Reserve your spot now by sending an email to z.riskin@lamave.org with the subject "Expedition Shark 6".
Reserve your spot now by sending an email to z.riskin@lamave.org with the subject "Expedition Shark 6".
Experience the best diving that the Philippines has to offer.
Swim alongside the most iconic marine megafauna including sharks, manta rays, and turtles in the heart of the Coral Triangle.
Make an impact in marine conservation
Get this rare opportunity to be on the frontline of conservation alongside experts from LAMAVE studying one of the last shark havens in Southeast Asia.
Join us from June 7 - 15, 2022 for Expedition Shark 6!
Expedition Shark is a unique research expedition hosted by LAMAVE in collaboration with the Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) to study sharks and rays in Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park. The Expedition aims to assess the status of the sharks and rays’ populations inside and outside the park boundaries and unlock the secrets of the conservation value of this area.
Our research focuses on shark abundance, diversity and movement using a combination of Remote Underwater Video Surveys (RUVS), underwater visual census (UVC) and satellite and acoustic tracking. In 2016, the team tagged the first tiger shark in the coral triangle, while on-going research focuses on building the country’s largest acoustic network to monitor the movements and behavior of tagged reef mantas, grey reef sharks and tiger sharks.
Every year, we open limited spots for divers who want to make an impact to join the trip and get the rare opportunity to work alongside experts from LAMAVE.
To learn more about Expedition Shark, you can download this information pack.
The expedition includes full room and board, up to three (3) dives per day, and training on marine conservation and ecology.
All guests must have at least Advanced Open Water (or higher) scuba qualification.
You will have the chance to take part in various research activities which includes:
- Underwater Visual Census (UVC),
- photo-identification of marine megafauna,
- deployment of acoustic tags on sharks, and
- retrieval of data from acoustic listening stations.
Each guest member is asked a set donation of 3,000 USD. This is used to facilitate operational as well as research costs of the expedition.
We only have five (5) guest spots available for the 2022 season. Each spot is on a first come, first served basis.
Our Team on Board
Dr. Alessandro Ponzo - Director, LAMAVE
Dr. Ponzo is currently a member of the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group, a Kinship Fellow, and a National Geographic Explorer. He began his career as an ethologist, completing his thesis on dolphin cognition. In 2002, he studied orca whales in Alaska and in 2004, he was part of the first international expedition to search for the critically endangered Western Pacific Gray Whale along the Russian coast of the Bering Sea. In 2010, Dr. Ponzo founded the Large Marine Vertebrates Project in the Philippines, where he has since been working tirelessly to conserve marine vertebrates in the Bohol Sea and throughout the country. One highlight of his work with LAMAVE is the establishment of the first open-access underwater telemetry network in the Philippines, allowing scientists to track movements of tagged animals across the archipelago.
Sally Snow - Director, LAMAVE
Both a Zoologist and a Filmmaker, Sally is passionate about science communication. Her career has found her working with the BBC, National Geographic, PTS, and S4C. She is also a two-time grantee of the Conservation Media Group. She oversees LAMAVEs media output including print, online, and film. She is passionate about using conservation filmmaking as a tool for behavioural change by delivering stories that connect people, science, and the environment. She currently finds herself as a grantee of the Save Our Seas Foundation, working to create a documentary that highlights sharks across the Sulu Sea and the communities most reliant on them.
Jessica Labaja - Director, LAMAVE
Jess grew up in Iligan, Mindanao, before embarking on an IT career in Manila. She eventually left the corporate world, taking her learnings on systems-based project management to pursue her true passion for marine conservation. Today, she is the country's leading shark researcher and represents LAMAVE on several protected management area boards across the Philippines. Jess plays a vital role in LAMAVE’s in-country strategy and currently leads LAMAVE’s Rapid Bycatch Assessment project - a critical project that seeks to quantify the impact our fisheries have on important marine megafauna.
Ariana Agustines - Whale Shark Research and Conservation Project Leader
Ariana is a marine scientist, technical cave diver, divemaster, and National Geographic Explorer. Ariana has previously worked with LAMAVE as a Project Leader for both our Southern Leyte and Palawan whale shark projects. Today, she works with the National Geographic Society to study human-whale shark interactions in Honda Bay, Palawan. Through sharing her passion for the ocean, she hopes to help others understand the important role our ocean plays and thus inspire people to protect our marine life and natural resources.
Zachary Riskin - Manta Ray Research and Conservation Project Leader
Zach is LAMAVE’s Project Leader for manta ray conservation. He leads national efforts to catalog the population of Philippine manta rays, seeking to understand their population dynamics, habitat use, and connectivity to better protect them across their range. He is currently working with the International Conservation Fund of Canada to protect a newly-discovered manta ray cleaning station in Northern Palawan - one of only three such manta ray habitats known in the Philippines. He is also a PADI Scuba Instructor with over 500 dives of experience in Tubbataha as a dive guide.