OUR ADVISERS

DR. MARK ERDMANN

Dr. Mark Erdmann is the Vice President of Asia Pacific Marine Programs for Conservation International, with a primary focus on providing strategic guidance and technical and fundraising support to CI's marine programs in the Asia Pacific region, especially West Papua. Mark is a coral reef ecologist (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley) who lived and worked for 23 years in Indonesia, though is now based in New Zealand. During this time, he has logged over 13,000 scuba dives while surveying marine biodiversity throughout the region, and has now described 186 new species of fish, mantis shrimp and corals. He has published 245 scientific articles and 5 books, including most recently the 3-volume set "Reef Fishes of the East Indies" with colleague Dr. Gerald Allen. Mark was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation in 2004 for his work in marine conservation education. Though his work is now largely focused on the management of marine protected areas, his continuing research interests include reef fish and mantis shrimp biodiversity and elasmobranch conservation science, and he maintains research associate positions with the California Academy of Sciences and the University of the Sunshine Coast.

For the past 9 years, Mark has worked with other Manta Trust scientists to conduct manta ray acoustic and satellite telemetry studies in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand, and has been deeply engaged in advising the Raja Ampat government and Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries in developing manta ray and other elasmobranch protection regulations.

Mark now lives with his wife Arnaz and three children in Auckland, and maintains a deep personal commitment to do whatever is necessary to ensure his children can enjoy the same high-quality underwater experiences that continue to inspire his dedication to the marine environment.

DR. GIUSEPPE NOTARBARTOLO DI SCIARA

Giuseppe earned his Ph.D. in Marine Biology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego in 1985. Mantas and devil rays have always played a role in his career; he started out as a species-oriented marine ecologist focusing on marine mammals and manta rays, of which he described a new species, Mobula munkiana. Since these beginnings, he progressively moved towards place-based marine conservation.

In 1986, he spearheaded the creation of the Italian national cetacean stranding network, which he coordinated until 1990. In 1986, he founded the Tethys Research Institute in Milano, which he directed until 1997 and again from 2010 to 2016. In 1991, he proposed the creation of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals, established in 1999 by a treaty between Italy, France, and Monaco. In 1996, he was nominated president of the Central Institute for Applied Marine Research in Rome, the Italian governmental body providing scientific and technical support to national marine conservation policy, where he served for seven years. From 1999 to 2003, he served as Commissioner or Alternate Commissioner for Italy at the International Whaling Commission, from 2002 to 2010 as Chair of the Scientific Committee of ACCOBAMS, and from 2014 to 2022 as the Convention of Migratory Species CoP-appointed Councillor for aquatic mammals. In 2013, he started the Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) programme as an initiative of the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, which he created with Erich Hoyt. He later applied the lessons learnt with the IMMA programme to support the quality of senior advisors in the Important Shark and Ray Area (ISRA) initiative implemented by the IUCN Shark Specialist Group. He has taught science and policy of the conservation of marine biodiversity at the University Statale of Milan from 2007 to 2016.

His current activities include: Co-chair, IUCN Joint SSC/WCPA Task Force on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (since 2013); Member, IUCN Species Survival Commission – Cetacean Specialist Group (since 1991) and Shark Specialist Group (since 1993); Member of the Scientific Steering Committee of GOBI, the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative (since 2013).

DR. FABRICE JAINE

Fabrice Jaine is a French research scientist based at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science where he runs the Animal Tracking Facility of Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System.

Fabrice completed a PhD thesis on the movement and population ecology of manta rays in Australia in 2013. Subsequently, his research interests have evolved to focus on furthering knowledge of undocumented manta ray populations as well as identifying drivers of distributions and habitat use of elusive or threatened marine species and producing novel rapid assessment tools to describe the biodiversity of Marine Protected Areas and Pacific Island ecosystems. In 2018, Fabrice co-led with the Manta Trust one of the decade’s most important scientific publications on manta and devil rays, which highlighted future research priorities to support their effective conservation.

Fabrice’s life-long passion for the marine world has led him to become an accomplished underwater photographer, study the behaviour of white sharks in South Africa, live on the Great Barrier Reef as a naturalist, participate in international scientific expeditions, help protect and research marine megafauna in various locations around the globe, and consult for the BBC Blue Planet 2 TV series. Through these varied experiences, he has acquired a wealth of experience and knowledge about scientific research, remote marine fieldwork, science communication and stakeholder engagement.

DR. ROBERT RUBIN

Robert Rubin received his Ph.D. in Comparative Physiology and Marine Ecology from the University of California at Irvine. Dr. Rubin presently is a faculty member in the Department of Biology at Santa Rosa Community College, where he teaches courses in Marine Biology and The Biology of Marine Mammals. In addition, he has taught at the University of California Irvine and Santa Cruz, University of Maryland, Sonoma State University and The Huntsman Marine Laboratory in New Brunswick, Canada.

