Our Team

David McGuire

David is the Founder and Director of the shark and marine conservation nonprofit “Shark Stewards”, a non-profit dedicated to protecting sharks from overfishing and the wildlife trade, and protecting critical marine habitat through regulation and policy. A marine biologist, David is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences where he conducts shark studies in California and Hawai’i using photo identification and eDNA. Through Shark Stewards, his work in media production generates advocacy campaigns from California to China. Shark Stewards introduced the first North American shark fin trade ban and led several states and international movements limiting the overfishing of sharks and the shark fin trade, including listing endangered sharks at the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species. Shark Stewards actively partners with NOAA in our National Marine Sanctuaries and the Ocean Protection Council in our California marine protected areas, where he is  Co-chair of a California MPA collaborative committee.

A captain and technical diver, David has made four transpacific expeditions under sail. A documentary filmmaker, David received an Emmy for Field Production and Camera on the documentary “Reefs to Rainforests” on the Biodiversity Expedition in the Philippines with the California Academy of Sciences, and has numerous awards for his conservation documentaries. Since 2007 he has been involved with the International Ocean Film Festival as a contributor, screener, and programmer, and hosts the popular shark program. He has written and contributed to numerous publications and books, including a National Geographic column, and publishing a shark science book for youth: Sharks for Kids. He is a popular public speaker on sharks and the ocean, is a lecturer and student advisor at the University of California, Berkeley, taught in the Masters of Environmental Sciences at the University of San Francisco, and teaches at the College of Marin.

David’s Full Bio