Mario Acquarone

Mario Acquarone, born in Turin, Italy, began sailing, mountain hiking and skiing as a child, with his parents who gifted him with curiosity and passion for all aspects of Nature. Skipper and guide in the Mediterranean in the early 90’s, he was studying fin whales. In 1995 he took his first sea voyage to a Polar area, Svalbard, in a team to assess whale abundance. Then he worked in Greenland on beluga, narwhal, and bowhead whale abundance from airplane surveys as well as ringed seal, polar bears, and walrus ecology. In 2004 he obtained his PhD on walrus ecology. He then worked with goat and llama farmers the Bolivian highlands, was Scientific Secretary at The North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission coordinating research on marine mammals between Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland, and has taught biology and animal physiology as well as researched novel methods for assessing energy consumption and body conditions in marine mammals. Since 2020 Mario has been Deputy Secretary of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program. In parallel, Mario has worked on expedition vessels as skipper, lecturer, and expedition leader. He is also a Randonnee skier, a kayaker, and a professional diving instructor. You can communicate with him in Italian, French, English, Danish, Norwegian and Spanish.