Dr. Rubin has conducted field and laboratory research on several species of marine mammals, including: hooded and harp seals in the Arctic, elephant seals in California, harbor seals in the Atlantic, Alaska and California, and sea otters in California and in Russia at the invitation of the Russian government and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Rubin’s research interests in the Gulf of California have spanned over three decades and have included field and/laboratory studies of the physiology of salt and water metabolism in fish-eating bats at Isla Partida and the population ecology of sea birds at Isla Raza. Beginning in 1990, he has been conducting field research on the population and community ecology of manta rays in the Revillagigedos Islands.

Dr. Rubin has served as an educational program consultant to the US Department of Energy, The National Science Foundation and to the California of Education. He has been awarded several faculty and teaching awards, including but not limited to: Distinguished Teaching Award from University of California, Irvine, Alumni Professor of the Year from Santa Rosa Community College, Excellence in Education Recognition from the California State Senate, The California Professor of the Year from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Special Congressional Recognition for Educational Excellence from the United States Congress.

DR. JULIE P HAWKINS

Julie is a lecturer at the University of York where she runs an MSc in Marine Environmental Management. Her research focuses on human impacts on marine ecosystems and how to reduce the problems these create. This interest began when she witnessed a massive and rapid growth in tourism on Egypt’s coral reefs. Over the years her research on the effects recreational scuba diving on coral reefs has moved from firstly playing a major role in getting the issue recognised, to then seeing it become addressed throughout the tropics. More recently her work has explored the impacts of fishing and how marine protected areas can help rectify the failings of other forms of fishery management. In terms of field work this has largely been centred on Caribbean coral reefs. Julie is a keen naturalist whose love of marine wildlife, which is definitely focused on fish, extends from the small (e.g. blennies) to the large (e.g. manta rays) with just about everything in between (particularly parrotfish).

PROFESSOR CALLUM ROBERTS

Professor Callum Roberts is a marine conservation biologist at the University of York in the UK. He was first tempted into marine science by a trip to the coral reefs of Saudi Arabia, where he studied behaviour and coexistence of herbivorous fishes. This led to a lifelong love of coral reefs and effectively dispelled his prior notion that marine science was all about freezing on the deck of a North Sea trawler knee deep in fish. In the early 1990s his interests in behaviour gave way to concern about the deteriorating condition of coral reefs, leading to his current emphasis on marine conservation.

Currently, Callum’s research focuses on human impacts on marine ecosystems. While his interests in marine conservation have blossomed over the years, his field research remains firmly rooted on coral reefs. On the islands of St. Lucia and Saba in the Caribbean, he has studied the effects of marine reserves closed to all fishing. Those studies revealed both the huge scale of human impacts on the sea, and the means of protecting marine ecosystems from such effects. He is now working to gain acceptance for marine reserves more widely, including in Britain and Europe where he is helping fishers to promote the concept within the industry and to politicians.

He was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation in 2000 to tackle obstacles to implementing marine reserves, and in 2001 he was awarded a Hardy Fellowship in Conservation Biology at Harvard University.

SARAH FOWLER

Sarah Fowler has a First-Class Joint Honours Degree in zoology and marine zoology from the University College of North Wales, Bangor and an MSc in conservation from University College, London. Following eight years as the marine ecologist for the former UK government conservation advisory agency (the Nature Conservancy Council), she became Director of Marine and Coastal Services for Naturebureau International, an ethical environmental consultancy, and is now a non-executive Director. Sarah coordinated the IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group (SSG, a voluntary network of hundreds of experts from over 80 countries) as Deputy, Acting and Co-chair for 18 years from its establishment in 1990, led the SSG’s first Global Shark Red List Assessment, and is the SSG’s longest-serving member. She developed the concept for and founded the European Elasmobranch Association to promote the conservation and management of sharks and rays in European waters, as well as its UK member body, the Shark Trust. In 2004, she was appointed as Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to marine conservation and a Pew Fellow in marine conservation in 2005. Sarah has over 40 years of professional experience in applied marine biodiversity conservation and natural resource management and is particularly interested in the interface between fisheries and wildlife management, and in capacity-building for the implementation of species listings in multi-lateral environmental agreements (e.g. CITES and CMS). She has been a scientific advisor to the Save Our Seas Foundation since 2011, and is an independent consultant.

