Nathalie Houtman

Nathalie is an Advisor for North Sea and cetacean conservation based at WWF Netherlands.

Nathalie has always felt a deep connection with seas and oceans. Her passion for conservation was evident at a young age. Through WWF’s Youth Club, she helped raise money for different causes, such as saving sea turtles and jaguars. It was this passion that drove her choice to study Environmental policy at Utrecht University, followed by Forest and Nature Conservation at Wageningen University. It was at the end of this Master program that she had a life changing encounter with two blue whales during a whale watching trip in the Azores. Seeing these huge and yet so vulnerable animals inspired her to change direction and start focusing on marine mammal conservation. After a season of working for a whale watching company at the island of Pico, she decided to specialise in marine mammals and completed the MSc Marine Mammal Science at St Andrews in 2018. Not only did the program provide her with a sound scientific basis, she also gained more fieldwork experience, with an expedition to Antarctica as an absolute highlight. 

In her current work at WWF, Nathalie focuses her work to reduce cumulative impacts on cetaceans. Using science and advocacy is essential to reach conservation impact at a local and international scale. Much of her work is advocating for conservation measures to reduce harbour porpoise bycatch in the North Sea, and campaigning to reduce underwater noise.