Tania Pelamatti

Alumni

Tania is originally from Italy and first arrived in Mexico in 2014 for an internship at the Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR-IPN). Fascinated by the sea and the organisms that live there, she had the opportunity to work with sharks and rays in La Paz, discovering a world she couldn’t live without. After completing her Master’s degree in Marine Biology from the Universitá Politecnica delle Marche in Italy, Tania returned to La Paz in 2016 to begin her doctorate research on the giant manta, her favorite animal since she was a child. She volunteered with Pelagios Kakunjá since her first visit to La Paz and became a PhD student to carry out her research with us. In 2017 she was awarded a National Geographic Explorer grant for a period of one year. Tania recently finished her PhD with honors on “Plastic pollution as a potential threat for oceanic manta rays in the Mexican Pacific Ocean”, focusing in the mantas of Revillagigedo Archipelago and Bahía Banderas.