Pelayo is a marine ecologist, explorer and underwater photographer with a keen interest in the creation of Marine Protected Areas, shark conservation, sustainable fishing and the communication of science. Since 2012 he has been a senior marine ecologist with the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands and since 2021 affiliated faculty at the NOVA Southeastern University. Between 2016-2020 he served as Conservation Scientist for National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project, contributing to find, survey and help protect the last wild places in the ocean.
Pelayo obtained his PhD in marine biology from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand in 2010. Before fulfilling his childhood dream of working at the Galapagos Islands, he was involved in several research and conservation projects in Indonesia, New Zealand and Cuba. Pelayo is based at the Galapagos where he leads several applied research projects aimed at informing the conservation of the unique marine ecosystems of the archipelago.
Co-author of over 80 scientific peer-review publications, when he is on expedition Pelayo explores and documents the biodiversity of some of the most remote places on earth. Recent expeditions include the Antarctica Peninsula, the Marshall Islands or Greenland.
Pelayo is also passionate about environmental awareness, underwater photography and the communication of science, and his research has been featured in a number of documentaries and magazine articles including, National Geographic, BBC Galapagos 2 and BBC Blue Planet.
“I was born beside the Red Sea — its reefs, its silence, its stories. Through Danah Marine Research, I’ve turned that lifelong connection into something greater: a non-profit committed to science, storytelling, and the protection of our marine heritage. This is my way of giving back — to the ocean that shaped me, and to the future of Saudi Arabia.”
ABDULMALIK AL SHEIKH, Founder of Danah Marine Research
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