of the Fundación. During the last two years he was dedicated to coordinate the photoidentification area.
Specialized biologist, related to Fundación Yubarta since 1995. She is the Environmental Education Coordinator. Her work was particularly oriented to divulgation and training activities on conservation issues, and to the communities where the Fundación works. For seven running years she has participated in the Festival de las Especies Migratorias del Pacífico Colombiano, a project that the Fundación carries out with the Asociación Calidris.
Fundación Yubarta
Viviana Peña Herrera, Marine Biologist
Related to the Fundación since 2000. She has experience on field work, particularly oriented to training about conservation issues and to the communities where the organization works. She is part of the Environmental Education group at Fundación Yubarta. She supports the divulgation and training activities of the institution, and designs and implements the educational materials. For four running years Viviana has worked on the development of the Festival de las Especies Migratorias del Pacífico Colombiano.
President of Fundación Keto since 2003. His experience includes field work on behavior and photoidentification of dolphins and whales. He has participated in international courses on cetaceans, including expert training by Sociedad Oceánica de Cetáceos - Isla de los Delfines (Spain) and Duke University (USA). He is currently working on his Master’s thesis, focused on the presence of Pseudorca crassidens in the Pacific waters of Costa Rica.
Fundación Keto
Frank Garita (Costa Rica)
e-mail:
He works with Fundación Keto since 2005. He has been a scientific collaborator at Cascadia Research Collective for more than 10 years. At present he coordinates the Humpback Whale Project in Fundación Keto, and carries out the photoidentification of humpback whales in Costa Rica. He is a member of Red Latinoamericana de Cetáceos and Red Latinoamericana de Foto-identificación.
Fundación Keto
Laura May-Collado, M.Sc. - Biologist (Costa Rica)
e-mail:
She works with Fundación Keto since 2005. Her experience includes more than 10 years of field work with cetaceans. At present she coordinates the project entitled “Tamaño poblacional, movimiento, patrones de asociación y uso de hábitat de delfines residentes costeros en el Caribe de Costa Rica y Panamá”, among others. She also works on her doctorate thesis, focused on the phylogenetic and ecological importance in the evolution of acoustic signals of toothed whales.
Fundación Keto
Andrea Montero-Cordero, Biologist (Costa Rica)
e-mail:
She works with Fundación Keto since 2003. She trained at well-known cetacean research centers, including the Marine Laboratory of Duke University and Cascadia Research Collective (USA). She has field work experience on behavior, abundance, acoustics and photoidentification of coastal dolphins and humpback whales. She currently works on her Master’s thesis, focused on the potential effects of tourist ships on spotted dolphins in Bahía Drake, Costa Rica.
Fundación Promar
Javier Rodríguez Fonseca, Mastozoologist (Costa Rica)
e-mail:
He has worked since 1998 on various aspects of the ecology of marine mammals, such as analysis of the stomach content in dolphins, watching of sea lions, monitoring, diversity, and distribution of cetaceans in Costa Rica. He was assistant researcher in the evaluation of the impact of tourist whale watching in Costa Rica. He has been Coordinator of the Red Costarricense de Rescate de Mamíferos Marinos since 2005. He currently carries out a research to determine the direct benefits generated by tourist whale watching during 2006, and is trying to get funds for a proposal of determination of the habitat use of the humpback whale in the South Pacific of Costa Rica.
He has worked on a research about the presence of the manatee in the Northwestern Caribbean of Costa Rica, and on the evaluation of the carrying capacity of the tourist marine pathways at Cahuita National Park (South Caribbean), Costa Rica. Since 2003 he has been assistant researcher in the Red Costarricense de Rescate de Mamíferos Marinos (RECORMA/PROMAR). He is currently trying to get funds for a proposal of habitat use of the cetaceans in the Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve (North Pacific), Costa Rica.
Fundación Promar
Paula Hernández Ramírez, Conservation biologist (Costa Rica)
e-mail:
She has performed the diagnosis of the ship conducting in cetacean watching activities in Bahía Drake (South Pacific), Costa Rica. She is currently trying to get funds for a proposal of analysis of the mother-calf behavior in humpback whales in Bahía Drake-Isla del Caño, Costa Rica.
