Biologist David Phillips serves as executive director of the Earth Island Institute, an international nonprofit conservation organization founded by David R. Brower and headquartered in Berkeley, California. From 1978-1984, David was director of Wildlife Conservation for Friends of the Earth. In 1982, he co-founded Earth Island Institute, serving as co-executive director and specializing in international marine wildlife conservation. He directs Earth Island Institute’s International Marine Mammal Project.
David has been a non-governmental representative to numerous international marine conventions, including the International Whaling Commission, and has testified before the U.S. Congress on marine mammal protection, endangered species conservation, and the impacts of trade on the environment. His direction of Earth Island Institute was acknowledged by the United Nations Environment Programme, which granted David its Leadership Award in honor of his efforts to protect dolphins from indiscriminate fishing techniques. Earth Island Institute's success in negotiating an agreement with the world’s largest tuna companies to adopt fully dolphin-safe policies was recognized by Time magazine as one of the most significant environmental victories of the decade.
In 1994, David founded the Free Willy–Keiko Foundation, successfully overseeing a five-nation, $10 million international campaign accomplishing historic rescue, rehabilitation, and release of a captive orca whale to its native habitat in Iceland.
In 1995, David was awarded the Joseph Wood Krutch Medal by the Humane Society of the United States for his efforts on behalf of marine mammals.
David has been involved in the development and implementation of numerous pieces of legislation pertaining to marine conservation. These include the Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act of 1990, the International Dolphin Conservation Act of 1992, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Mark Palmer focuses on protecting whales and dolphins with an emphasis on strategic planning, legislative advocacy, legal research, grassroots organizing, and media relations. He is also director of Earth Island Institute’s Wildlife Alive subproject, dedicated to protecting wildlife and wild places throughout California and the West.
Mark graduated with a BA in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, and spent two years of graduate work at San Francisco State University in the Department of Biology. While at UC Berkeley, Mark founded and led the Endangered Species Committee of California.
Mark has since served as regional vice president for the Sierra Club for Northern California and Nevada; chairman of the Sierra Club’s National Wildlife Committee; and chairman of the Sierra Club’s Arctic Campaign Steering Committee, which successfully blocked oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge during the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. He has also been executive director of the Whale Center (1986-1990) and the Mountain Lion Foundation (1990-1995). His articles have appeared in Sierra magazine, Pacific Discovery (now Wild California), USA Today, Earth Island Journal and Huffington Post. He has edited and contributed to several books, including Friends of the Earth Whale Manual, Cougar: The American Lion, and Behind the Dolphin Smile.
Mark has more than 45 years of experience lobbying in the California State Capitol in Sacramento and in the U.S. Congress in Washington, DC on wildlife and wilderness issues, as well as international experience with the Japanese-American Environmental Conference, the International Whaling Commission, and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. He has participated in dozens of wildlife lawsuits, including the precedent-setting "Wildlife Alive v Chickering". He is editor of the daily newsletter ECO, distributed at International Whaling Commission meetings. He was a consultant for the Academy Award–winning documentary The Cove, and appears in the Animal Planet series Blood Dolphins.
With sadness, we announce the passing of Mark Berman on May 13th, 2016. We will all miss him and his dedication to protecting whales and dolphins. For more about Mark and his legacy, see our blogs here and here.
Mark Berman joined Earth Island Institute’s International Marine Mammal Project in 1991. He previously led the successful campaign to halt construction of a large dolphinarium in South Carolina, and was instrumental in passage of a law in the state to ban the captivity of cetaceans. South Carolina is currently the only state with such a law in effect.
At Earth Island Institute, Mark directed the International Dolphin Safe Monitoring Program, supervising staff in 15 countries. In 1994, he also was a founding staff member, with David Phillips, of the Free Willy–Keiko Foundation. Mark helped lead an unprecedented five-country program to rescue, rehabilitate, and release Keiko, the star orca whale from the hit movie Free Willy.
