PAST EMPLOYEES
Minke Tolsma (nee Witteveen) ~ Researcher
Dates: Feb 2017 - Dec 2018
My time at the ORCA Foundation was a break from academic studies while still allowing me to pursue my passion for ecological research and environmental education. I met many wonderful people and cherished my time both socially and professionally as the resident researcher.
My primary research focused on elasmobranch egg cases washed up on three beaches, and I have since published the data collected with the enormous assistance of ORCA volunteers.
Since leaving the ORCA Foundation, I have completed my PhD in Oceanography, focusing on sustainable boat-based whale-watching in Plettenberg Bay.
I am currently based in Sedgefield as a research associate with Nelson Mandela University, working on the ecology of a local freshwater wetland.
Melissa Nel | Researcher & Coordinator
Joining ORCA straight after completing my undergrad, I couldn’t have asked for a better foundation. I gained invaluable experience in the field—from baboon monitoring and humpback dolphin surveys to observing great white sharks.
These early opportunities were instrumental in shaping my career path and igniting my passion for marine conservation. I was fortunate to be guided by mentors who challenged and inspired me, and I met incredible people from all over the world who became lifelong friends.
ORCA gave me the confidence and skills to pursue my master’s research on elasmobranchs, and I’ll always be grateful for the role it played in my journey.
J.S.F (Frikkie) van der Vyver- Msc , RPBio
In 2017, drawing on my existing research collaborations and professional experience, I initiated the design and development of several pilot studies focussed on Cape fur seals, white sharks, and commercial fisheries interactions in Plettenberg Bay, species and impacts which were poorly studied at the time.
In 2018, after a number of successful proposals and permit applications I was able to launch and lead a bona-fide long-term monitoring program with logistical and financial support attracted from Ocean Blue Adventure’s voluntourism node, the ORCA Foundation, including the Port Elizabeth Museum Marine Mammal Research Unit, the Society for Marine Mammalogy, Pretoria University, the commercial fishing industry and the local conservation management authority Cape Nature.
In 2020, I produced several technical reports covering results from the first 3 years of the program, which provided the first scientific evidence of local increases in Cape seal pup production estimates, white shark seasonal presence, seal-shark interactions, seal-fisheries interactions and Cape fur seal mortality rates—findings were shared with local conservation and municipal management authorities, at governmental scientific working group meetings and at national research symposiums, with important recommendations made for future conservation management measures for the Robberg Peninsula Marine Protected Area, the commercial fishing industry, and for ongoing long-term monitoring efforts and public safety considerations.
After struggling to secure sufficient and sustained project funding, including professional fees for my time, I returned to the sub-Antarctic for a second time to complete an extended 26-month overwintering research contract with the long-running and globally important Marion Island Marine Mammal Program.
Following this, I joined Sea Search Research and Conservation under temporary contract to lead the design and implementation of a dedicated Cape fur seal mortality monitoring program in Namibia, before immigrating to Canada in 2023, where I joined WSP Canada Inc. as a professional marine biologist.
My work now spans across British Columbia to offshore Newfoundland and Baffin Island in the Canadian high Arctic, where I support long-term marine mammal and fisheries monitoring programs for major industry developments and navy demolition exercises through regulatory permitting, compliance and mitigation.
Together with my South African research collaborators, I continue to work on data collected with support from the ORCA Foundation and others between 2017–2020, with the aim to complete existing manuscripts for publication in scientific research journals – pro-bono in my free time.
