The  Cetasi was established by on 8 June 2015 in Jakarta Indonesia by five marine mammal and ocean enthusiasts: Dr Putu Liza Mustika ('Icha'), Februanty S. Purnomo ('Yanti'), Adityo Setiawan ('Adit'), I Made Jaya Ratha, DVM ('Jaya') and Muh Erdi Lazuardi ('Erdi'). The five colleagues have been involved in marine conservation and general environmental issues in Indonesia since 1997 and internationally since 2006.

Dr Putu Liza Mustika (Icha) obtained her PhD from James Cook University in Australia in December 2011. Her PhD was on the sustainability of dolphin watching tourism in Bali, Indonesia. Her current interests are cetacean watching tourism, by-catch, marine mammal protected areas and stranding management. Her professional blog is http://putuliza.blogspot.com. 

Februanty Purnomo (Yanti) did her honours degree back in 1999 in Lovina, a work that eventually became the springboard for Icha's PhD work on dolphin tourism in Bali. For the last several years, Yanti has been working in climate change issues in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. She is interested in doing more research on marine mammal and fisheries interactions.    

Having worked in eastern Indonesia for several years, Adityo Setiawan, MAppSc. (Adit) is a natural spotter of whales and dolphins. In 2013, he completed his Masters degree on natural resource management from James Cook University in Australia. In addition to improving his stranding management skills, Adit's main focus is now on the design and management of marine mammal protected areas. 

I Made Jaya Ratha, DVM, MSc. (Jaya) is a veterinarian with a particular interest in sea turtle conservation in Bali and Indonesia. He has also been working on Marine Protected Areas in Bali and beyond. Jaya's skills as a vet are very valuable for stranding cases in Indonesia, particularly in Bali. 

Muhammad Erdi Lazuardi, MDevPrac. (Erdi) is a marine ecologist who has been working in Raja Ampat for more than half a decade. Although his areas of expertise are coral reef and reef fish and Marine Protected Areas, he also conducted cetacean ecological surveys in Raja Ampat. Erdi obtained a Master of Development Practice from James Cook University in Australia. He loves his guitar and harmonica, hence he'd bring them to any field works and meetings for ice breakers.