Captain Todd Mansur
Captain Todd Mansur is a lifelong mariner, marine educator, and conservation advocate whose work is rooted in experiential ocean education and gray whale conservation. With more than 45 years at sea, Todd has dedicated his life to helping people understand the ocean not as an abstract idea, but as a living ecosystem—one that must be experienced firsthand to be truly protected.
Todd began his maritime career in 1978 as a deckhand in Southern California. Over the decades, he advanced to become a 100-ton U.S. Coast Guard–licensed captain, commanding a wide range of commercial, passenger, sportfishing, and research-support vessels throughout the Pacific. While professional seamanship provides the technical foundation for his work, Todd’s enduring focus has always been marine education, particularly centered on gray whales and other marine mammals.
He is a founding member and Director of Education for the Gulf of Catalina Gray Whale Education and Preservation Foundation, where he plays a central role in advancing the Foundation’s mission of education, public awareness, and stewardship of gray whales and their marine environment.
Todd believes that conservation begins with direct experience. For decades, he has brought education onto the ocean itself—creating opportunities for students, educators, and community members to observe gray whales in their natural habitat and develop a meaningful understanding of their behavior, migration, and ecological importance.
Through the Foundation and his work with Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, Todd has personally taken more than 40,000 students onto the ocean through no-cost or low-cost educational programs. By removing financial barriers that often limit access to marine education, these programs have introduced thousands of young people to the ocean and gray whales for the very first time—experiences that leave lasting impressions well beyond the classroom.
Each voyage becomes a floating classroom, where participants learn to identify gray whales and other marine mammals, observe surface behavior and migration patterns, and explore the challenges these animals face in an increasingly busy ocean.
Todd’s educational work is strengthened by decades of direct field observation with marine mammals in the Eastern Pacific. He has spent countless days studying gray whale behavior, migration corridors, habitat use, and interactions with human activity. He has also worked closely with Alisa Schulman-Janiger, Director of the ORCA Project and the Gray Whale Census, supporting long-term, science-based monitoring of gray whale populations. His contributions have included vessel operations, field support, and educational interpretation—helping translate rigorous research into accessible knowledge for students, educators, and the public.
Widely respected as an educator and speaker, Todd regularly leads onboard programs, classroom sessions, school assemblies, and public presentations. His teaching style blends firsthand observation, scientific grounding, and storytelling, making complex topics approachable without sacrificing accuracy. As both a working mariner and conservation educator, he brings a trusted, balanced voice to discussions about marine mammal protection and responsible ocean use.
In addition to his work with the Gray Whale Foundation, Todd serves on conservation and fisheries advisory bodies, including the Coastal Conservation Association of California and the Highly Migratory Species Advisory Subcommittee, where he advocates for practical, science-based conservation policies that protect marine life while respecting working maritime communities.
Today, Todd continues to work actively on the water through Mansur Marine Yacht Management, ensuring that his connection to the ocean—and to education—remains hands-on and current.
After more than four decades at sea, Todd measures success not in miles traveled, but in impact. Tens of thousands of students have stepped aboard a vessel, watched a gray whale surface, and left with a deeper respect for the ocean.
His guiding belief is simple: people protect what they understand—and understanding begins with experience.
