Mark is the Vice President of Conservation International’s Asia-Pacific Marine Programs and the acting Director of Conservation International Aotearoa, based at the University of Auckland. A coral reef ecologist by training, Mark has worked in marine conservation across the Asia-Pacific for the past 30 years, having lived 23 of those in Indonesia . His interests range from reef fish taxonomy to MPA (marine protected area) management to shark and ray conservation science

Though he works on everything fishy from dwarf gobies to whale sharks, mantas are Mark’s favourite animals , and he serves as both a scientific advisor to the Manta Trust and as a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Shark Specialist Group for Oceania. He has broad experience with conservation research on both reef and oceanic manta rays in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji and New Zealand, and is our “chief tagger” for our satellite tagging program here in New Zealand

Mark is MWNZ’s senior project advisor and an integral member of our field team – also the owner and captain of our “manta mobile” in the Hauraki Gulf, the bright red Stabicraft “Kaimana” decorated with MWNZ logos

More details about Mark can be found here:

https://www.conservation.org/experts-list/mark-erdmann-phd.