Co-Chair

Co-Chair

Members

Who We Are

Dr Rima Jabado is the Deputy Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Marine Conservation Committee, and Chair of the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group. As a scientist and conservationist, she has spent over 20 years developing and leading conservation initiatives globally. Her work focuses on bridging the gap between science and policy to ensure issues such as bycatch, threatened species conservation, and illegal trade are effectively addressed through national and international policy and management frameworks. Her research has directly in formed fisheries management, wildlife trade regulation, and multilateral environmental agreements for the protection of threatened species. She currently leads the Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRA) project, a global initiative designed to integrate sharks, rays, and chimaeras into area-based management and spatial planning worldwide.

She serves as the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) Appointed Scientific Councillor for Marine Fish, and sits on the Advisory Committee for the CMS Sharks Memorandum of Understanding as the representative of the Asia region. In parallel, she founded the Elasmo Project, a non-profit initiative that encourages and supports work in data-poor regions, with a particular focus on understanding and addressing shark and ray fisheries and trade.

Dr. Beth Polidoro is an Associate Professor of Marine Conservation and Environmental Chemistry at Arizona State University (ASU). She has more than 15 years experience with IUCN, primarily working on Red List Assessments for marine species. She currently leads the ASU-IUCN Red List Partnership commitments, as well as helps to coordinate IUCN Red List Assessments for a number of marine groups, including bony fishes and reef-building corals.

Ginna Minton

Gianna Minton started her career in the field of education, but became so inspired by Oman’s marine environment during her 8 years there, that she started a new career in marine mammal research and conservation. Gianna has a PhD focusing on the unique non-migratory humpback whales of the Arabian Sea, and has conducted field-based cetacean research in Oman, Malaysia, Gabon, Senegal, Guinea, Cameroon and Congo. A Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group, she has also worked on turtle and fisheries monitoring, and is now based in the Netherlands, where she coordinates the Consortium for the Conservation of the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin (CCAHD) and the Arabian Sea Whale Network (ASWN), and is a member of the IUCN SSC-WPCA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force and Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMA) Secretariat. Gianna is also a member of the scientific council/committee of the Convention on Migratory Species and the International Whaling Commission.

Coralie Palmer

Coralie is the Marine Conservation Coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival (Indianapolis Zoo, Indiana, USA). Coralie brings over 20 years of experience working in the field of conservation biology. She has a strong focus on working collaboratively and inclusively with a broad range of stakeholders and communities, extensive experience facilitating research, outreach and policy development and a commitment to equity and environmental justice. Coralie’s research has focused on mangrove, seagrass and coral reef ecosystems, with field work for the Environmental Justice Foundation in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Originally from the UK, Coralie has lived in India, Egypt, Australia and the USA. Coralie has served as a Director for the Indiana Wildlife Federation and currently serves as President of the Indiana Native Plant Society.

Dr Matthew GollOck

X @ZSLMarine
Matthew Gollock is the Marine and Freshwater Programme Manager at ZSL, and has over 20 years’ experience researching and conserving aquatic species. He is interested in migratory species - particularly elasmobranchs and anguillid eels – and the management and policy mechanisms required to conserve their unique life histories. He is the Chair of the Anguillid Eel Specialist Group.

Yvonne Sadovy

Dr Aaron Savio Lobo

Aaron is a marine conservation practitioner interested in the sea was ironically driven by his love for seafood. His work has largely focused on understanding the costs of seafood production on vulnerable marine species and livelihoods and finding ways to make the seafood system more sustainable through policy and practice. His work involves designing, supporting and implementing projects which include understanding the impacts of tropical trawl fisheries, managing marine protected areas and setting up fisheries monitoring programmes in South Asia and West Africa. He has worked for GIZ (Indo-German Biodiversity Programme) and is also a member of the IUCN SSC Sea snake specialist group.

Zeehan Jaafar