Vinay is a marine scientist, born in India and grew up in Dubai and New Zealand. Vinay specializes in studying animal movements and distributions as well as understanding how environmental and man made changes may impact threatened species. He completed his PhD at James Cook University, Australia, and has previously worked as a Research Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. He currently is the Research Director of Sharks Pacific, an NGO based in the Cook Islands working with Pacific communities to manage and conserve elasmobranch species.

Through his experiences, he has worked on a range of threatened species, from sharks, rays, sea snakes, turtles, whales, fish and even birds, with his work focusing on finding ways to better manage and conserve their populations. A lot of his work has found him working closely with professional fishers and remote fishing communities finding ways to conserve threatened species while supporting sustainable fishing practices that help preserve local livelihoods. Apart from working on sharks, Vinay is also an expert on sea snakes and is a co-chair for the IUCN Sea snake specialist group, working on better understanding and conserving a unique group of marine reptiles.

Dr Vinay's current and recent projects include:

• Understanding and trialing mitigation measures for shark depredation in artisanal Tuna fisheries in Niue

• Identifying important migratory pathways for Oceanic Whitetip and Silky Sharks across the Pacific

• Capacity development workshops through the ‘Denticles and Tentacles’ program in the Pacific

• Development of a Crew Member Observer Program to enhance accurate reporting of sea snake bycatch in Western Australian Prawn Trawl fisheries

• Green turtle population trajectory modelling in the Northern Great Barrier Reef

• Global reassessment of marine snake species under the IUCN Red List

• Supervising a number of PhD, masters and honors student projects looking at movement, physiology and management of billfish, sea snakes, marine turtles, sharks and rays.