Ecuador
Fundación Ballenas del Pacífico
Cristina Castro Ayala, Biology and Chemistry Graduate - Master in Environmental Management - Doctor in Biology (Ecuador)
e-mail: ,
Cristina is a conservationist and researcher on cetaceans with 10 years of experience on non-lethal research, environmental education and training in Machalilla Park, Cuyabeno Reserve and Galapagos Park. She has published 10 environmental training and education guides, and scientific articles.
Fundación Ballenas del Pacífico
Rebeca Cruz, Biologist (Ecuador)
e-mail:
Rebeca is the Foundation specialist on theodolite tracking since 2002. She conducts this research from the coast, spending unending hours a day monitoring whales from Isla de La Plata.
Gabriela began as a volunteer. She is a biologist from Quito graduated at the Universidad de Guayaquil. She participates as a researcher in the photo identification program and coordinates a project related to the production of handcrafts with the wives of the fishermen.
Mexico
Conservación de Mamíferos Marinos de México
Yolanda Alaniz, Surgeon (Mexico)
e-mail:
Surgeon and Master in Public Health and Social Anthropology. She completed postgraduate studies on Sustainable Development and Environmental Politics, Parliamentary Law, and Public Politics. She specialized on bioethics, and gave courses on bioethics and environmental ethics at UNAM and Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia. She has written different articles about bioethics and legislation. She is a co-author of the book “Delfinarios”, published by AGT Editories Mexico, among others. She has lectured in different national and international environmental forums, including ONU. She is an observer in CITES. She was candidate to the international United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) award, “Champions of the Earth”, 2005, proposed by the Cetacean Society International and Dr. Jane Goodall. She is currently vice-president of Conservación de Mamíferos Marinos de México.
Conservación de Mamíferos Marinos de México
Laura Rojas. Psychologist (Mexico)
e-mail:
She completed postgraduate studies on ethics and bioethics. She has given courses on social psychology and has been a joint professor of Environmental Ethics at Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia. She has advised the Union Congress since 1997. She is a co-author of the research report on the environmental ecological impact of the activities of Compañía Exportadora de Sal, SA de CV. She was editor of the book about Tortuga Carey and Cites, published by the Chamber of Deputies. She is a co-author of the book “Delfinarios”, published by AGT Editories Mexico. She currently writes for environmental magazines and she has been a co-host of the radio program called “Supervivencia” for a year and a half. She has lectured about different environmental issues in national and international forums. She has participated as observer in the International Whaling Commission. She represents the International Ocean Noise Coalition in Mexico and Central America. She is a member of Asociación Mexicana de Primatología and founding member and president of Conservación de Mamíferos Marinos de México. She currently carries out her doctorate on Environmental Jaw at Universidad de Alicante (España) and Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.
Ecología y Conservación de Ballenas, A. C.
Astrid Frisch Jordán, Biologist (Mexico)
e-mail:
Graduated in Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, her thesis (“Hábitos y dietas de los mamíferos mexicanos como medida alternativa de la diversidad”) was awarded the first place in the Concurso de Excelencia Estudiantil en Investigación a nivel Licenciatura (Student Excellence on Research Contest - Graduate Level), III Mastozoology National Congress, 1996. She has represented Jalisco at the Comité Interestatal de Vigilancia Participativa para la Protección y Conservación de la Ballena Jorobada en Bahía de Banderas, since 2000. She is the director of the “Catálogo de Fotoidentificación de Ballena Jorobada en Bahía de Banderas” (the FIBB Catalog) project since 1996. In 2004, 2005, and 2006 she collaborated on the international SPLASH project (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks), the NOPP OBIS SEA MAP Project (Ocean Biogeographic Information System), UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), and UABCS (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur). She began to monitor humpback whales in 2006 in Isla Isabel National Park, Nayarit. She organized three symposia on humpback whales in Bahía de Banderas in 2002, 2003, and 2004, as part of her work on research and outreach. She is part of the the Red de Asistencia a Ballenas Enmalladas en Bahía de Banderas since 2003. In May 2006 she organized the workshop on rescue of large whales. She represents Bahía de Banderas in the Sociedad Mexicana para el Estudio de Mamíferos Marinos (SOMEMMA) since 2003.
Ecología y Conservación de Ballenas, A. C.
