Team
The faces behind the project
Core team
Stella
Diamant
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. Stella leads the project since its inception in 2016.
Léa
Gonçalves
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. Today she oversees the administrative aspects
Léonce
Costika Fidiarisandratra
Costika Fidiarisandratra
Volunteer coordinator
Léonce holds a master degree in Biodiversity from the Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines (IH.SM). He oversees the permit obtention aspect and is coordinating all data entry on site, as well as volunteers.
Enora
Barralon
Barralon
Database manager
Enora is an engineer with a solid base on project and data management. In love with the ocean life since her youngest age she put her organization skill in service of the association.
Laura
Garcia
Garcia
Administrative Assistant
After volunteering in 2022, Laura joined the team in 2023. She is in charge of administrative tasks, as well as product and shop management
Project Collaborators
Amy Jones
Grants & fundraising Assistant
Claire Eloy
Data Assistant
Romain Cariou
Website Designer
Olivier Gomez
Business Advisor
Kate Waite
Travel & Communications Specialist
Justin Beresford
Data Scientist
Richyna Volarinina Soariziky
Education Officer
Students
Tsiafoy Randrianantoanina
Whale shark tourism: benefits for the local community
Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines
Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines
Jacopo Fossati
Impact of tourism on local whale shark population
Università politecnica delle Marche
Università politecnica delle Marche
Léonce Costika Fidiarisandratra
Spatio-temporal distribution of the whale shark (Rhyncodon typus) in Nosy Be Bay, northwestern Madagascar.
Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines
Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines
Alicea Lubbé
Distribution and habitat preferences of marine megafauna in Nosy Be, Madagascar
Rhodes University
Rhodes University
Thanks to our previous volunteers and staff-both in the field and remotely !
Inès Vernhes
Minaëlle Green
Audrey Botella
Laura Garcia
Rachel Eloy
Morgane Biret
Julie Chéron
Alizée Guimbaud
Nathan Beaufils
Yona Benahim
Jeanne Vanhecke
Laura Hoen
Emilie Chotard
Eugénie Assas
Tine Hollevoet
Lorrie Carassini
Noella Wai
Frédéric Barbotin
Tiana Haingo Andriamampionona
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
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
LBR have been instrumental to the project, and have collected data for us in 2015. Since they support MWSP’s field season.
MADA Megafauna
Partner NGO
We collaborate with MM on both our volunteer and education programme, and have initiated together the "Guardians of the Oceans" movement on Nosy Be.
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.
Cetamada
Partner NGO
Cetamada focuses on humpback whale research and protection, and together we are collaborating to provide operator training and amend existing laws protecting marine megafauna
Free Dive Nosy Be
Partner Operator
We collaborate with Free Dive Nosy Be, on freediving trips and volunteer training
Wildlife Conservation Society
Partner NGO
WCS is the leading organisation for shark conservation in Madagascar. Since 2019 we share our data to support local conservation initiaitves
Scientific Collaborators
Joshua Rambahiniarison
Research Scientist
CORDIO East Africa
Megamove
Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre
University of Western Australia Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences
Mar Alliance
Ocean Tracking Network
