Dr. James Ketchum

Director of Marine Conservation

Dr. James Ketchum is Director of Marine Conservation, co-founder of Pelagios Kakunjá and President of its Board of Directors. He has studied sharks and migratory pelagic species since 1998 and holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from UC Davis. He carried out pioneering work on the movement patterns and habitat use of hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands, and participated in the first telemetric studies of sharks in Cocos Island, Malpelo, Galapagos and Revillagigedo Archipelago, during which he co-founded MigraMar in 2006, an international network of researchers in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. James is currently the director of the Biotelemetry and Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory at Pelagios Kakunjá, where he supervises over 15 graduate and undergraduate students. He is also an Adjunct Researcher at CIBNOR, where he participates in different projects. His research focuses on the ecology and behavior of sharks in the Gulf of California and Mexican Pacific, specifically about nursery areas of hammerheads and the spatial ecology of several other species. Dr. Ketchum has published over 50 peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals, he is a Member of the National System of Researchers of Mexico, level II, and a Mission Blue Hope Spot Champion for the Gulf of California. He has been featured in several documentaries, including National Geographic’s Shark Superhighway, Discovery Channel’s Expedition Unknown Megalodon, and Mexican TV Series by Canal Once, Islas de Mexico. He is the director of the documentary “Sharks of the Sea of Cortés: A Lost Treasure?” (2021), produced by Pelagios Kakunjá and Azul Océano, and Sylvia A. Earle as executive producer.