About – Simon Pierce
Photo by Steve de Neef
G’day. I’m Simon, a wildlife geek from New Zealand. More officially, I’m a co-founder and Principal Scientist at the Marine Megafauna Foundation, a US-based non-profit research institute. There, I lead the global whale shark research and conservation program. I’m also a specialist ocean wildlife photographer.
Simon’s Research & Conservation
I’m a Principal Scientist at the Marine Megafauna Foundation, which I co-founded with my friend and long-time colleague Dr. Andrea Marshall.
I lead the global whale shark research and conservation program at MMF, working on the conservation biology of these threatened giants worldwide. I led the most recent IUCN Red List assessment for whale sharks in 2016, which identified them as a globally endangered species, then led the technical proposal for the species’ successful United Nations Convention on Migratory Species listing in 2017, which conferred near-global protection. I co-edited the definitive book on the species: Whale Sharks: Biology, Ecology, & Conservation.
Aside from my work at MMF, I am a Member of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (following a stint as a regional co-chair from 2016-20), Science Advisor to the Global Whale Shark Database, and a founding director of the Sawfish Conservation Society.
I’ve supervised multiple PhD and MSc students through various universities in Australia and the UK. I completed my own PhD on coastal stingrays at The University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia, and also hold a BSc (Hons, 1st Class) from UQ and a BSc in Ecology from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
You can view my scientific publications on my Google Scholar profile.
At work in Tanzania. Photo by Ralph Pannell.
Scientific Publications
As a marine conservation biologist, I write or assist with a lot of scientific projects on whale sharks and other threatened ocean animals. We publish our results in technical journals; you can see my own contributions here.
Marine Wildlife Photography
My photographs and videos are used quite regularly by major international media outlets such as the BBC, National Geographic, Nature, Washington Post, Discovery, Animal Planet, New Scientist, and The Guardian. One of my photos was used by PADI for their Advanced scuba diving certification card, and another was chosen by Sir David Attenborough as one of his favorites from BBC’s Blue Planet II promotions.
My images are often also used in campaigns by national and international organizations including the United Nations, Marine Megafauna Foundation, Client Earth, Sail Against Plastic, Galapagos National Park, the Shark Trust, Google Voyager, Galapagos Conservation Trust, the Australian and Sri Lankan governments, the Wildlife Trust of India, Tubbataha Management Office (Philippines), St Helena Research Institute, the International Coral Reef Initiative, and various WWF country offices.
Over the next year, I’ll be hosting public research and photography trips for the Marine Megafauna Foundation in various countries and working as a “Photographer in Residence” for G Adventures on some of their Arctic and Antarctic trips.
Writing
I also enjoy writing about wildlife travel, making a few dad jokes about various aspects of biology, and fizzing away about photography here at Nature Tripper (and in Nature Tripper magazine). You can read more on the articles page if you’re keen.