Our Team
Sea Trust Wales is run by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers.
Staff
Nadia Tomsa
Charity Director
Nadia joined Sea Trust in 2022 as Education & Outreach Officer. In January 2024, Nadia then took on the role of managing the charity. Nadia oversees Sea Trust’s conservation, research, and education projects. She also supports and coordinates all staff, interns, and volunteers. Nadia has a BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology with Study Abroad. Nadia is passionate about engaging the community and wider public with Wales’ incredible marine life and environment. In her spare time, Nadia can usually be found walking the coast path or swimming in the sea, always looking for wildlife!
Lloyd Nelmes
Aquarium Manager & Project Officer (Recycle Môr)
Lloyd is Sea Trust’s Aquarium Manager. 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!
Anna Webberley
Marine Conservation & Education Officer
Anna joined Sea Trust in February 2024, and works with schools and the Marine Biology Club to help with public education and outreach. She also helps with the citizen science marine wildlife surveys. Anna has a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences with a Professional Training Year from Cardiff University.
Anna loves walking the Pembrokeshire coast path, bird watching and exploring local beaches and rock pools.
Tiger Sturdgess
Seasonal Aquarium Host
Tiger joined us as a volunteer at the start of 2024 and works seasonally as our Aquarium Host, keeping a close eye on our tanks and animals as well as running our daily tours. Her lifelong love of the oceans comes from a childhood spent sailing around the
Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas. When not hidden in the depths of the Aquarium, Tiger can be found reading in her garden or under the sea SCUBA Diving.
Sam Cox
Charity Administrator
Sam joined Sea Trust in February 2024.
She works part-time providing admin support for the Sea Trust team.
Sam enjoys yoga and Somatic movement and regularly walks the Marine Walk and ‘dips’ in the sea.
Friederike Schmidt
Finance Administrator
Friederike joined Sea Trust in August 2023.
She works part-time as our Finance Administrator and has transformed Sea Trust’s finances!
Friederike swims, walks and grows food in her spare time and loves being part of the local community in Fishguard & Goodwick.
Trustees
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”
We have a talented and knowledgeable team of five Trustees.
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 all of our hard-working and dedicated interns!
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.
There are too many to mention by name, but we would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you for continually donating your time and hard work to us over the years.