As a Resource Issue Education Specialist, Lisa Emanuelson tackles such wide-ranging topics as water quality, watershed education, intertidal and sandy beach education, wildlife disturbance, and other programs for the Sanctuary.
Lisa also trains, coordinates, and actively collects data with local teachers and volunteer groups participating in the LiMPETS Program (Long-term Monitoring and Experiential Training for Students), and trains and coordinates the TeamOCEAN program of kayaker naturalists, who provide interpretation and proper wildlife viewing techniques for ocean enthusiasts on the water.
Locally educated, Lisa grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, receiving her Biology degree from UCSC. She brings 11 years of educational and program experience to her position through teaching with the Ocean Discovery Center, as well as with the Catalina Island Marine Institute, both as an instructor and program director.
Lori Beraha Staff
In 2002 Lori fantasized about the perfect job and when she saw the TeamOCEAN position advertised she thought, "Better than I imagined!" Until that point she had been incorporating marine research and education in her teaching and volunteer positions with numerous organizations, including UCSC Extension, the Seymour Discovery Center at the UCSC Long Marine Lab, Save Our Shores, MARE, and the Pacific Cetacean Group. 2008 marks her seventh year with TeamOCEAN, which she continues to juggle with teaching, serving as a Marine Naturalist for Monterey Bay Whale Watch, sailing, and globe trotting during the off season.
Lauren Hanneman Staff
Jerry Speraw Staff
With less than a dozen previous open-deck kayaking experiences and no formal background in marine life studies, Jerry first joined TeamOCEAN in 2005 as a volunteer, becoming a staff member the following season. Since then, he has become a volunteer guide at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, helping to expand his experience and knowledge about Monterey Bay and its wildlife.
Applying some of the skills that he uses as a preschool teacher, director, and parent educator at Bay School Parent Co-op Preschool in Carmel, Jerry is proud of his ability to entertainingly inform and engage kayakers on the water, while also protecting wildlife from misguided disturbances. In addition to this work and his volunteer interests, he is the father of two adult daughters, and lives in Pacific Grove with his dog, Skipper.
Ron Eby Staff
Born in Ocean City, Maryland, Ron spent his youth exploring and enjoying the bays and estuaries off the Atlantic Ocean. Destined to spend the majority of his life on the water, Ron left Ocean City to attend the U.S. Naval Academy for a career at sea. While attending the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, he met Stanette and returned for good in 1989 to be with her and her four children. Ron joined TeamOCEAN in 2006 after retiring from a second career in video teleconferencing.
Always smiling and enthusiastic, Ron enjoys few things in life more than being on the water and sharing his knowledge of our wonderful marine habitat. Ron is also a docent for the Elkhorn Slough Foundation
and is involved in several projects to monitor, preserve, and enhance the Slough.
Robert Scoles Staff
Robert’s interest in nature developed during his formative years in North Carolina, where he learned to be observant and inquisitive about the plants, animals, and habitats of nearby woods and swamps, experiences which currently inspire his interpretive goal of passing those traits on to others.
Retiring from a distinguished law enforcement career in 2005, Robert refocused his abiding interest in nature by first becoming a volunteer guide at the Aquarium, after which he joined TeamOCEAN in 2006, the training and experiences of both which continually reinforce and complement each other.
Also involved in several other communities supporting a variety of family, educational, and environmental programs, Robert applies his skills, knowledge, and dedication to volunteering to benefit all those he encounters, activities in which he appreciates the full support of his wife and partner, Barbara.
Meade Fischer
Volunteer
Local environmental activist and writer, Meade Fischer was one of the two original TeamOCEAN staff members when the program was piloted in 2001.
Since then he’s been involved each year as a volunteer, also volunteering as a naturalist/hike leader for the Big Sur Land Trust, Ventana Wilderness Alliance, and Sierra Club. With no formal marine life education, he’s learned ecology, environmental activism and marine life protection from years of hands-on personal experience.
A passionate kayaker since the early 90s, Meade has paddled all over the West coast of the US and Canada and has written about those experiences in books and magazines. He has also been a part-time educator. He is married, but has no children.