KATIE LEE-BROOKS

Katie has been involved with the Manta Trust since its inception. She completed her master's research in the Maldives in 2010 looking at the impact of the growing tourism market on manta rays, returning in subsequent years to take on management of the Maldives Manta Conservation Programme. She also spent time running the charity's operations, before joining the board of trustees in 2014 a role which she worked in until late 2023. For the last decade, Katie has also worked for a conservation NGO heading up their work to ensure and understand conservation impact.

LUKE WARWICK

Luke directs the Sharks and Rays Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society. He is a shark and ray policy expert, who has worked on the issue since 2006, helping shape the programs of work that established the first listings of commercially exploited sharks and rays under CITES, and their implementation in priority countries. A former marine species conservation policy lead for the UK Government, and Director of the Pew Charitable Trusts Global Shark Conservation Campaign, he now leads WCS’s global shark conservation work, with over 10 project sites in shark conservation hotspots around the world, from Argentina, to Gabon, India and Indonesia.

DAVE JENNINGS

Dave is a Senior Conservation Policy Analyst with Defenders of Wildlife. He has a B.Sc. in Zoology and an M.Sc. in Biodiversity and Conservation from the University of Surrey Roehampton, a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of South Florida, and a J.D. from Vermont Law School. Dave is an experienced scientist and spent time early in his career studying lemon sharks and other marine taxa in Bimini, Bahamas. More recently, as an attorney, he has worked on environmental law and policy issues both domestically within the United States, as well as internationally. Dave is a vice chair of the American Bar Association’s Oceans and Coasts Committee, and a member of the IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law.

ABBIE HINE

Abbie is the founder and managing director of Wise Oceans, a global marine education and conservation company that was initiated in 2011. She is a marine educator with over 20 years of experience, educating people of all ages and abilities, and many more years passionately embracing everything marine-related. She has worked in numerous locations including the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, French Polynesia, Australia, the Caribbean, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Fiji. She is an experienced Divemaster with over 1500 dives, and a trained Marine Mammal Observer.

NICK BONNEY

Nick is the founder of award-winning research consultancy, Deep Blue Thinking. He has over 30 years experiencein the market research industry having led consumer insight functions for brands such as Orange, EE, M&S and The National Lottery. Nick was made a Fellow of the Market Research Society in 2018 in recognition of his contribution to the industry.

Nick has been a long-standing supporter of Manta Trust and has helped support the team on measuring the awareness and impact of conservation initiatives. Despite living in land-locked St Albans with his family, he is a certified Master Scuba Diver and is deeply passionate about the protection and preservation of ocean environments for future generations. He was fortunate enough to tick a visit to Hanifaru Bay off his bucket list in 2022 to witness the impact of the Manta Trust team first hand.

JOSH HELLER

Josh Heller is a financial services professional with over 20 years of global experience. He began his career with a global investment bank in New York, structuring and trading complex derivative transactions. In 2010, he moved to Australia with his family continuing his career with another global bank’s Sydney office before leaving to start an asset management business which helps pension funds invest more efficiently to generate better outcomes for their members in retirement.

Josh sits on multiple boards including a financial services license holder and a non-profit which manages means tested scholarships for a school in Sydney. Josh also sits on a foundation advisory board which sets fundraising strategy for the school. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Josh learned to dive in 2006 and from the moment he put his head under the water was fascinated with the wonder and majesty of the oceans. He was first introduced to the Manta Trust on a dive trip to the Maldives in 2015 and has joined subsequent expeditions to help preserve Mantas and the broader ocean ecosystem.

Josh’s two children recently learned to dive and he wants them and others to be able to experience the same wonder and fascination with the world beneath the surface.

DR TIMUR JACK-KADIOGLU

Dr Timur Jack-Kadioglu is an environmental social scientist with a background working in natural resource governance, social equity, and human rights-based approaches to conservation. He has ten years of experience working across a range of civil society and academic institutions in the UK, Tanzania, and the Philippines, and has supported conservation programmes across East Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Trained as a political ecologist, his work has primarily focused on supporting the rights of artisanal small-scale fishers and tropical coastal communities, including their livelihoods and role in governance and the sustainable management of marine resources. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Exeter, for which he conducted research on power and polycentric coastal governance in the Philippines, and how this impacts the rights of small-scale fishers and equity of livelihood and environmental outcomes.

Timur currently works for the charity Fauna & Flora, and has also worked for Blue Ventures, and the grassroots Tanzanian NGO Mwambao Coastal Community Network.  In his roles as a practitioner, he has experience in designing and facilitating the development of socio-economic monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks, social safeguards mechanisms to safeguard the rights of communities, and broader methodologies related to governance, equity, institutions, and power in natural resource management. He is involved in a number of initiatives focused on ethical, inclusive, and locally-led conservation, and is a member of IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP).