Florencia Cerutti-Pereyra
Summary
I am a marine biologist. Since 2002, I've been studying elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) in order to improve the conservation and management of their populations. I started my career in La Paz, BCS, México studying sharks and rays from fisheries landings. Then moved to Australia where I did my PhD After that I worked in Indonesia, the Mexican Caribbean and I recently landed in the Galapagos. My primary research interest is using multidisciplinary approaches to produce key information that will guide management and conservation planning of sharks and rays. I work in marine protected areas using a wide range of tools to understand habitat use, movement patterns, migration pathways, and to understand how the boundaries and management of a protected area may affect their populations. I also work with the interaction of sharks and rays with fisheries and how these animals fit within the ecosystem to understand how vulnerable they may be to human-made threats and how to better manage them. I believe integrating stakeholders and socio-economic factors into the management plans is a critical step for such plans to be effective. I have led research and citizen science projects and used spatial ecology, stable isotopes, video analysis, genetics, fisheries, and vulnerability assessments in Mexico, Australia, Indonesia and Ecuador to improve science and conservation of this amazing group of marine animals.