Ilena ZANELLA

Ilena Zanella is a marine biologist and a Master in Wildlife Management andConservation from Institute for Wildlife Conservation and Management,Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. She is the co-founder and the ExecutiveDirector of Mision Tiburon, an NGO established in 2009 with the goal is topromote research, management and the conservation of sharks and marinelife in our oceans. Mision Tiburon carries out educational activities for youngpeople to raise awareness about ocean conservation, workshops withfishermen to promote sustainable fishing practices, and training withgovernmental institutions to improve control and protection programs. Ilenaand her partner, Andres Lopez, led a shark conservation project in GolfoDulce which resulted in 2018, in the creation of the first marine sanctuary inCosta Rica dedicated to sharks, the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark Sanctuary Golfo Dulce. In 2019, Ilena was nominated as Blue SpotChampion by the international organisation Mission Blue and awarded the Whitley Award. She is a fellow of the Ocean Leaders program by the University of Edinburgh.