Ariana Agustines and her sister, Gabriella ’05, grew up scuba diving with their father around island reefs teeming with sea life in the Phillippines. As she grew and learned more about global warming and the destructive impact of humans on the marine environment, Ariana felt an increasing desire to learn more about how to protect and pre- serve those habitats. After college, she got her M.S. in marine biodiversity and biotechnology, intending to work abroad. However, when her grandmother sent her an article about coral bleaching in the reefs around the Philippines, she saw a unique opportunity to have an impact closer to home.

 

In 2018, Ariana joined LAMAVE, the Large Marine Vertebrates Institute in the Philippines. She supervises their shark and ray conservation work from Palawan, a beautiful Philippine Island of white sand beaches, limestone cliffs, and a vast variety of marine life. One of the projects involves the setup of an acoustic telemetry array (i.e. underwater listening stations) deployed across various locations in the Philippines to track the movement of tagged sharks and learn about their habitat use, connectivity within the region, and the corridors they use to navigate between the islands.

 

The Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia are a part of the coral triangle, 2.3 million square miles of the most biodiverse marine life on the planet, where new species are still being discovered in their waters. Understanding the Philippines’ unique marine environment is crucial to protecting it. “We’re a nation of coastal communities that rely on the ocean for our livelihoods,” says Ariana. “But there’s still very little known about the population status of many species. It would be a shame to exploit these habitats without fully understanding and grasping the extent of the diversity there and the benefits it provides.”

 

Ariana is a National Geographic Explorer. In 2021, she led the team for the Ocean Exploration Trust Nautilus E/V Nautilus 2021 Meridian project Mālama Māno. The project used the E/V deep sea research vessel to quantify and understand the diversity of shark species in the Hawaiian Islands, incorporating an AI tool to analyze footage and identify sharks faster. The project was a unique combination of ancient and emerging science, as it also gathered input about important shark sites from local communities who regard the sharks as their ‘Aumakua,’ or ancestors. “Science is observing something (our environment) and trying to understand what you’re seeing through different methodologies,” says Ariana. “That’s what the indigenous people and locals are doing, too.” Exchanging knowledge between the communities will enable phase two of the project, running workshops that will share methodologies for local communities to monitor their own reefs for shark abundance and diversity.

 

Outside work, the underwater world retains its special magic for Ariana and her family. The sisters recently traveled to scuba dive together in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, for Gabriella’s birthday. It’s a shark sanctuary within the coral triangle that contains 75% of the world’s marine species. “Swimming with sharks is a privilege,” she says. They are majestic and beautiful creatures.”