Exploring the Biodiversity of Borneo
Please join us Friday when, after several of our weightier topics, we will get a breath of fresh salt air when our speaker will be the Founder and Director of Shark Stewards, David McGuire. A marine biologist and shark advocate, David is the founder of the Ocean Health and Shark Conservation nonprofit Shark Stewards, dedicated to saving sharks and protecting critical marine habitat. As a sailing captain, dive master and filmmaker, David has explored the world’s oceans on numerous sailing voyages producing media with an emphasis on sharks and ocean awareness.
David’s undergraduate work in Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara lead him to study whales in Mexico, and join an expedition across the Pacific. He has a master’s degree in environmental health from UC Berkeley, where he worked for over a decade in the Department of Integrative Biology. A Research Associate of the Department of Aquatic Biology at the California Academy of Sciences, David is conducting a shark research program that includes shark population studies, movements and fisheries impacts. An adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, David teaches marine protection policy and marine ecology. He has participated in numerous sailing voyages and scientific diving expeditions with Academy researchers communicating the wonders of the natural world and ocean life and the need to protect them, including a two month biodiversity expedition to the Philippines where he filmed and produced an Emmy award winning documentary Reef to Rainforests.
David is the writer, producer and underwater cinematographer of several award winning documentaries focusing on sharks, including an online series in Borneo. A National Geographic Explorer, he has also published numerous articles on the state of the ocean and sharks and writes a National Geographic Explorers blog and an Ocean Voices column on sharks and ocean health. David selects and emcees films and hosts panels at film festivals including the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival and the San Francisco Green Film Festival and is a popular public speaker sharing his ocean stories and images.
He has received numerous awards for his work including an award for Journalism with KQED for the investigative story Sea Horse Sleuth, the 2011 Hero of Marin Environmental Stewardship Award, and an Emmy award for his work on the documentary Reefs to Rainforests. David has been recognized by Congressman Jared Huffman for his work, and was awarded the Hero of Marine Award for catalyzing shark fin trade bans in North America. He has also been recognized as a Hero of the Environment by the Town of Pacifica for his educational and ocean conservation work.
An ocean adventurer and athlete, David has competed in numerous endurance events such as the Trans Pacific Yacht Race, Hawaii Ironman and is an open water marathon swimmer, swimming for sharks. Current projects include an adventure film on diving with sharks in Malaysia and a book on sharks and rays of the San Francisco Bay.