Mark Patrick Martin

I had the luxury of growing up around sharks and bioluminescence. I truly believe one has to spend time around nature and its creatures to even begin to understand them. This combined with good science is the key to beginning to apply the science to make real changes without losing sight of nature's way and how it's changing. Having the fantastic opportunity to grow up in a Caribbean island I learned a great amount from interacting with the sea. From a young age I learned about ships, marine biodiversity and the sea. I then had the chance to develop professionally as the chief field researcher for the Vieques Conservation & Historical Trust working on collaborations with the Wise Toxicology Labs, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Scripps Institute of Oceanography and a Variety of international university and federal agencies, including the White House Sustainability Task Force for Vieques. I'm currently in my last year of specializations degrees in Oceanography and Marine Resource Management. For the last twelve years I have been working on research of the Bioluminescent bay systems, Light pollution control and monitoring, environmental education, advocacy and policy for sustainability and conservation strategies. We work on everything from sharks to lionfish and mangroves and we strive to transfer the data to the general public in a fun and digestible way. I am a licensed volunteer for the USGS and founded the Marine Life exhibit at the VCHT, an interactive aquarium known as "the smallest aquarium in the world". I was one of the creators of the award winning MANTA educational program, a citizen science, field activity based conservation educational system see vcht.org Our excursion on the Sea of Cortes is crucial to continue to ride the wave of the scientific and social revolution that is happening, as we see what we are doing to the world and realizing we have a chance to do something about it.

January 2016