Stefanie Brendl
Ambassador

Stefanie Brendl has dedicated her life to protecting sharks and the ocean. She’s the founder and executive director of Shark Allies and has worked as a team member with various NGO coalitions to change laws and educate people.
She’s a creative and social entrepreneur who has led campaigns and projects worldwide for two decades. As a filmmaker and producer, she’s well known for her documentary Extinction Soup, which details the perils of shark finning.
Stefanie has worked on many legislative campaigns to end the trade of shark fins and to assist in the efforts to establish shark sanctuaries and marine protected areas. In 2010, she was part of the advocacy team that successfully passed the historic fin ban in Hawaii. Her work set the precedent for numerous state bans that followed; 14 states in the U.S. have since banned the trade of fins. Her work also led to changes overseas, including a fin trade ban in the EU Parliament.
She developed a successful ecotourism venture entitled Hawaii Shark Encounters, one of the first businesses to bring the average non-scuba tourist closer to sharks in the wild. Over the years, Stefanie has managed projects in the Pacific Islands to establish shark sanctuaries, TV shows, and fossil fuel-free transportation trials.
Recently, she contributed her expertise to coastal development projects in Mexico via the SIERRA A MAR establishment with Mexico-based investors and the Richard Gere Foundation. This visionary initiative brings together communities, developers, investors, and government agencies to protect and regenerate natural biological functions including watersheds, coastal ecosystems, and marine areas spanning the 100-km region of Costalegre in Jalisco, Mexico.