Miriam Marmontel

Miriam Marmontel is a Brazilian oceanographer who specializes in aquatic mammals, particularly the Amazonian manatee. She became involved with aquatic mammals in the late 1970s while at the Universidade do Rio Grande in her native Brazil and holds a MSc degree from University of Miami. While pursuing her PhD at University of Florida, she developed a method to estimate age in manatees, and applied it to a population dynamics and viability analysis of the Florida species. She is currently the leader of the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Institute’s Amazonian Aquatic Mammal Research team in Western Brazilian Amazon. Her studies include manatee hunting, rehabilitation and radiotracking, freshwater dolphin and manatee abundance estimates using UAVs and sonars, and monitoring of the giant otter population recovery.

She is a member of IUCN Sirenian Specialist Group and a co-Chair of the South American Manatee Regional Subgroup, and a member of the IUCN Otter Specialist Group. She also serves in the Technical Support Team for the Brazilian Action plans for Antillean manatees, Amazonian aquatic mammals, and Giant Otters. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the South American River Dolphin Initiative and the National Council of Wetlands (Ramsar Convention). Miriam has trained local elementary, high school and university students in aquatic mammal conservation. She is the Editor-in-Chief for the Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals LAJAM and has co-authored numerous books and scientific articles on aquatic conservation. She received the Manatee Conservation Award by the US. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003, and her manatee teamwork was recognized with the National Biodiversity Award in 2014.