Team

Core team

Stella
Diamant

Project Founder & Lead researcher

Stella first worked in Madagascar in 2011 and fell in love with the country. A biologist with a MSc from Imperial College London, she saw her first whale shark in 2014 in Nosy Be and as a result decided to set up the project. Since then, Stella works full-time on the project.

Léa
Gonçalves

Project Coordinator

Léa has been working for over 10 years in project management in the finance sector. After volunteering with MWSP in 2018, Léa joined the team and has helped secure funds for the education programme.

Bruno
Hélio Benjara

Education Officer

Bruno was born in Nosy Be and is very involved with the youth community on the island. He leads our education programme, the "Guardians of the Oceans", where he delivers the school programme and leads the Saturday activities.

Léonce
Costika Fidiarisandratra

Scientific Assistant

Léonce is a master student at the Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines (IH.SM). He is studying the spatio-temporal distribution of whale sharks in Nosy Be.

Tiana
Haingo Andriamampionona

Survey Officer

Originally from an education background,Tiana joined us in 2019, helping to collect surveys from both fishermen and tourists

Tine
Hollevoet

Social Media

Tine first visited Madagascar as a tourist in 2017 and then volunteered in 2018. Since has been managing social media content thanks to her extensive experience in this field.

Claire
Eloy

Data Assistant

Claire first came to Nosy Be in 2016 and since has been involved with the project, helping us process photo-IDs from France through the season.

Alexandra
Salmon-Lefranc

Administration & Translation

Alexandra is a translator and copy-editor for the IUCN and UNEP, and helps us translate our content. An avid amateur photographer and enthusiastic traveler, she volunteered with MWSP in 2018.

Stéphane
Gennai

IT & Data

Stéphane is an IT genius and is helping us coordinate data entry thanks to his professional experience in this domain. He volunteered in 2018.

Project supervisors

Simon J. Pierce, PhD

Principal Scientist at the Marine Megafauna Foundation

Simon began working on whale sharks in 2005 off Tofo, Mozambique and co-founded the Marine Megafauna Foundation in 2012. His international work on the population ecology and management of this iconic species has made him a world expert on whale shark conservation.

Website

Jeremy J. Kiszka, PhD

Assistant Professor at Florida International University

Jeremy currently leads a number of research projects on the ecology and behaviour of sharks, and other large marine vertebrates in the Western Indian Ocean. He leads his own lab at FIU and also serves as an expert for the Shark Specialist Group of the IUCN.

Website

Thanks to our previous volunteers-both in the field and remotely !

Vincent Bourdin

Mariana Perez

Marion Lovat

Robin Bally

Ingrid Richioud

Cédric Pfeiffer

Vincent Frasse-Mathon

Matthieu Bonhomme

Flore Meyerstein

Valérie Gagnolet

Guillaume Lechat

Amir Serhane

Laura Atchama

Simona Auteri

Marcel Caro

Magali Caro

Marie-Amélie Vidal

Romain Boucly

Mélina Lin

Agathe Gastaldi

Blaise Vincent

Juliette Eyraud

Amandine Pauvert

Tine Hollevoet

Léa Gonçalves

Alexandra Salmon-Lefranc Gennai

Chantal Dherbecourt-Solau

Fanny Floirat-Lohyer

Chloé Paré

Diane Bécu

Luna Payet

Raphaël Jarnias

Kelly Morvan

Mylène Richard

Carole Perrin

Fadia Al Abbar

Juliet Cussaguet

Mario Clemente

Florian Barnaud

Stéphane Gennai

Guillaume Bonnaud

Pierre Denneulin

Michaël Coconi

Arnault De Peretti

Jens Paulsen

Vincent Quiquempois

Joshua Rambahiniarison

On-site partners

Les Baleines Rand’eau

Partner Operator and Co-founder

Tanguy and Arthur Guillemain d'Echon have been leading ecotourism trips around Nosy Be since 2001 as well as collecting photo-IDs since 2015. They were instrumental in organising the MWSP’s first season in 2016, and have since welcomed the MWSP’s field team on their boats every day.

Website

Safari Baleine

Partner Operator

Since 2018, we collaborate on the volunteer program with Fanja, Yasmina and Nahema from local operator Safari Baleine, who operate whale shark tours from neighbouring island Nosy Komba.

Website

MADA Megafauna

Partner NGO

Elina Sourisseau is the co-founder and coordinator of MADA Megafauna, a local NGO who we collaborate with on both the volunteer programme and the education programme. This year the NGO will focus on expanding the education’s activities across the island.

Website