Rodolfo Werner

Dr. Rodolfo Werner is a wildlife conservationist who has devoted his professional career to the study and conservation of the Patagonian Sea, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica. For many years, he conducted field research on the Patagonian Coast (Argentina), studying the diving behavior and behavioral ecology of southern sea lions. He has also participated in research projects on southern elephant seals and Magellan penguins in Patagonia.

Rodolfo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, graduated as biologist from the University of Buenos Aires, obtained a PhD in Biology at the University of Munich, Germany, and conducted a Postdoc in Marine Zoology at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Rodolfo has consulted for the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo, Vancouver Aquarium, World Wildlife Fund International and US, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, the National Environmental Trust, Greenpeace International, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and for other international organizations on marine conservation issues such as marine policy, marine mammals, marine protected areas, marine governance, and fisheries management.

For the last 16 years he has been focusing his work on Antarctic marine conservation. He is an advisor to the Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition and the Pew Charitable Trusts on issues such as wildlife conservation, marine protected areas and Antarctic krill fisheries management. Rodolfo is the science advisor and a founding Board Member of the Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund - AWR - based in Oslo, Norway, an organization created to support research and monitoring of krill, penguins, whales and other Antarctic predators. He is also the science advisor of Agenda Antarctica, a young environmental organization created in Argentina, which is the only Latin American organization that focuses on the conservation of Antarctica. In addition to his Antarctic work, he was the first Coordinator of the Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea and Areas of Influence. He is also a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.

Since 2006, Rodolfo has been working as a naturalist and lecturer on board vessels traveling to Antarctica. He also participated in several expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula. In February 2017 with Paul Nicklen (Sea Legacy) on a National Geographic assignment, and lately on a bi-national scientific expedition (Argentina/Chile) organized by Pristine Seas (National Geographic) providing the scientific and policy framework for the preparation of audiovisual materials.