Mark also worked with the European Dolphin Safe Monitoring Organization to promote and license the registered dolphin safe logo for the canned tuna processors, retailers, and importers in the EU. In addition, Mark worked on campaigns to end the drive fishery of dolphins in Japan, to halt the expansion of Ocean Adventure in the Philippines, and to stop the mass killing and capture of live wild dolphins in the Solomon Islands for export to marine parks worldwide.
Mary Jo Rice leads campaigns in the areas of educational outreach, volunteer and internship management, fundraising, event planning, grassroots organizing, and campaign planning and implementation. She has extensive experience in the nonprofit world as a professional teacher and innovative administrator. Mary Jo tailors educational programs to the needs of specific organizations and builds engaged grassroots communities, offering pro bono professionals and volunteers a place to utilize their talents to serve the mission.
Mary Jo is the former executive director of Seaflow, a California organization that publicized the dangers of ocean noise to marine life. She organized the North American Ocean Noise Coalition, bringing together more than a dozen national and regional environmental organizations to collaboratively address pressing ocean noise pollution issues.
A grassroots organizer for more than 25 years, Mary Jo assumes key roles in local campaigns for successful environmental candidates and green initiatives. She led a major open space acquisition effort in Marin County, California, which won her the designation of “Environmental Hero” in Barry Spitz’s book Open Spaces. For her successful leadership roles in various environmental campaigns, particularly in protecting ocean life, she received the 2006 Resource Conservation Award from the Sierra Club’s Marin Chapter.
Sarah’s mission is to aid the environmental movement in its effort to protect marine mammals by working to promote dolphin-safe fishing practices. She dreams of a world where all of humanity holds a deep reverence for nature.
Sarah brings with her 10+ years of nonprofit administrative experience. Her areas of expertise include, but are not limited to, sailing bureaucratic systems, auditing, accounting, managing multiple projects and project teams, grassroots movement support, and unquenchable curiosity.
Susannah Lee supports the International Marine Mammal Project by maintaining the database and collaborating on varied development activities.
Susannah graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Environmental Biology and a minor in Geospatial Information Science and Technology.
She has extensive experience as a researcher, including projects investigating bioremediation of a polluted wetland, urban agro-biodiversity and food justice in the East Bay, and renewable energy production potential in Reykjavík, Iceland. She also works with Earth Island's New Leaders Initiative to plan and execute local and national programming that supports youth leaders in the environmental movement.
Betty joined the International Marine Mammal Project team more than 13 years ago after her move to California from Connecticut, and she volunteers weekly at our home office in Berkeley, CA. She earned a Master’s degree in Psychiatric Social Work from Columbia, an M.P.H. at Yale University, and Ph.D. at University Graduate School. She was an Assistant Clinical Professor at Smith and Yale, and in private practice for 30 years.
At home she is a poet, eldercare advocate, activist, and writer. At Earth Island she continues to be a tireless helper, and is overseeing a never ending effort to keep our dolphin-safe company, and other campaign files organized and up to date.
Michael Reppy’s years sailing the oceans deepened his natural love of dolphins, which led him to join Earth Island’s “Save the Dolphins Project” during the 1990s campaign for dolphin-safe tuna. He has used his ocean racing yachts as a platform to support Earth Island Institute's Save Japan Dolphins effort to end the slaughter and capture of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, and the Free Corky campaign, to return the orca from SeaWorld to her native waters in British Columbia. While sailing in support of Save Japan Dolphins, he made three attempts to break the solo sailing record from San Francisco to Tokyo, just missing the record by a day on his third attempt in 2001.
Michael has been an integral part of many demonstrations involving Redwood Summer, the WTO “Battle in Seattle,” protests against SeaWorld’s captivity of orcas, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom’s animal captivity, Japan Dolphin Day protests outside the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, and protests at the Russian Consulate to stop their orca captures. He often brings to events and demostrations Earth Island Istitute’s big 20-foot inflatable dolphin, and a pod of foam dolphin hats, for maximal visual impact. He recently attended the California Coastal Commission hearing, and spoke against SeaWorld’s plan to build larger tanks for their orcas, favoring an end to orca captivity and breeding, and retirement of the orcas to seaside sanctuaries.
