Scientific Research, Public Outreach, and Education
Leading with passion
Alessandro Bocconcelli, Oceanographer Emeritus
Mr. Bocconcelli has been at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) since 1985, beginning as a summer student and then joining the Ocean Structures and Moorings laboratory as an engineer. Subsequently, he worked at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington as Director of Operations for the Center for Marine Science Research for seven years. Upon returning to WHOI, he has been working as a Research Specialist for the DTAG laboratory. His experience with tagging marine mammals includes working with the Watkins/Tyack laboratory and with Mark Johnson and Michael Moore at WHOI. He currently manages several projects using Dtags, passive acoustics monitors, acoustic moorings and towed arrays.
Mr. Bocconcelli has authored and co-authored more than 50 technical papers and presented them worldwide. He is a member of the Marine Technology Society, the Society for Marine Mammalogy, and the European Cetacean Society. He has served on the board of trustees for the Masonboro Island Society and the Friends School of Wilmington, NC.
Mr. Bocconcelli is a graduate of the Merchant Marine Technical Institute in Camogli, Italy, and has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has sailed in the Merchant Marine as deck officer and Captain and participated in more than 100 research cruises as Project Engineer, Chief Scientist, or Captain of the research vessel. He is also a guest investigator at the CIMA Research Center in Italy and at the Stazione Biologica Anton Dhorn in Naples, Italy.
Rafaela Landea, Environmental Manager
Raised near the sea of the long, coastal country of Chile, I have had a strong connection to the ocean since birth. While studying at high school, I trained to become a diving instructor to continue my deep engagement with the sea. I undertook an undergraduate degree in Ecotourism Management in Chile, and did my thesis on the development of ecotourism marine routes and ecological diving inside the marine protected area of Isla Grande de Atacama, in northern Chile. While doing this project, I found my passion for marine conservation and quickly realized that this is what I want to do in my professional career.
The drive for marine conservation brought me to the region of Patagonia, where I lived and worked for several years. My work in Patagonia resulted in the creation and implementation of the foundation of the Melimoyu Ecosystem Research Institute (MERI) in 2011. From the implementation until today, one of MERI’s primary lines of work is in the conservation of the endangered Blue Whales of the Gulf of Corcovado in the Chiloense Ecoregion. The research work is carried out in partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), which has so far resulted in various publications about passive acoustic monitoring.
I went to Australia in 2015 to study the Master of Environmental Management program at UQ, majoring in Conservation; Natural Resource Management. My master thesis assesses threats caused by marine aquaculture to the habitats of Blue Whales in the Chiloense Marine Ecoregion, Patagonia. The focus of the research was mapping current and future habitat risks, to this globally significant and threatened marine habitat.
Thomas Montt, Sea Captain
Thomas is a born sailor from Patagonia, Chile. He was raised in Dalcahue, a small fishing town in the island of Chiloe, that serves main port for the more than thirty islands that compose the Archipiélago de Chiloé, known until recently, by its main activity: artisanal fishing, and non industrial fisheries. In recent years, Thomas homeland has been taken over the salmon industry, impacting nature all around. The salmon industry has been the epicenter of one of the most damaging industries for the sea world, impacting deeply on Chiloe’s and surrounding islands. Being a witness to such change and damage, it motivated Thomas to become an advocate for marine conservation and the natural world.
While studying civil construction at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, he participated as captain in various collaborations with Woodshole, BBC, Discovery Channel, Cornell University, Melimoyu, Meri, Centro Ballena Azul, among others, sailing throughout the wildest and unexplored island of Patagonia.
He has had the privilege to work and learn from some of the best marine biologist, wildlife filmmakers, divers, and geographers.
Dani Casado, Photojournalist and Filmaker
Dani is a Photojournalist, filmmaker and visual communicator with a focus on conservation, Nature and environment. He has contributed to diverse communications campaigns and scientific expeditions all over South America and Northeastern US, collaborating with conservation NGOs such as IEB, MERI Foundation, Futaleufú Riverkeeper, Vigilante Costero, Huerto Cuatro Estaciones, among others. In the US he has collaborated with environmental institutions such as Maine Farmland Trust, WHOI, The Chewonki Foundation, and Maine Woods Forever. Dani’s interest as a communicator is to fill the missing link between Nature and people, trying to create awareness about the fragility of our ecosystems and the interconnection of humans and the natural world.
Director of TÁNANA PICTURES, part of Seedlight Pictures team, and frequent collaborator of Patagonia Films.
Collaborators
Francesco Caruso
Davide Bittelli
Laela Sayigh