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Dr. Andrea Marshall

Dr. Andrea Marshall

Co-founder (on medical leave)

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Dr. Andrea Marshall co-founded the Marine Megafauna Foundation and is widely recognized as a world expert on manta rays. She was the first person to complete a PhD on manta rays, and her research showed that what had been considered a single global manta ray species was in fact multiple species, a discovery that reshaped manta ray science and conservation. She stayed in Mozambique after her thesis to pioneer manta ray research and conservation in the region and globally, was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2013, and featured in the BBC documentary “Andrea: Queen of Mantas.” Dr. Marshall has been on extended medical leave since early 2024; her pioneering research and conservation initiatives continue to guide MMF’s work.

Research Interests

As a conservation biologist, Andrea focused predominately on research questions related to the effective management and conservation of threatened marine animals. Her team worked on manta rays globally, in areas we have determined to be of extraordinary conservation value. They collected baseline data on these focal populations, while additionally studying aspects of their biology, reproductive ecology, habitat use, migrations, and social behavior. In Mozambique, Andrea also managed a team which studied other species of elasmobranchs in southern Mozambique, including endangered wedgefish, mobula rays, and leopard sharks, species that are data deficient such as the smalleye stingray, and important reef predators in the region, like bull sharks.

Education

Andrea did her undergraduate degree in the United States at the University of California Santa Barbara. After that she moved to Australia and did her post graduate work at the University of Queensland. Andrea’s PhD focused on the biology and ecology of manta rays living off the coast of southern Mozambique. After completing her thesis she stayed on in Mozambique and she and Simon Pierce formed the Marine Megafauna Foundation to continue their important work along the coastline.

Biography

Andrea has always been passionate about the ocean. Learning to dive at a young age, Andrea got certified on her twelfth birthday and, almost 10,000 dives later, led research programs all over the world for MMF as one of the organization’s principal scientists. Andrea directed MMF’s global manta ray department and MMF’s threatened species program in southern Mozambique. As one of MMF’s co-founders, Andrea also worked at an executive level within the organization.

Andrea spent most of her time in the field. During her 20-year research career she has traveled to the ends of the globe, from Brazil to Myanmar, mainly as a scientist but also as a semi-professional underwater photographer, her other great passion. She has visited over 45 countries and been fortunate enough to pioneer the exploration of many remote coastlines.

Andrea’s passionate commitment to the eastern African coast has ultimately shaped her goals as a conservation biologist. Having worked in Africa for the last 20 years she realizes that research alone will not protect our ocean giants here. To that end she has dedicated her life to the development of a large-scale network of marine protected areas along the Mozambican coastline and hopes to use MMF’s science to inform the management strategies being developed for marine megafauna in the country. She is confident this will become one of the most important marine protected areas in Africa, the equivalent of Africa’s Marine Serengeti.

MMF programs Andrea directed

Global Manta Ray Program

  • Florida Manta Ray Program

  • Southern Mozambique Manta Ray Program

  • Indonesian Manta Ray Program

  • Andaman Sea Manta Ray Program

Threatened Species Program (Mozambique)

  • Devil Ray Project

  • Bull Shark Project

  • Wedgefish Project

  • Leopard Shark Project

  • Smalleye Stingray Project

  • Elasmobranch Census Project

Media

Queen of the Mantas | Waterbear

Ray of Hope | Alert Diver

Meet the Scientist Snapping Selfies With Giant Manta Rays | WIRED Magazine

So You Want to Be a Marine Biologist? | Gapyear

Manta ray news

Next — Dr. Simon Pierce

Our work in Mozambique

Mozambique is where MMF began, in 2003, and where most of our team works today. Alongside long-term research on whale sharks, manta rays and other threatened species, two flagship programs take conservation into coastal communities: Sustainable Seas, where 90 local Ocean Ambassadors help fishing communities look after their own waters, and Ocean Guardians, a UNESCO-recognized program with more than 8,000 graduates from its conservation classes and swim school since 2012.Explore our work in Mozambique →

News featuring Andrea

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Recent research

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