Timothy Feder has more than 30 years of experience as an independent consultant at an ad agency specializing in strategic communications, service and program marketing, PR, fundraising, website development, branding, and advocacy advertising.
During his career, Timothy has worked with hundreds of local, state, and national nonprofits, government agencies, and foundations, directing a diverse and varied portfolio for organizations working in the environmental, social justice, consumer, social service, and public health sectors. Timothy has worked with the Earth Island Institute and the International Marine Mammal Project for more than 20 years on a wide variety of projects and campaigns.
Jessica is a recent graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an intern with the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute. At IMMP, Jessica has authored blogs interpreting novel scientific literature, synthesized and modeled data on dolphin hunting, and researched the impact of plastic on marine mammals in 2023.
Growing up in the city of Oakland, her appreciation for the environment came from her summer camping trips, where she grew to love the flowing rivers and towering trees of the Plumas National Forest. While receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies at UC Santa Barbara, Jessica developed an outside concentration focusing on marginalized community politics to enhance her understanding of intersectionality in the face of the climate crisis. She also served as a research assistant in the Young Lab on campus, compiling data to determine the impacts of forest realignment efforts on the Palmyra Atoll.
Additionally, Jessica is a founding member of the Environmental Law Club at UCSB, where she continues to lead students in researching and submitting public comments on local and national projects impacting the environment. Jessica hopes to attend law school in the near future so she can become a strong legal advocate for our oceans and marine species.
Jillian is currently an intern with the International Marine Mammal Project, and is also a student at UC Berkeley. In her third year of university, she realized that she could no longer ignore her lifelong passion for marine conservation, and joined IMMP to play a hands-on role in cetacean advocacy. As a Psychology major, she intends to use her academic background and focus on marketing as a means to spread awareness of pressing issues concerning marine mammal rights. Currently, she is working to publicly champion the SWIMS Act, which is potentially the first piece of US legislation to prohibit the capture, breeding, and transport of various whales for entertainment.
Being from sunny Southern California, Jillian's favorite hobbies include beach-going and tidepooling. Now that she attends college in the Bay Area, she loves to take weekend drives down the PCH and visit the state beaches along the way. After she concludes her undergraduate studies, she hopes to attend law school to become an attorney who advocates for environmental protection.
Paolo Bray successfully started, developed, and leads some of the most influential and widespread sustainable product certification programs in the world. These include the Dolphin Safe Monitoring Program of the International Marine Mammal Project at Earth Island Institute, the Friend of the Sea project (www.friendofthesea.org) for the certification and promotion of seafood from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and Friend of the Earth (www.friendoftheearth.org) for the certification of products from sustainable agriculture.
Paolo has served as European director of the Dolphin Safe Monitoring Program since 1991.
More than 800 companies from 70 countries (including 450 tuna companies from 20 countries) rely on these certification programs to verify the sustainability of their origins, representing one of the largest joint networks of this kind.
Trixie has worked for Earth Island Institute since 1993. She now leads a team that audits around 200+ companies in the East Asia and the Western Pacific for dolphin-safe.
Apart from Dolphin Safe monitoring, Trixie and the EII Asia-Pacific team conducts several advocacies which seek to protect the marine environment. These include anti-captivity campaigns, anti-reclamation campaigns, and the campaign to reduce plastic use.
Since 2014, Trixie and her team had been lobbying successfully for legislation to protect marine mammals in the Philippines.
Angel Herrara-Ulloa has a Masters degree in Natural Resource Management, an MBA (INCAE, Costa Rica), and a Bachelors of Science in Marine Biology (UNA, Costa Rica).
