Our Team, Collaborators and Advisors
Katherina Audley, Founder/Director, has participated in whale research projects around the world since 1997, and has 5 years’ working in the Research and Evaluation department at San Francisco’s Exploratorium. A travel writer and photographer since 1995, Katherina has a 21-year history with her study region in Mexico. Katherina is a National Geographic Explorer and guest blogger for National Geographic’s Ocean Voices column. Katherina serves as Information and Technology Manager for the Society of Marine Mammalogy, and sits on their Communication and Conservation Committees. She also provides advice on communication strategy to the International Committee for Marine Mammal Protected Areas and the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Area Task Force. As founder and director of WoG, she is responsible for overseeing all activities, data collection, reporting, cataloging, hiring and recruitment, and community outreach. Contact Katherina at: katherina@whalesinmexico.com
Enrique de Luna joined Whales of Guerrero in 2021 after having worked as a science communication expert at Universum, a fantastic science museum at UNAM in Mexico City. Psychologist by degree, scientist and explorer by nature, connector and friend to all by spirit, Quique is our Educator, Coordinator and Program Organizer. That means he runs our education programs in the classrooms, on the streets and at sea. He also coordinates and supports our safe whale watch training program and other events and is the glue and air traffic controller who keeps this tiny but mighty organization afloat and happily swimming along.
Arturo Mellín Mandujano, Lead Captain, is head of the tourism coop in Barra de Potosí. In addition to serving as lead captain with WoG since its launch in 2013, Arturo owns a kayak rental company, runs his family restaurant, is a trained bird and whale watching guide. Arturo co-led a group of 14 community members on a series of learning exchanges between Baja California Sur and Barra de Potosí in 2018-2019 and continues to champion marine conservation efforts in the region regionwide.
Raúl Ramirez Barragan, field researcher and educator, is equal parts skilled marine biologist, passionate conservationist and dedicated educator. He led our team to reduce our plastic use footprint to almost zero when he joined us in 2017 and has been the mastermind behind many of our excellent educational presentations. Raúl is currently out galavanting around with whales and turtles in other parts of the world but hops in from time to time to help us grab ID shots and whip our data into shape.
Inés Saavedra, public relations and event planner extraordinaire, joined Whales of Guerrero in 2019. Inés uses her storytelling and community cultivation skills to create a sustainable future for our program and for our planet and to bring people together for our whale fiestas and special events.
Project Partners, Advisors and Visiting Scientists
Pablo is President of Biotropicos A.C., a non-profit focused on the preservation and protection of the region of Playa Blanca, Guerrero, Mexico, founder of the Municipal Institute of Zihuatanejo Ecology, and owner of Adventours, a local ecotourism outfit in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. Most recently, Pablo was instrumental in the official designation of Parque El Limón, an 86 hectare sanctuary as an officially protected area between the twin cities of Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo. Pablo Mendizábal brings together the Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo community to help us generate awareness about our work and participates in the safe whale watch training program to teach safe whale watch practices to guides and boat operators in Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo.
Sally Mizroch, M.Sc. developed and manages the North Pacific humpback whale fluke photo-identification collection at NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory. Sally invented the computer-assisted matching system that allows fast matching of the more than 30,000 photos in the flukes photo collection, which contains photos dating back to 1966. As part of her work on photo-identification, she has developed many protocols for integrating data into large data base sand has taken a lead role in the transition from film to digital photography. She has used both whaling and photo-identification data to estimate vital rates of many cetacean species and populations. She is particularly interested in large mammal population dynamics and reproductive biology and enjoys fostering large-scale collaborative research which crosses national boundaries to encompass the entire range and ecosystem of each whale species she studies. Sally has worked at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center for her entire scientific career. She began studying Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska ground fish in the Center’s Resource Ecology and Fisheries Management Division in 1977, and in 1979 she transferred to NMML to study vital rates of Antarctic baleen whales, which were still being hunted commercially at the time. She was a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee from 1980 to 1988. Some of her analyses as a young scientist provided direct scientific support for the whaling moratorium that was initiated in 1986. In 1986, she developed the humpback whale matching system and started the centralized North Pacific humpback whale flukes photo database. Sally received a B.A. in environmental studies/biology at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1975. She received her M.S. in fisheries from the University of Washington in 1983 under the supervision of Professor Doug Chapman. She has completed advanced classes in statistical sampling and analysis at both the University of Washington and at Colorado State University.
Astrid Frisch-Jordan is the mastermind behind the fluke ID catalog developed for Banderas Bay over the past 23+ years. She has also been instrumental in cultivating a local ethos of responsibility among the boat operators toward whales, runs the whale disentanglement network for Mexico and teaches safe boat practices to tour guide operators. Astrid provides our team with support and guidance on everything from study design and strategy to boat operations to fluke identification techniques.
Luis Medrano Gonzalez, Ph.D. An esteemed Professor of Evolutionary Biology in the Faculty of Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, Dr. Luis Medrano is instrumental in connecting us with graduate students and early career marine mammal scientists who are looking for opportunities to develop their field research skills and also provides us with feedback and guidance on our study protocol and practices.
Jorge Urban Ramirez, Ph.D.Jorge Urban-Ramirez coordinates the Marine Mammal Research Program at the University of Baja California Sur in La Paz, Mexico. He is also on the Mexican delegation to the IWC. Dr. Urbán brings together the humpback whale research scientists along the entire length of the Pacific Coast of Mexico to share and collaborate with our research efforts and helps us to create a more complete big picture understanding of how the whales in Guerrero move along and use the Mexican coast as breeding and calving habitat.
Our key local partners and collaborators are: The Fishing, Tourism, Artesanías and Restaurant Cooperatives of Barra de Potosí; Playa Viva; La Raiz de la Tierra; Casita Ecovegana; Eco Tianguis Sanka; Oficina de Convenciones y Visitantes de Ixtapa Zihuatanejo; Department of Tourism & Department of Ecology, Guerrero; Department of Fishing, Zihuatanejo; Sportfishing Cooperative, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa
Our national advisors and collaborators include: FMCN; CONANP; PROFEPA; SEMARNAT; Mares Mexicano; Sustenta; and EDF.
We partner internationally with: National Geographic; USFWS; Cascadia Research Collective; and NOAA.
We co-host expeditions with SEE Turtles in Guerrero. See this year’s citizen science research opportunities here.
We keep up to date on our whale resightings thanks to our friends at Happywhale and all of the scientists and whale aficionados who upload their fluke shots to Happywhale. Check out our page on Happywhale to find out where our whales have been !
Board of Directors (2020-2023)
Nicole Lampe
Nick Wolf
David Leventhal
David Cooper
Juan Carlos Castillos