Aylin Ulman is a marine scientist, conservationist, and founder of Le Puffer, the world's first luxury leather brand made from invasive pufferfish.
Her relationship with the sea began early. Her father was among the first people to use scuba equipment in Türkiye, diving with the Turkish Navy around 1955. She grew up near Toronto, moved to Vancouver at twenty entirely on her own, and spent years teaching and diving across the Great Barrier Reef, the Andaman Sea, the Caribbean, and the coasts of Canada, Belize, Honduras, Mexico, and Türkiye. She certified over a thousand divers, discovered sharks off Australia, and eventually helped run a marine conservation company in Belize. It was there that a question took hold: where was the data actually going?
She returned to university to find out, training under Daniel Pauly at UBC, the originator of the Shifting Baselines concept, before completing a joint PhD between Sorbonne and the University of Pavia, studying invasive species spread through recreational boating across seven Mediterranean countries. Pavia also turned her into a foodie.
After moving to Türkiye in 2018, Pauly connected her to a Canadian pharmaceutical company researching tetrodotoxin, the pufferfish's famous poison, as a potential pain medication. Over three years, she dissected more than 2,000 specimens, investigating their reproduction, diet, toxicity, and predators. She got to know the species from the inside out.
In 2023, she won the UNDP Ocean Innovation Challenge, a competitive grant and mentorship program for blue-economy innovation. Landing pufferfish is prohibited in Türkiye because of its toxicity, so no supply chain existed. She spent the year building one from scratch: permissions, tanning R&D, studio, team. Every hurdle was a first.
Le Puffer launched in 2023. The silver-cheeked toadfish is too poisonous to eat, so no fishery targets it. Meanwhile, it decimates native Mediterranean biodiversity with a relentless appetite. The Turkish government pays a bounty per tail for its removal. It is not enough. Le Puffer creates a second economic reason to take it out of the sea. Putting pressure on this population is the point.
Through her consultancy, Mersea Marine, she continues to advise on invasive species management, fisheries science, and elasmobranch conservation. The last of these may be her truest love. Her heart grows a thousand times in the presence of sharks. She is the author of over 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is currently presenting research at Sharks International 2026, identifying for the first time a reproductive habitat for the critically endangered Angelshark in the Eastern Mediterranean.
She describes herself as addicted to sharks and turquoise. Both show up in everything she does.