Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara is the Chairman and Director of the Tethys Research Institute, and a marine conservation ecologist who has worked for almost 40 years to advance knowledge of the natural history, ecology, behaviour and taxonomy of marine mammals and cartilaginous fishes.

He has served as the Italian Commissioner at the International Whaling Commission, and as Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area (ACCOBAMS). He is currently the Councillor for aquatic mammals at the Convention on Migratory Species; co-chair of the IUCN Task Force on marine mammal protected areas; deputy chair of the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group; regional coordinator for the Mediterranean and Black Seas of IUCN WCPA – Marine; and advisor to the Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation.

With a PhD in marine biology from the University of California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Giuseppe teaches science and policy of the conservation of marine biodiversity at the University Statale of Milan.

He spearheaded the creation of the first high-seas marine protected area, the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals, established in 1999 by a treaty amongst Italy, France and Monaco. And he is now working at the development of a concept for the establishment of a seaside sanctuary on behalf of Italy’s Antivivisection League and Marevivo.