Fernando Romo Sirvent, Marine Biologist (Mexico)
e-mail:
Graduated in the Instituto Tecnológico de Bahía de Banderas, State of Nayarit, with the thesis “Riqueza, distribución y taxonomía de cetáceos pertenecientes a las Familias Kogiidae y Ziphiidae en Bahía de Banderas Nayarit-Jalisco, México”. During his stay at the institute he participated in the research projects “Análisis de la interacción flota turística-ballena jorobada (Megaptera novaeangliae)” and “Cetáceos de Bahía de Banderas y aguas adyacentes”. He is an active member of the Sociedad Mexicana para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Marinos (SOMEMMA) since 2002. He took courses on marine mammal strandings (given in Nayarit by biologist Juan Narciso Marín, May 2006) and rescue of large whales (given by Dr. David Matilla, May 2006). He participates in the “Catálogo de Fotoidentificación de Ballena Jorobada en Bahía de Banderas” project since 2002.
Peru
Asociación Mundo Azul
Stefan Austermühle, Biologist (Germany)
e-mail:
He works against wild animals in captivity in zoos since 1989, focusing on cetaceans. In 1994 he published a book (in German) about the problems of cetaceans in captivity. He studies the coastal marine biodiversity in Peru since 1999. He carries out undercovered investigations on the illegal killing of small cetaceans for human consumption along the Peruvian coast. He is involved in cetacean conservation projects, policemen training, and supports the implementation of police operations to capture illegal vendors of cetacean meat. He works in political lobbying for the conservation of cetaceans in the International Whaling Commission. In 2005 he began a dolphin photoidentification program, focusing on ecology, habitat use, the conflict with fishermen, distribution, size and structure of the population, skin diseases, and behavior in the presence of boats. It is planned to extend the research to other coastal areas and cetacean species, and to the Peruvian forest. He teaches sustainable tourism at Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas. He has promoted the development of sustainable, ecological whale watching in Peru, through workshops with the local stakeholders in 2006 and with an international conference in 2007. He carries out the first pilot project for dolphin watching with artisanal fishermen in Peru.
Áreas Costeras y Recursos Marinos (ACOREMA)
Julio Reyes Robles, Biologist (Peru)
e-mail: ,
A biologist with more than 20 years of experience in research on Peruvian cetaceans, Julio was one of the first persons to study the problem of dolphin hunting for human consumption in Peru. His work has been a reference for the national legislation about cetaceans in his country, and has generated biological information about the main species. He is also a co-discoverer of the Lesser beaked whale, Mesoplodon peruvianus (Reyes, Mead & Van Waerebeek, 1991).
She has more than 15 years of experience in research and conservation of cetaceans in Peru. Her work has been a reference for the national legislation about cetaceans, and to highlight the importance of the Paracas National Reserve –the main marine protected area in Peru– as the habitat for cetaceans. Since 1999 she carries out a long-term study on distribution and behavior of resident dolphin groups in the Pisco Paracas area (southern coast of Peru). She also promotes and promotes the non-lethal use of cetaceans among the stakeholders involved, at governmental and civil levels.
Venezuela
Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos
Luis Bermúdez-Villapol, Biology and General Science Professor - Specialized on Environmental Sciences and Marine-Coastal Impact (Venezuela)
e-mail:
He is a founding member and former executive director of the Red Venezolana de Varamientos; founding member of the Red Neoespartana de Varamientos; Director of the Scientific Committee of the Asociación Neoespartana de Actividades Submarinas. He has vast experience in rescue, treatment, and rehabilitation of cetaceans, application of post-mortem studies on marine mammals, and craneometry of cetaceans. He is a curator of collections of marine vertebrates, and has experience in design and implementation of ecotourism activities as whale watching, environmental interpretation, and research projects and expeditions with cetaceans. He is a member of the Comisión Coordinadora Estadal de Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Ordenamiento del Territorio del Estado Nueva Esparta, Venezuela. He is a founding member and current executive director of the Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos.
Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos
Alejandro J. Sayegh, TSU. Oceanographer (Venezuela)
e-mail:
He coordinates de Eastern Chapter of the Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos. He is an oceanographer, diving instructor and photographer. He has worked for important dive operators in Isla de Margarita for 7 years. He is a co-founding member of the Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos (2000), and has well-known experience on stranding of live and dead cetaceans, cetacean identification in the field, and scientific observation from marine, terrestrial and aerial platforms. He has participated in mitigation programs related with the impact of seismic surveys in the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, University of Columbia, NY.
Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos
Mario A. Orlando, TSU. Oceanographer (Venezuela)
e-mail:
Member of the CIC-Eastern research staff. He has been a professional intern in field work on whale watching, care of strandings and mounting cetacean skeletons as a scientific and educational resource. He has experience in the application of whale watching projects and behavior aspects, especially on Delphinus capensis.
Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos
Alimar E. Molero, Biologist - International graduate on Company Environment Management - Graduate on Security, Hygienics and Environment (Venezuela)
e-mail:
She has been a professional intern in projects about the biology of cetaceans, stranding management, and field research projects on cetaceans. She has experience in the application of whale watching projects in the northeastern basin of Venezuela, and in environmental management. She is member of the research staff of CIC-West.
Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos
Leonardo Sánchez, Biology student at La Universidad del Zulia (Venezuela)
e-mail:
He is the General Coordinator of Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos - Western Chapter, president of the Coordinadora Nacional de Estudiantes de Ciencias, and coordinator of the Red de Varamientos de Cetáceos of Grupo VIVA (Vigilantes Voluntarios del Ambiente). He currently carries out a research project on “Validación especifica del género Sotalia presente en el sistema de Maracaibo mediante el análisis de secuencias del DNA mitocondrial.”
Centro de Investigación de Cetáceos
Yurasi Briceño, Biology student at La Universidad del Zulia (Venezuela)
e-mail:
Member of the research staff of CIC-Western Chapter. She has been a professional intern in projects about the biology of cetaceans, stranding management, and field research projects on cetaceans. She currently investigates the age estimation of the longbeaked common dolphin, Delphinus capensis, through the study of the growth layer group (GLG) in tooth structure.
Sociedad Ecológica Venezolana Vida Marina
Jaime Bolaños Jiménez (Venezuela)
e-mail:
He is the researcher-in-charge of the project “Aspectos biológicos y ecológicos de los cetáceos de la costa de Aragua: implicaciones para el desarrollo del Ecoturismo orientado a mamíferos marinos”. He also designs and facilitates the workshops “Ecoturismo orientado a mamíferos marinos de la costa de Aragua (5 editions) ” and “Biología y Conservación de los mamíferos marinos de Venezuela (4 editions)”. He is an external consultant for the evaluation of the “Marine mammal” component in the “Estudio de Línea Base Ambiental Plataforma Deltana (PDVSA-USB)”. He advises ICLAM- MinAmb in the projects “Interacciones entre las pesquerías, cetáceos y tortugas marinas en el Golfo de Venezuela” and “Abundancia y distribución de los cetáceos y tortugas marinas en el Golfo de Venezuela”. He is Promotor de Innovación Municipal (Promoter of Municipal Innovation) for the development of the project “Ecoturismo orientado a mamíferos marinos en la costa de Aragua” (Proyecto MCT-Fundacite Aragua).
Sociedad Ecológica Venezolana Vida Marina
Auristela J. Villarroel-Marín (Venezuela)
e-mail:
Director of Sea Vida projects, educator and person in charge of the activities of environmental education and conservation actions. She is an observer-guide, authorized by the Ministerio de Ambiente to participate in commercial and research tours.
Sociedad Ecológica Venezolana Vida Marina
María Gabriela Silva (Venezuela)
e-mail:
She is doing her Biology thesis at Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Central de Venezuela: “Abundancia y distribución de los cetáceos presentes en la costa de Aragua”. María Gabriela updates the available information about cetaceans in the region, and evaluates the feasibility of extending the Henri Pittier National Park, in order to incorporate a marine area for the protection of cetaceans.
Sociedad Ecológica Venezolana Vida Marina
Olga Lucía Herrera (Venezuela)
e-mail:
She is an intern in the project “Estudio preliminar de los aspectos bio-ecológicos del delfín común de rostro largo (Delphinus capensis) en el Parque Nacional Mochima: implicaciones de conservación y manejo (marzo-junio 2005)”. She is doing her Biology thesis at Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Central de Venezuela: “Efecto de la presencia de peñeros a motor sobre el comportamiento del delfín manchado del Atlántico (Stenella frontalis) y el delfín nariz de botella (Tursiops truncatus) en la costa del Estado Aragua”.
