Growing up in Australia, a huge part of life has been spent by the ocean. Since I can remember, my favourite activities involved going to the beach, swimming, snorkeling, diving, investigating rockpools and marveling at the natural beauty and creatures of the sea. I remember clearly one of my first shark encounters was while fishing with a friend. A small Port Jackson shark was fouled hooked on a friends fishing line. Holding the animal to dehook the shark to return to its home, I was fascinated by the beauty and sheer strength of the animal and since that moment my passion for sharks began. I decided to focus this adoration into doing something positive for the oceans and its inhabitants. I graduated from University Technology Sydney with a BSC in Environmental Biology with a major in Marine and Coastal Ecosystems. After finishing my undergraduate degree, I completed an Honour thesis on the demography and behaviour of Abudefduf species, a small tropical damelfish, in the Sydney region. I have been a committee member and councilor on various non-profit and government organisations, including the Australian Marine Science Association Council, Christine Baltzer Parks Foundation and Sydney Water Customer Committee. I was heavily involved in the consultation process and outreach effort to conserve the critically endangered Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharius taurus) on the East Coast of Australia and the creation of Marine Protected Areas to protect critical habitats of the species, as well as the successful ‘Save Ningaloo Reef’ campaign for several years to protect the area from overdevelopment and conserve the area for whale shark and tiger shark populations.
From then I travelled to various locations around the world assisting with marine research and conservation efforts. After working on a research project on marine turtles and coral reef fishes in the Yuctan Peninsula in Mexico and diving with sharks in Belise and Honduras, I pursued my dream of conducting scientific research with sharks with Dr. Samuel Gruber at the world renowned Bimini Biological Field Station. I assisted in numerous research projects and was ultimately given the position of Station Manager for almost four years. Here I was given the opportunity to be involved in the research of several elasmobranch species including lemons, tigers, bulls, blacktip, sharpnose, nurse, carribean reef sharks and the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish in Bimini. Additionally, I have worked on projects with lemon sharks and bull sharks off the coast of Jupiter, Florida for three seasons; Marquesas Keys, Florida; Tiger Beach, Bahamas and a short longline survey with Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina and spent some time in the genetics lab at Stoneybrook University working with Dr. Demian Chapman on a genetics project on Blacktip sharks (C.limbatus) in Bimini, Bahamas.
I travelled to Southern Africa a few months ago to get a feel for the elasmobranch research and conservation efforts are being conducted in the region. I also got to live out a lifelong dream of mine to swim with Great Whites and Whale Sharks in South Africa and Mozambique! I assisted the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC) with an inspiring Oceans Day event in which hundreds of local school children and members of the community attended, pledging to conserve the oceans. I was then given the opportunity to assist SASC with a bull shark (Zambezi shark) tagging and tracking research trip to the beautiful Breede River, where the world’s largest bull shark was caught by SASC in 2009. During these experiences, I was inspired by Meag and SASCs conservation and outreach efforts. Now I am here to assist SASC with their outreach, research and conservation efforts. I am so excited to helping out here for the next few months!
Sharks have been around for approximately 400 million years and play such an important role in the ocean ecosystem. Little is known about the status and biology of many species and studies show that shark populations continue to become threatened in regions throughout the world. It is our duty to contribute to the understanding and conservation of these special animals. There is so much work to be done and the more people we can inspire and educate, especially from a young age, to magnificence of these creatures and their importance in our oceans, the greater chance we have of conserving shark populations for generations to come.
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