Since 1993, Angel has served as Latin American representative of the International Marine Mammal Project. He has authored more than 15 scientific articles and co-authored two books. He covers dolphin safe tuna monitoring in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panamá, Peru, and Uruguay.
Ulrike Kirsch holds BA degrees in translation/modern languages and political studies from the Cologne University of Applied Sciences in Germany and Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK, and has worked as a freelance translator, journalist, and project manager in nature conservation and animal welfare for many years.
She has been in charge of the International Dolphin Safe Monitoring Program in Germany since 2000, where it was carried out under the umbrella of the German non-profit NGO Gesellschaft zur Rettung der Delphine (Society for Dolphin Conservation) until 2018. Ulrike has worked for a number of NGOs, with a focus on dolphin and marine conservation.
She is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of the German Foundation for Marine Conservation (Deutsche Stiftung Meeresschutz).
Jacqueline Sauzier has worked for the International Marine Mammal Project Dolphin Safe Monitoring Program for more than 25 years and heads the office in Mauritius.
She is responsible for the area covering the Indian Ocean and Africa from India to Ivory Coast, monitoring around 50 companies based in Mauritius, Reunion Island, Seychelles, India, Oman, Madagascar, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, and Ivory Coast.
Jacqueline is involved with many local NGOs including the Mauritius Marine Conservation Society, playing a key role in the protection of the local marine environment, with a special attention to the protection of marine mammals around the island heavily impacted by the growing dolphin and whale watching industry.
Walter Anzer has decades of experience working in managerial positions in leading food companies and as the administrative director of many trade associations covering many sectors of the food industry. In recognition of his services to the food industry, he was conferred a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1991.
Since 1993, he has been an advisor to Earth Island Institute on matters concerning the International Marine Mammal Project and the European Dolphin Safe Monitoring Organization, which has responsibility for the registration and licensing of its dolphin-safe logo, a trademark, and European Union fisheries policy relevant to tuna fishing and the Dolphin Safe Monitoring Program.
Since 2009 Homer had been joining fishing boats as part of his job as a Port Monitor and On-board observer (VMP) for EII. He has had countless experiences in boarding different fishing boats and observing fishing operations in the open sea.
Instead of choosing a business career, Homer opted to become active in outdoor activities. He is one of the pioneers of the Earth Island Outdoor Club and is one of their ‘Council of Elders’.
Homer enjoys fishing and mountain climbing in his spare time.
Before joining EII, Weng worked with a non-governmental organization providing basic education to the indigenous peoples of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines.
In 2000, Weng joined Earth Island Institute’s International Marine Mammal Project in the Philippines and has been with the organization for 19 years.
Despite being used to company audits, Weng can easily shift to ‘campaign mode’ when the organization undertakes campaign activities such as advocating for marine mammal protection and promoting sustainable fisheries.
Weng is also an avid biker.
Carlito graduated with a degree in Fisheries Technology, majoring in Capture Fisheries.
He worked with the Earth Island Institute's Vessel Monitoring Program from 1994-1996 and has since served as fulltime port and cannery monitor/auditor from 1996 to the present, covering fisheries operations in Zamboanga and General Santos City for the Dolphin Safe Monitoring Program in the Philippines.
Carlito is a professional photographer and is an avid outdoor person who enjoys fishing, biking and mountain climbing.
Donald joined EII in 2009 as an On-board Observer for Dolphin Safe Vessel Monitoring Program (VMP). As an on-board observer, Donald had witnessed many fishing operations and interacted with fishermen where he explains first hand to the fishing crew the importance of conserving dolphins.
Donald is a full pledged regular member of the Earth Island Outdoor Environmental Club, a mountaineering group in General Santos City. They conduct environmental awareness activities to outdoor enthusiasts and promote responsible mountaineering.
May Ann is a graduate of Associate in Computer Secretarial course. She worked as a health care associate before joining Earth Island Institute-Philippines last 2012. Currently, she serves as Administrative Associate for EII-Philippines.
