David Helvarg

Founder of Blue Frontier

David Helvarg is Executive Director of Blue Frontier, an ocean conservation group, the author of six non-fiction books, and co-host of the Rising Tide Ocean Podcast. He is the organizer of the Blue Vision Summit for ocean activists, the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards (with Wendy Benchley), the first global March for the Ocean, and helped launch the Ocean Climate Action Plan that contributed to major climate solution legislation.

Helvarg worked as a war correspondent in Northern Ireland and Central America, covered a range of issues from military strategy to the AIDS epidemic, and reported from every continent including Antarctica. An award-winning journalist, he produced more than 40 broadcast documentaries for PBS, The Discovery Channel, and others. His print work has appeared in The New York Times, LA Times, Smithsonian, National Geographic, and other outlets. He’s done radio work for Marketplace, AP and Pacifica radio and led workshops for journalists in Poland, Turkey, Tunisia, Slovakia, and Washington DC. He is also a licensed private investigator, bodysurfer and scuba diver.

Mark Girardeau

Wildlife Photographer

Mark Girardeau is a nature photographer and wildlife naturalist who specializes in the local species of Southern California and Orange County. He created the Instagram account and website Orange County Outdoors to inform the public of the wildlife, events, beaches, parks, and other outdoor features the area has to offer. His work has been published internationally, including in National Geographic.

Instagram : @markgirardeau

Website: Orange County Outdoors

Drs. Kathryn Beheshti and Rachel Smith

Assistant Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute

Drs. Kat Beheshti and Rachel Smith are Assistant Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute. Kat received her PhD from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Santa Cruz in 2021 and Rachel received her PhD from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia in 2019. As Co-Principal Investigators of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Mitigation Monitoring Program, Kat and Rachel manage the long-term monitoring of Wheeler North Reef, a 373-acre artificial reef located off the coast of San Clemente, and the San Dieguito Wetlands, a 150-acre wetland restoration located in Del Mar, as well as the reference reefs and wetlands associated with each project. Coastal marine ecologists by training, Kat and Rachel bring their expertise working in salt marsh, mangrove, oyster reef, seagrass meadow, and kelp forest systems to the SONGS program.

Dr. Milt and Ann McMenamin

Ocean Institute Volunteers for Over 25 Years

Ann & Milt are Ocean Institute’s current longest standing volunteers with 2023 marking their 25-year anniversary. They began volunteering with Ocean Institute in 1998 and have continued to educate hundreds of thousands of children, parents, and families along the way. The McMenamins are our resident whale experts, perhaps best known at OI for their whale talks given every Saturday at 1pm. Over their 25 years at OI they have each donated nearly 5,000 hours of their time to educating our visitors.

Dr. Jayme Smith

Phytoplankton Researcher

With a storied career dedicated to the study of HABs (Harmful Algal Blooms), Dr. Smith’s research focuses on understanding the conditions that foster these toxic events in marine and freshwater systems, and their broader ecological and health impacts. Having earned her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Southern California, Dr. Smith has worked collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team of researchers and resource managers to make exciting advancements in HAB monitoring and research in California. Her talk promises to takeattendees on a deep dive into the world of phytoplankton, the foundational organisms of the marine food web, their role in oxygen production, and the dual threat they pose through the production of harmful toxins.

Chris Zadra

Ocean Alliance Drone Pilot

While studying engineering at Lehigh University, Chris became interested in building and flying drones. He turned that interest into a career, flying drones over whales for the Ocean Alliance’s Drones for Whale Research program. 

Chris has traveled the globe studying whales via drone, from Mexico to British Columbia to Gabon. 

Instead of invasive techniques like darting, the drone collects samples by flying over the whale’s blow, with a rig aptly named the SnotBot. The drones can also be used to drop tracking devices that stick to the whale’s back for a short period, providing data on their life under the surface. 

Carlos Gauna

The Malibu Artist

Carlos Gauna, locally known as The Malibu Artist, is a photographer, observer, and ocean advocate. After COVID limited job opportunities as a wedding photographer, Gauna began aerial filming the famed Malibu coastline. His work now involves filming the little-known lives of Californias’ great white sharks by drone. Through countless hours of filming, his art has bridged into the realm of science, a testament to the growing importance of citizen science. Thanks to the videos captured by Gauna, California’s white sharks are getting the recognition deserved as ecologically important and misunderstood animals. He has submitted much of his observations and footage to scientists all over, helping them accumulate the data to understand and protect these species. In addition to sharks, Gauna has documented the behavior of marine mammals, sea birds, and rare open ocean fish. His work is generously available to all on YouTube (@TheMalibuArtist), with thousands of hours of film and observation.

