Marine Conservation and Scientific Coordinator

Frida is from Veracruz, Mexico and studied Marine Biology in Yucatan, Mexico. She has a Masters’s degree in Marine Ecology and Environmental Management from the Queen Mary Institute, University of London and a PhD in Marine Sciences from Cicimar La Paz, Mx. Frida is also a Dive instructor and certified guide at Cabo Pulmo National Park, Revillagigedo National Park and Espiritu Santo Island. She has vast experience participating in scientific expeditions and monitoring campaigns and specialises in large-scale shark migrations and connectivity. Currently, she is the scientific coordinator of Orgcas and the acoustic data manager of Migramar.

She has organised citizen science and exploration expeditions. In addition, Frida has been leading trips in private yachts such as Anawa, Dytan, Fidelis, Pi, Endless Summer, Sea Legacy 1, etc. with vast experience in logistics and providing her knowledge to the guests, bringing them to the best locations at the right time to interact with the megafauna of the Sea of Cortez. At the same time, she explains the ecosystems and the conservation challenges that the areas face.

As a scientific coordinator, her primary role in Orgcas is to set the baseline for a future MPA in the Southern tip of the Baja California peninsula and, in the near future, be able to prove that all the local efforts for reducing shark fishing will have a positive response in the ecosystem, recovering the biomass of some of the iconic and commercial species (mobulas, sharks and red snappers). To do so, Frida and the Orgcas are capacitating the fishermen, creating bottom-up support, where they take part in the action, learning different monitoring techniques and being able to learn and show how to understand indicators of how the ecosystem is now.