We are marine scientists with research interests in marine protected area effectiveness, fish community composition, fish spawning aggregations and fisheries management.

Isla Mar Research Expeditions was founded in 2015 while we were both still in graduate school at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez and we have called Puerto Rico our home since 2011. We have a combined 30+ years of diving experience and 10 years in developing and leading field courses.

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Our mission is to provide exceptional service in marine science education, field-based research training and experience and public outreach in ocean conservation. We believe that science should be transparent and translated in a way that a general audience can learn and appreciate what we are working to accomplish in marine conservation and management.

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We tailor our scientific education services to undergraduates, early career scientists and citizen scientists. We provide the training to conduct independent projects and collect quality data.

Our goal is to present a field-based research orientation that will equip our students with the skills they need to be competitive in the field of marine science. In the case of citizen scientists, our goal is to provide a well-balanced experience of fun and education, sending you home with a wealth of knowledge about the ocean and an incredible experience in the water that you will not find elsewhere!

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Our field experience is valuable to ocean-related projects in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Our services range from technical diving, fish and benthic census, coral reef restoration, scientific dive training and dive certification training, fisheries assessment, bioacoustics, equipment deployment, eDNA sampling, molecular analyses of diet and environmental samples, among many others.

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When you work with us, you are supporting a small, family business and local scientists, including all of those we contract! We look forward to welcoming you to the Isla Mar family!