Press releases
Claudio Campagna Earns a Prestigious Award in Marine Conservation
February 27th, 2004

Pew Fellow Claudio Campagna to Foster
‘Sea & Sky Park’ in Patagonia.

Claudio Campagna, a member of FARN's Administrative Council, Ph.D., M.D., has won a coveted Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship to help strengthen and preserve the threatened marine environment off the coast of Argentina. Campagna is one of only five 2004 recipients of Pew Marine Conservation Fellowships-the world's most prestigious award honoring and investing in applied ocean conservation science and outreach. Each Pew Fellow receives $150,000 over three years to carry out innovative, interdisciplinary projects related to marine conservation. The Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation is a program of the Pew Institute for Ocean Science at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, USA.

Campagna will use his Pew Fellowship to expand, strengthen, and publicize a project he founded in 2001 called Sea & Sky ('Mar y Cielo' in Spanish). Sea & Sky is working to establish a protected 'park' in the waters of the Patagonian large marine ecosystem (PLME). Covering an area twothirds the size of Argentina itself, the PLME extends from one of the world's most productive continental shelves to deep seas hundreds of miles from shore. These waters support resident top predators and seasonal migrants coming from as far as Antarctica, South Georgia, and even New Zealand. The PLME's breeding and feeding aggregations of albatrosses, penguins, whales, sea lions, and seals constitute one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on Earth. Yet this marine area suffers from overfishing, pollution, coastal degradation, loss of habitat, and depleted populations of marine animals.

"There is no more time to lose if we are to save the Patagonian large marine ecosystem," says Campagna. "I want to capitalize on the momentum that Sea & Sky has gained over the past two years. The potential is enormous, both for Patagonia and for other oceanic hotspots that are under assault." He plans to strengthen the program's scientific groundwork, increase collaboration among stakeholders, develop a strategy to communicate the vision of Sea & Sky, and take steps to ensure its sustainability by creating an international alliance.

Sea & Sky already has developed a database containing the most complete information ever produced on the PLME. The international collaboration involved in the project is a noteworthy achievement, bringing together more than 20 scientists from Argentina, the Falkland Islands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Campagna has been associated since 1981 as a researcher for the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET), working at Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT), which he directed in the early 1990s. Since the early 1980s he has also been affiliated with the Wildlife Conservation Society, for which he does scientific research and conservation work on elephant seals, sea lions, and whales. For five years he was a research associate with the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he obtained his doctorate in biology.

In 1989 Campagna helped establish the Fundación Patagonia Natural, a non-governmental organization based in Puerto Madryn, Argentina, for the conservation of wildlife and the environment. He was a co-founder of EcoCentro Puerto Madryn, an educational, environmental, and cultural center whose permanent PLME exhibit attracts 35,000-40,000 visitors each year. Campagna also was the scientific coordinator of the Patagonian Coastal Zone Management Plan, a multi-stakeholder national strategy to protect the biodiversity of the region. The Plan, which was supported by the Global Environmental Facility through the United Nations Development Programme, is now in its implementation phase.

Campagna has published three books, 25 articles in popular journals and edited books, and more than 30 scientific papers on animal behavior, genetics, physiology, and conservation. An accomplished public speaker, he has been a scientific advisor to the BBC (British Broadcasting Company), the National Geographic Society, and the Nippon Television Network Corporation, among others. His work has been featured in all of these venues, as well as on CNN, National Public Radio, and other public media showcases. He also serves on the boards of several scientific and environmental organizations focused on Patagonia, marine mammals, and conservation, including Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, the American Society of Marine Mammalogy, Fundación Patagonia Natural, and EcoCentro Puerto Madryn.

Before becoming a marine mammal scientist and conservation biologist, Campagna received a degree in medicine from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and worked as a physician for several years.

For more information, see the
interview with Claudio Campagna
[in PDF - 200 KB]

Contact Information for Claudio Campagna
Research Biologist Centro Nacional Patagónico National
Research Council of Argentina (CONICET)
Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina
telephone: 54.2965.451375
e-mail: sea_and_sky@speedy.com.ar