Neil Hammerschlag

I’m a marine ecologist based in Miami, Florida. My research centres broadly on the behavioural ecology, conservation biology and movement ecology of marine predators, especially sharks. I was born in South Africa, where my passion for the ocean first began, but my family emigrated to Canada when I was young and I spent most of my childhood there. Graduate school eventually brought me to Florida and I have lived and worked here ever since.

From a young age, I was exposed to the ocean and its wonderful creatures through family vacations to the beach that inspired me to become a marine scientist. I studied at the University of Toronto for my undergraduate degree in biology and became fascinated by behavioural ecology. All my school breaks were spent volunteering for different marine research organisations so that I could get experience in this field of science. I had the fortunate opportunity to study the behavioural ecology of a variety of species, but after being exposed to shark research and learning about the conservation needs of these animals, I was ‘hooked’ and decided to make them a focus of my future research.