Shark Biologist &
Wildlife Photographer

I’m an irredeemable wildlife geek from New Zealand. When I was young, I became passionate about endangered species conservation… and I never managed to grow out of it.

These days, I work as the Executive Director of the Marine Megafauna Foundation, which I co-founded with Dr Andrea Marshall. Much of my work at MMF focuses on the global conservation of whale sharks, the world’s largest fish, along with manta rays, sea turtles, and other threatened species. I’m also an Adjunct Fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast, where I’m working with the critically endangered grey nurse shark (sandtiger) in eastern Australia, and support the Sawfish Conservation Society as a board member.

My main scientific speciality is marine conservation biology. I’m particularly interested in the use of photo-identification to non-invasively monitor population trends and movements in animals that have unique markings, including whale sharks, manta rays, and grey nurse sharks. My scientific papers are here.

I’m a big proponent of wildlife and underwater photographers contributing to these efforts. To that end, I’m the Scientific Advisor to Sharkbook.ai, a large collaborative database for shark photo-identification that hosts over 20,000 individual sharks submitted by over 10,000 contributors. I’m also the Research Manager for Spot A Shark, a community science project focused on grey nurse sharks in Australia. I’m also a keen contributor to iNaturalist.org, which is usually the best place to see what I’ve been photographing recently :)

I work with Sony Australia & New Zealand as a Digital Imaging Advocate, hosting webinars and in-person events on conservation and wildlife photography (upcoming events are listed at the bottom of my profile here). I also host research expeditions, dive liveaboards, wildlife travel, and photography trips around the world with MMF and Aqua-Firma. In 2026, I’ll be hosting dive liveaboards to Raja Ampat in February and the Galapagos Islands in July. Come join us!

When I’m at home in Kaikoura, in the northeast South Island of NZ, I work with South Pacific Helicopters and Wings Over Whales as a marine biology guide and photographer, and as part of the Whale Watch Kaikoura research team.

Thanks for stopping by! If you’re feeling particularly stalky, read my full bio.