Fundación Charles Darwin
cesar.penaherrera@fcdarwin.org.ec
Education
2007: Bachelor in Biological Sciences, Catholic University of Ecuador, Quito. (Thesis: “Spatial and seasonal variations in fin fish catch composition in the Galapagos Marine Reserve”.)
2001: High School diploma with a specialty in Biology and Chemistry, Cristo Rey High School, Portoviejo, Ecuador.
Research Interests
Marine fisheries ecology with emphasis on meta-analysis of historical and actual fisheries data integrated with new research techniques for assessing shark and pelagic species abundance, trends and population dynamics in the Eastern Tropical Pacific; marine environmental variability and its influence on biological and ecological life aspects of pelagic fishery resources; acoustic and satellite tracking.
Professional Experience
Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador (2008-present)
Associated Researcher and Principal Coordinator of the the Shark Monitoring Project at the Marine and Coastal Science Department.
Current projects include:
- Site fidelity and migratory patterns of sharks.
- Juvenile shark assessment around Santa Cruz Island.
- Food web structure of the Galapagos Pelagic Ecosystem after a decade of protection: insights from trophic modeling.
- Feeding Ecology of pelagic fish species.
- Monitoring of fishing activities in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
- Ecological Risk Assessment of the effects of fisheries in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador (August 2007 – October 2007)
Professional Volunteer at the Marine and Coastal Science Department.
Projects included:
- Ecological Risk Assessment of the effects of fisheries in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador (May 2006 – July 2007)
Work Scholarship at the Marine and Coastal Science Department.
Projects included:
- Multispecific assessment of the whitefish fishery database from 1997 till 2003.
- Monitoring of whitefish fishery activities during 2006.
- Monitoring of lobster fishery activities during season 2006.
Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador (October 2005 – January 2006)
Volunteer at the Marine and Coastal Science Department.
Projects included:
- Monitoring of whitefish fishery activities during season 2005-2006.
- Lobster larvae distribution among the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
Catholic University of Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador (September 2003 – July 2005)
Teaching assistant at the Botanic lab.
Projects included:
- Time and spatial variations of plant diversity in a Northwestern rain forest of the Ecuadorian Andes mountains.
Publications and Technical Reports
Peñaherrera C, Harpp K and S Banks. (submitted). Rapid seafloor mapping of the Galapagos Northern islands Darwin and Wolf. Galapagos Research.
Hearn A, Ketchum J, Klimley AP, Espinoza E and C Peñaherrera. 2010. Hotspots within hotspots? Hammerhead movements around Wold Island. Marine Biology. Published online: 09-May-2010. DOI 10.1007/s00227-010-1460-2.
Peñaherrera C, Ketchum JT, Espinoza E, Hearn A and AP Klimley. 2010. “Hammerhead sharks of Galapagos: An insight on their behavior and migratory patterns”. In: Galapagos Report 2008-2009. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos National Park and Galapagos National Institute. Galapagos Ecuador.
Ketchum JT, Hearn A, Shillinger G, Espinoza E, Peñaherrera C and AP Klimley. 2009. Shark movement and the design of protected pelagic environments within and beyond the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Proceedings of the Galapagos Science Symposium, 127-130. July 20th-24th. Galapagos, Ecuador.
Peñaherrera C and A Hearn. 2008. Toward an Ecosystem-based approach to fisheries: a risk analysis. In: Galapagos Report 2007-2008. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos National Park and Galapagos National Institute. Galapagos, Ecuador.
Moreno J, Peñaherrera C and A Hearn. 2007. Monitoring of the 2006 lobsters fishery season in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Technical report. Charles Darwin Foundation. Galapagos, Ecuador.
Workshops and Conferences Attended
Penaherrera-Palma C, Hearn A, Ketchum J, Nicolaides F, Espinoza E, Henderson S, Wolff M and AP Klimley. 2010. Human-Shark interactions in the Galapagos Islands (oral talk). Sharks International, June 6th -11th 2010. Cairns, Australia.
Hearn A, Ketchum J, Klimley AP, Espinoza E and C Peñaherrera. 2009. “Hotspots within hotspots? Aggregations of pelagic fishes at southeastern corner of Wolf Island, Galapagos” (poster). Proceedings of the Galapagos Science Symposium, July 20th -24th 2009.
Hearn A, Ketchum J, Klimley AP, Espinoza E and C Peñaherrera. 2009. “Hotspots within hotspots? Aggregations of pelagic fishes at southeastern corner of Wolf Island, Galapagos” (poster). California – Nevada, Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. Petaluma April 1st -3th 2009.
Peñaherrera C. 2007. “Spatial and seasonal variations in fish catch composition in the Galapagos Marine Reserve based on fin fisheries records” (oral talk). Symposium on Biology, November 24th 2007. Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Training Courses Attended
“Introduction to the Ecological Monitoring”. August 4 – 5 of 2008. Charles Darwin Foundation. Galapagos, Ecuador. By: Gibbs J and M Gardener.
“Multiespecific trophic modeling and ecological quantitative indicators for fisheries management”. July 14 – 18 of 2008. Charles Darwin Foundation and Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) of Bremen University. Galapagos, Ecuador. By: Wolff M and M Taylor.
“Geographic Information Systems and GPS”. July 9 – 20 of 2007. Charles Darwin Foundation. Galapagos, Ecuador. By: Delgado J.
“Introduction to the Geo-processing and the Geographic Information Systems applied to the assessment of marine mammals”. September 11 – 12 of 2004. Catholic University of Ecuador and Latin American Society of Specialist in Aquatic Mammals (SOLAMAC). Quito, Ecuador. By: Rollo M.
“Biology of Aquatic Mammals”. May 18 – June 15 of 2004. Catholic University of Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador. By: Utreras V.
“Introduction to field techniques for the assessment of mammals in Ecuador”. April 10 – July 3 of 2002. Catholic University of Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador. By: Fonseca R and S Burneo.
Training Courses Taught
“Introduction to the Geographic Information Systems and maps generation”. November 23-25 2009. Galapagos, Ecuador. By: Peñaherrera C and V Valencia. 2009.
“Modelling the dynamic of the marine resources considering the environmental variability. December 2008”. Galapagos, Ecuador. By: Friedeman K and C Peñaherrera. 2008
“Ecological Risk Assessment of the Effects of Fisheries in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Introduction into the Methods and risk definitions for the fisheries in Galapagos”. July 2-4 2007, Galapagos, Ecuador. By: Peñaherrera C and A Hearn. 2007.
Workshops Organised
“11th Workshop of South American Specialist in Aquatic Mammals”. September 2004. Quito, Ecuador.
