Our Team

Sea Trust Wales is run by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers.

Staff

Holly Dunn

Holly Dunn

Project Manager

Holly joined Sea Trust in 2017 as Project Officer of the Porpoise Photo ID project and has since taken up the role of Project Manager. Holly oversees all of Sea Trust’s projects supporting all staff, interns and volunteers.  Holly has an MSc in Marine Biology and a BSc in Animal Behaviour & Welfare. Her past research investigates harbour porpoise distribution and habitat use within high tidal-energy areas around the Welsh Coast. She has also spent time in Madagascar and South Africa as an intern gaining experience surveying marine megafauna in the field. In her spare time you can find her out on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path watching for porpoise and other marine wildlife!

Lloyd Nelmes

Lloyd Nelmes

Project Officer, Recycle Môr Project

Lloyd is Sea Trust’s main Aquarist and Aquarium Tour Guide. Lloyd also works on various projects with local fishers to reduce the amount of plastic that enters our seas. Lloyd has a BSc in Marine Biology and is currently working on improving his dive qualifications. Being around the sea so much has unfortunately allowed him to notice the increase in marine plastic pollution so has made it his mission to clean up the Pembrokeshire coast with Surfers Against Sewage organising beach cleans all year round. If he isn’t on the shore looking for our local wildlife he is in the sea surfing or diving with it!
Nadia Tomsa

Nadia Tomsa

Education & Outreach Officer

Nadia joined Sea Trust in 2022. She has a BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology with Study Abroad. Her BSc project involved using a Shark tourism Code of Conduct to analyse how responsibly shark tourism companies were operating, within designated Shark Sanctuaries. Nadia spends lots of time working with local people and schools to engage the community in marine conservation. Nadia is currently working on our Discover Môr project, aiming to increase accessibility to Pembrokeshire’s marine world and improve awareness of our local marine life. In her spare time Nadia can usually be found walking the coast path or swimming in the sea.

Trustees

Cliff Benson

Cliff Benson

Founder and Trustee

Cliff is a naturalist and conservationist, involved in aquatic conservation since he was a founder member of WAYD (the Wildlife Association of the Yorkshire Derwent). The group was concerned with protecting the River Derwent in his native Yorkshire from canalisation in the 1970’s. It was during this period he started his long association with local Wildlife Trusts.

He moved to West Wales in 1978 as a partner in Cambrian Bird Holidays helping to establish one of the UK’s first Eco Tourism enterprises. circumstances took him away from Wales but spent several Springs in protecting Red Kite Nests in Mid Wales volunteering with the Tregaron Community Kite Group. It was at this time he first met Iolo Williams, (now a good friend and honorary President of Sea Trust).  He returned with his partner Frederike, shortly afterwards he was involved in organising a team of volunteers rescuing oiled sea birds during The Sea Empress Oil Disaster.

Consequently, Cliff began to realise our local Pembrokeshire Marine wildlife was under-recorded and set up Sea Trust as the marine section of the Wildlife Trust. In 2013 Sea Trust took over the management of the Ocean Lab on Fishguard Harbour which necessitated leaving the Wildlife Trust and setting up Sea Trust as a not for profit Community Interest Company, operating as financially independent autonomous community project.

When asked what he most enjoys about his work he answers:

I guess it’s finding out about and raising awareness of the incredible but poorly understood wildlife here in Pembrokeshire, literally on our doorstep. From great whales to our enigmatic little porpoises, I just love it when someone sees a Whale, dolphin or a porpoise for the first time with us”

Interns

Many thanks to all our previous interns. Sea Trust would not be possible without all your hard work. There are too many names to mention everyone but special thanks to our interns over the past few years who have helped to get the aquarium up and running again and assisted with all our other projects…

Alba Corral, Stacey Dubbeldam, Kaylee Balkema, Cato Baars, Rachel Towle, Emily Martin, Chloe Naan, Elora Brok, Odette de Groot, Ben Hughes, Sarah Dickson, James McKay, Leonora Davies, Rachel Buchanan, Josh Thomas, Gita Matlášková, Alexandra Smith, Laura Rommens, Jens Rasenberg, Fenella Wood, Sophie Crouch, Sophia Ellis, Laura Lemey, Rens Hensgens, Ruben Caballero, Ruben Serrano and Santiago Delgado!!!

We also take final year students who need to collect data for their final year dissertation. In 2017 we hosted Sophia Ellis from Swansea University. We’re happy to say she received a 1st for her project “Spatial and temporal variations in the distribution and abundance of harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, along a fixed transect between Fishguard and Rosslare Harbour“.

Volunteers

Sea Trust’s volunteers make all our work possible, and we are extremely proud of their dedication to the Sea Trust’s work and vision.

Ken Barnett

Stephen Lucas

Joel Kemp

Rob Havard

Ben Hughes

Steve Rosser

Dawn Nelmes

Hannah Wiggins-Jeffries

Ruby Sherali

Rose Ciappara Williams

Fran Eggby

Carrie Garner

Astrid Cuddigan

Mair Elliott

Eva John

Cathy Palmer

Gwen Evans

Marilyn Jenkins

Cerian Goodbourn

Andy Wise

Chris Smith

Rob Williams

Zoe Nosworthy

Jemma Davies

Anna Kanji

Jon James

Amy Nicholass

Stephen Hyam

Lara Van Soest

Macsen Fudge

Callum Shaw

Lloyd Odey

Ed Little

Leah Austin

Ffion

David Bright

David Willicombe

Helean Peake

Andy Drumm

Andrew Elliott

Tony Connor

Thank you!

Thank you to all of our past and current volunteers and interns not mentioned here – we really do have too many names to mention. Thank you as well to our volunteer Directors: (Angela Griffiths, Hannah Harries, Anthony Lucas, Miguel Sanchez, Stephen Davis and Cliff Benson) and Dr Tony Gallon and his Sea Trust North Wales team who survey on the Holyhead to Dublin ferry route.