Additional Links:
My scuba diving & snorkelling gear (needs an update)
My travel gear (I’ll create this soon!)
Upcoming trips with MMF and Aqua-Firma
Hi! I’m Simon.
I’m a marine conservation biologist and ocean wildlife photographer from New Zealand.
I’m the Executive Director of the Marine Megafauna Foundation, which I co-founded with Dr Andrea Marshall. As a scientist, I’m primarily known for conservation-orientated research on whale sharks around the world – leading to a textbook on the species, ‘Whale Sharks: Biology, Ecology, & Conservation’ – and helping to popularise photo-identification studies on sharks and rays. My MMF bio is here. I’m also a member of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, and a Director of the Sawfish Conservation Society.
I did a BSc in Ecology at Victoria University of Wellington, then moved to Brisbane for a BSc (Hons, 1st Class) and PhD from The University of Queensland in Australia. I currently have a part-time appointment as a Research Fellow with the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, where I’m working with critically endangered grey nurse sharks.
I’m an enthusiastic diver, wildlife-watcher and photographer, specialising in endangered ocean wildlife. I use these photos and videos to support conservation initiatives and scientific expeditions. I work with Sony NZ as a Digital Imaging Advocate, leading photo walks and workshops in NZ and online. My Sony bio is here.
My work (science and / or photography) has been featured in a range of high-profile media outlets, including National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Nature, Science, New Scientist, BBC Wildlife, and many others.
I host public research, diving, snorkelling, general wildlife-watching and photography trips around the world, mostly for MMF and Aqua-Firma.
I’m sporadically active on the socials, generally Facebook (personal & public accounts) & Instagram, though my favourite ‘social media’ by far is iNaturalist.
My wife Madeleine and I – with regular appearances from a neighbour’s cat, who we call ‘Merp’ because that’s how she announces herself – live in the marine wildlife wonderland of Kaikoura, in the northeast South Island of New Zealand.
If you’d like to stay updated on what I’m up to, you can join my newsletter list (see the bottom of the page.)
Thanks for stopping by!
The (much) longer version…
I grew up on a dairy farm near Mt Taranaki in New Zealand, where I had an idyllic upbringing with exceptionally tolerant parents. Weekends consisted of roaming the forests, rivers and ponds, learning as much as possible about nature while studiously avoiding any slight hint of farm work.
I’ve wanted to be a biologist from as far back as I can remember so, once I finished school, I moved to the NZ capital, Wellington, to do my undergraduate degree in ecology. While in Wellington, I also did a lot of volunteer work, and learned to scuba dive during holidays – whereupon I decided (a) that I wanted to focus on marine biology, but (b) the water in NZ was a bit on the cool side.
I solved this conundrum by moving over to Brisbane, Australia, to do a BSc (Hons) project on stingrays, thanks to Professor Mike Bennett at The University of Queensland eventually acquiescing to my harassment via email. I’ve always had a soft spot for ‘unloved’ wildlife, like reptiles, and stingrays definitely felt underappreciated to me. I quickly fell for these delightful pancakes. The lab was fantastic, I loved Brisbane, so I applied for and was lucky enough to receive a PhD scholarship from UQ to do more research on the biology and conservation of inshore rays and sharks. I also did as much diving as possible with Unidive, the UQ dive club.
PhDs are never, ever easy, but to this day, whenever I smell the noxious stench of anoxic mangroves, it reminds me of the amazing time I had pulling seine nets around in Moreton Bay trying to catch unwary rays and particularly slow sharks.
Meanwhile, Andrea Marshall, one of my UQ labmates and great friends, was doing her pioneering PhD on manta rays in Mozambique. She thought there was lots of potential for more research in the country, particularly on whale sharks, and badly wanted a science buddy over there.
I took a few months off my UQ studies to join her in 2005–06 for my first Africa trip. I really had no idea what to expect – I thought I’d probably get jumped by lions as soon as I got off the plane – but Andrea and friends did their best to ease me in gently.
As in, I arrived in Tofo after a 12-hour drive, and she pulled me – having never even seen a whale shark – aside to say “everyone’s here and waiting for you. I’ve told them you’re, like, the world expert on whale sharks. So try to act cool.”
Many years later, I’m still trying…
TO BE CONTINUED :)