Simon J Pierce
Marine Biologist & Conservationist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Simon J Pierce is a marine biologist and conservationist known for discovering, studying, and protecting large marine animals such as whale sharks and manta rays. He is the co-founder and principal scientist of the Marine Megafauna Foundation.[1][2][3][4]
Dr. Simon J Pierce | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Marine Biologist |
| Employer | Marine Megafauna Foundation |
| Known for | Research and Protection of Whale Sharks, Manta Rays and other large marine animals |
| Scientific career | |
| Alma mater | School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland |
| Fields | Marine Biology, Marine Conservation, Photography |
| Institutions | Marine Megafauna Foundation |
| Thesis | Biology, demography and conservation of rays in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia (2009) |
| Doctoral advisor | Michael B. Bennett |
| Website | https://www.simonjpierce.com/ |
Pierce has developed several non-invasive research techniques[5] for endangered species,[5][6][7][8] such as developing photo-identification with computer image analysis and artificial intelligence[9] to track populations of whale sharks and other species of marine animal.[10]
These techniques have been incorporated into Citizen Science[11] projects, including Sharkbook,[12] the global shark monitoring database, as well as other MMF projects such as Manta Matcher.
He led the conservation assessment on whale sharks for the IUCN Red List in 2016,[13] which resulted in the whale shark’s global protection through an Appendix I listing on the UN Convention on Migratory Species in 2017 and then led the first IUCN Green Status conservation assessment on whale sharks in 2021.[14]
Pierce is a wildlife photographer.[15][16]