Dr. Ari Friedlaender

Principal Investigator at Friedlaender Lab

Ari is an ecologist with a primary interest in understanding the relationship between the foraging behavior of marine mammals and their prey. He works on a wide range of marine mammal species including baleen and toothed whales and dolphins across a range of geographic regions. Ari has long-term ecological research projects ongoing in Alaska, California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Antarctica. He has helped in the development of tag technology and analytical and visualization tools to better understand the underwater movements and behaviors of marine mammals.

For his dissertation research, Ari used geospatial tools to quantify how the distribution of cetaceans related to environmental variables in Antarctica. Ari’s lab focuses on developing new telemetry applications to elucidate the underwater behavior of marine mammals. In Antarctica, Ari is part of the Long-Term Ecological Research program at Palmer Station to better understand the ecological roles of cetaceans in a rapidly changing environment. In Alaska and Massachusetts, Ari’s research focuses on variability in the foraging strategies of humpback whales in relation to changes in their prey. In California, Ari is part of the SoCal Behavioral Response Study to understand the impacts of anthropogenic sound on a variety of cetacean species. Along with this research, Ari is an active member of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, acting as an associate editor for Marine Mammal Science and serving on the Conservation Committee. Ari is also a principal investigator in the Southern Ocean Research Partnership to conduct non-lethal research on cetaceans in the Southern Ocean.

Dr. Chris Lowe

Head of CSU Shark Lab

 Dr. Chris Lowe has been studying sharks, rays, and bony fishes for over 30 years, focusing on their behavior, physiology, and ecology.  For the last 15 years, Dr. Lowe and his students have been studying juvenile white sharks off the coast of southern California. Dr. Lowe and his students use a wide array of technologies and educators to help lifeguards and the public understand the mysterious lives of sharks and just how much of a threat they may actually pose.

Dr. Lowe grew up on Martha’s Vineyard, where he spent a majority of his youth fishing and diving the waters around Cape Cod. He comes from a long line of New England fishermen and whalers and believes a career focused on the ocean environment was inevitable.

Dr. Lowe earned his Bachelor of Arts in marine biology at Barrington College in Rhode Island and a Master of Science degree in biology at CSULB. In 1998, he achieved a doctorate in zoology, studying bioenergetics of juvenile hammerhead sharks, at the University of Hawaii.

In 1998, he returned to CSULB to teach marine biology and oversee the Shark Lab. He has garnered several academic awards, including CSULB’s 2008-2009 Outstanding Professor Award and 2012 Impact in Research Award.

Joyce Hoffman

Surfing Legend

Hoffman has been a trailblazer in the surfing world from her teens. She broke new ground as a woman from the day she first paddled into the surf in front of her parents’ home in Capistrano Beach. 

Throughout her career she has won many championships. The City of Dana Point recently unveiled a bronze statue of her likeness. It is displayed in Waterman’s Plaza among the likenesses of other surfing legends Hobie Alter, Phil Edwards and Bruce Brown. And again, Hoffman is the first woman to be so honored. In fact, Hoffman’s statue is believed to be the first life-sized statue of a female surfer in the country.

Among her accolades:

• She was the first American to win the International Surfing Association’s World Championships in 1965 and 1966.
• She won the United States Surfing Championships in 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1971.
• She won the Makaha International in 1964 and 1966, and the Laguna Masters in 1965 and 1967.
• She was the first woman documented to surf the Pipeline.
• In 1994 Hoffman became the only female in the first class inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach.

Laura Frank

Assistant Director and Tonga Program Lead at Waitt Institute

Laura is the Assistant Director and Tonga Program Lead at the Waitt Institute based in La Jolla, CA. She supports Tonga’s efforts to conserve 30% of their ocean space and sustainably manage their EEZ through Marine Spatial Planning. She provides core support to the Institute whose work engages governments and NGO’s around the world. Laura was previously a researcher in the Genetics, Aquaculture, and Physiology group at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and a California Sea Grant State Fellow at the Unified Port of San Diego where she supported several environmental conservation, blue economy, and mitigation banking projects. Laura holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing Communication: Advertising and Public Relations from Emerson College and a Master of Science in Marine Science from the University of San Diego where she focused on applied physiology research for yellowtail aquaculture.

Captain Brett McBride

Captain of OCEARCH

Oriana Poindexter

Photographer and Marine Scientist

Lance Lee Davis

Professional Freediver

Adrienne Smith

Mother, Entrepreneur, Record-Breaking Athlete