Remembering Jeroen Jongejans

We are extremely saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Jeroen Jongejans, co-founder of Dive! Tūtūkākā, New Zealand’s largest diving operator.  

Jeroen was a staunch supporter of the need for holistic, ecosystem-based marine management in Aotearoa. During an interview in May 2019 he said: “For me, it is not hard to support the Sustainable Seas objective, it makes a lot of sense to have an EBM approach.”  

We were fortunate to have Jeroen as a member of our Stakeholder Panel, as a representative of Aotearoa New Zealand’s marine tourism industry. The Panel provides perspectives to ensure that our research is relevant for the wider stakeholder community. 

“I believe it’s better to be onboard helping to steer and sail this ship than sit on the shore… as long as we navigate successfully and achieve better outcomes!” Jeroen Jongejans 

Julie Hall, the Challenge Director, says: “We will hugely miss Jeroen’s enthusiasm and positivity. From our very first conversation, I’ve never had anyone as excited from the get-go about what Sustainable Seas is wanting to achieve.” 

The loss of Jeroen will be strongly felt throughout the Northland tourism community. Our thoughts are with Jeroen’s whānau and friends during this time.