Glenn Edney is an ocean ecologist and holistic scientist. Glenn has over 20 years experience working as a dive instructor, marine naturalist and wildlife guide in New Zealand and the Pacific, including two years as a marine mammal protection officer for the Department of Conservation. He spent six years in the Kingdom of Tonga observing and interacting with humpback whales. He is an Indo pacific Reef Check trainer and Reef Check coordinator for the Solomon Islands.  Glenn’s particular focus is on the continued development of the OceansWatch “Reef Guardian” program and qualitative assessment methodologies that compliment the traditional ecological knowledge and management practices of island communities. He is an accomplished sailor and will be coordinating the 2013 northern Vanuatu projects on his vessel CatKnapp.

Shannon has grown up with a love for the ocean and since completing her degree in Animal & Veterinary Biosciences and learning to scuba dive in Victoria, Australia, she has discovered her passion for the need to protect and conserve its beauty and to encourage others to do the same. She spent 3 years working in the scuba diving industry in Victoria where she worked her way up to an Instructor, which has opened up opportunities to work in Fiji and to dive in places like the Coral Sea and Vanuatu.

She has spent much of her time volunteering for different organizations, both government and non-government to learn as much as she can about our oceans and the issues which effect them and is currently working for Parks Victoria as a marine summer ranger where a large part of her role involves educating kids on Victoria’s unique and diverse marine life and to train junior rangers for the future!

Shannon is so excited about the opportunity to join oceanswatch and to build relationships with local communities so that the precious marine environments can be managed for the future , as it is her goal to travel the world creating a system of large marine protected areas and reserves and combat many of the issues which she has experienced in her travels!

Carla is a certified Coral Reef Research Diver with a BTEC in Biological Survey Techniques including target species identification (fish and coral); Supervision of others carrying out coral surveys, risk assessment and emergency planning, study of practical and logistical aspects of managing a field-based biological surveying operation. She has her PADI Scuba Diving Certifications:Open Water (OW), Advanced Open Water (AOW), Rescue Diver, Coral Reef Research Diver and has completed a Emergency First Response Course: CPR, AED, and First Aid. Recent experience includes a role as Coral Reef Research Diver for in GVI Mexico where responsibilities included collecting coral reef baseline characterization and monitoring data in the northern part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, to help determine its ecological health. Coral and fish monitoring.

I am really looking forward to joining Oceanswatch, a great opportunity to  work alongside other divers and conservationists to help promote the importance of healthy oceans.  Like one of my heroes once said “No water, no life. No blue, no green.” – Sylvia Earle(Oceanographer)

Scott Stachel holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, and via BioDiversityLLC is a molecular genetics consultant who advises both biotechnology companies, and university scientists, including at Harvard and Stanford. Dr. Stachel was for over 20 years an accomplished university lecturer and researcher in developmental and molecular biology, and microbiology, where his laboratory focused on pattern formation and neurogenesis in vertebrate embryos, including zebrafish. He has authored more than 30 scientific articles in internationally recognized journals. Beyond being a professional scientist, Scott is a life-long student of nature, and particularly of the functional and evolutionary relationships between individual organisms that underlie complex ecosystems. He is especially fascinated with the diverse and unusual flora and fauna that inhabit the world’s oceans; and is a committed conservationist, sailor and diver, and supporter of OceansWatch’s mission and ethos. Presently, Scott and his wife Diane, an RN with extensive practical health-care experience in developing countries, are directly working with OceansWatch in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands to further implement the ongoing successes of its reef conservation and health and community projects.