May Ann is into organic farming, an advocate of proper waste disposal and is a mainstay of coastal clean-up activities of the organization.
May Ann practices yoga regularly and is an exercise buff.
Gina graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology. She had worked for canneries in General Santos City in the Philippines where she gained experience in cannery audits.
As an environmental auditor, Gina has found the job fulfilling. She believes that working with the Earth Island Institute gives opportunities for learning and saving marine wildlife. She believes that the Dolphin Safe monitoring program not only saves dolphins but also spreads awareness to everyone on the need for environmental conservation.
Before joining Earth Island Institute, Kristine was involved with an NGO that advocated the integration of disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and ecosystems management and restoration.
As one of the environmental auditors for EII, Kristine does company audits and port monitoring/vessel spot-checks under the Dolphin-Safe Monitoring Program.
Kristine likes yoga and backpacking in exotic places.
Adrian worked for various NGOs carrying different advocacy platforms ranging from youth, peasant, indigenous people and housing rights. Adrian also worked for projects investigating and educating peasants on the adverse effects of GMO corn and incessant water logging which destroys the few remaining forest cover in the Philippines. He also entered into conservation initiatives of Philippine Hornbills and Philippine Crocodiles.
Adrian recently joined Earth Island Institute-Philippines as part of the International Monitoring Program for Asia-Pacific.
Melody earned her degree in Marine Biology at Mindanao State University. She had since worked in several canneries as a quality control inspector and as a process control inspector, among other tasks.
She joined EII in 2016 as an environmental auditor. Melody believes that EII does an excellent job in raising awareness about dolphin killings and animal cruelty.
Melody is a co-founder of Kidlikasan, an environmental awareness program that aims to develop the potential of kids and youth in environmental conservation through lectures, games and activities. Kidlikasan was a recent finalist in the Ten Outstanding Young Organizations in the Philippines in 2019.
Currently, Melody also serves as the President of the Earth Island Outdoor Environmental Club (EIOEC). The EIOEC regularly does coastal clean-ups, out-reach activities and mountain climbing events.
Risalah or ‘Abenk’ joined the Dolphin Safe Monitoring Program in 2016.
Abenk graduated from Marine Science of Hasanuddin University. He has traveled around Indonesia, especially the outer islands, tracing illegal fishing activities and diving in most of the small islands to identify the damage level of the coral reefs.
He had long experiences in marine activism while he worked for Destructive Fishing Watch, for three years since 2013, ranging from scientific diving to community empowerment.
Dindo studied BS Political Science at the Adamson University in the Philippines. He is a visual artist, an avid follower of the punk and ska music scene, a skater, and dreams of being a professional wrestler before joining EII AP in 2016. He has extensive experience working with several non-government organizations that do conservation work.
Dindo is a dedicated organizer of EII-AP’s volunteers and does administrative work for the entire organization.
Dindo manages EII AP’s social media and handles the daily inquiries for partnerships, support, and participation.
Karl is as eclectic as they come. He studied BS Applied Physics at the University of the Philippines, but his current professional practice revolves around arts and culture. Aside from being a composer and music producer, he does work as creative multimedia consultant for various organizations and initiatives.
Karl has been a volunteer of Earth island Institute since 1998. Since then he worked with some creative projects with the organization before formally becoming its Campaign officer in 2014.
Karl currently works on the effective delivery of EII-AP’s message for the protection and conservation of marine wildlife.
Robert Ray began his advocacy work as a student leader and youth organizer for a youth group that works to advance social welfare, genuine land reform, universal access to education, justice, and human rights.
Prior to joining the Earth Island Institute Asia Pacific, Robert worked as a Campaigner for ACT Philippines and ACT Teachers Partylist, where he led various campaign platforms on teachers' rights and welfare, public sector unionism, environmental protection, and trade issues at the local and national level.
Robert is a passionate development worker and human rights advocate with demonstrated experience working with civil society organizations. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Education with a major in Social Sciences at Philippine Normal University-Manila.