00:00:00
Translator: Federica Rubattu
Reviewer: Younes Amraoui
00:00:27
What if we were to redefine
the relationship we have with sharks,
00:00:30
to one based on scientific fact,
reality, and logic,
00:00:34
rather than the current one, based off of
limited and biased information?
00:00:38
I want to talk about how changing the way
we perceive sharks and interact with them
00:00:43
could change our environment, economies,
and lives for the better.
00:00:46
But first, I want
to introduce you to someone
00:00:50
who has positively influenced and inspired
my life's work, passion, and focus.
00:00:57
She's intelligent, she's graceful,
beautiful, efficient,
00:01:02
but what I admire her most for
is her very important work and role.
00:01:07
What most people don't know
is that without her work and influence,
00:01:11
none of our lives would be the same.
00:01:13
And I wanted to describe her to you first,
before I showed you her photo,
00:01:18
because I've come to find that,
oftentimes, we make snap judgments,
00:01:22
prejudice, based off of
very little factual information.
00:01:25
I've personally found this
because oftentimes I'm judged solely
00:01:29
off of my appearance
or work as a professional model,
00:01:32
rather than my primary work
in science, conservation, and business.
00:01:37
So, please keep in mind the truth
00:01:40
that often there's more
than meets the eye,
00:01:42
and when you take time
to get to know someone
00:01:45
and better understand them,
00:01:46
maybe you can better value them.
00:01:47
And sometimes it's a little more
interesting than you think too.
00:01:51
So, without further ado,
my beautiful role model, Bella,
00:01:55
which means beautiful,
00:01:56
and yes, she's a great white shark,
or more accurately termed, a white shark,
00:02:00
Carcharodon carcharias.
00:02:02
Now, I know you might just be
noticing her nice teeth
00:02:05
and thinking something along
the lines of "monster,"
00:02:07
but tonight, put your prior beliefs
about sharks on hold,
00:02:10
while I explain why Bella
is an ideal role model,
00:02:12
why we should seriously take action
00:02:14
to redefine the relationship
we have with these animals,
00:02:17
to one based on scientific fact,
00:02:19
to that or reality,
00:02:20
rather than appearances, snap judgments,
and fictitious Hollywood movies.
00:02:26
Bella and her kind
are extremely intelligent.
00:02:29
I've observed her, and her kind,
00:02:32
outsmarting even humans
within a matter of moments
00:02:34
by adapting her behavior
even in novel situations.
00:02:39
This ability to quickly adapt
00:02:42
has likely led to sharks'
resilience over time.
00:02:45
They evolved before dinosaurs,
00:02:47
before trees.
00:02:49
They evolved two more known
sensory systems than we even have
00:02:52
to aid them a high level of efficiency
00:02:54
in their very important role
in the ecosystems,
00:02:57
shaping, influencing them,
and making them stronger, and better.
00:03:01
Now, even though they are
highly cognitive, cautious,
00:03:04
and take in multiple factors
before they take action,
00:03:07
it is true that on rare, rare, rare,
much more rare, occasions
00:03:11
than we make mistakes,
00:03:13
sharks do make mistakes, and,
unfortunately, someone does get bit.
00:03:16
Still, considering the millions of people
00:03:18
that enter the water,
the oceans, every single day,
00:03:22
and the average number
of fatalities is five to seven ...
00:03:28
Now, I feel extremely lucky.
00:03:30
I get to spend almost every single day
diving with sharks,
00:03:35
over 30 different species around the world
00:03:37
on a diversity of research programs
and conservation campaigns.
00:03:40
My work in marine biology
focuses on ethology,
00:03:43
which is animal behavior and psychology,
and cognitive ecology,
00:03:47
where I study the way the animals interact
with one another and their environment.
00:03:51
I've come to observe and learn
some of the most fascinating things
00:03:55
I wish I had more time
to share with you tonight.
00:03:57
But in my limited time with you,
00:03:59
what I've come to appreciate,
00:04:01
what I feel is most important and urgent,
00:04:03
and if I could speak up for sharks,
what I'd want to share with you,
00:04:06
is their very important role and work,
and how it affects all of our lives.
00:04:14
Essentially, imagine sharks
as the ocean's immune system,
00:04:19
the white blood cells.
00:04:20
They pick up the dead, dying,
weak, sick, injured animals,
00:04:23
leaving only the healthiest to reproduce,
00:04:25
keeping lower trophic levels
and populations in balance.
00:04:29
We all rely on our immune systems,
00:04:31
and the scientific evidence
for the importance of sharks is mounting.
00:04:35
There are so many studies
00:04:37
that show one after the other
00:04:38
that the removal of sharks
00:04:40
has environmental and economic
negative impacts -
00:04:46
Ransom A Myers, Bascompete -
00:04:49
effects all the way down
to coral reef systems.
00:04:52
The removal of sharks has been
attributed with starvation.
00:04:56
Throughout the respected
scientific community,
00:04:58
there's no denying
the importance of sharks,
00:05:00
their effects on our environments,
00:05:02
our economies,
00:05:03
even the air that we breathe.
00:05:05
70-80% of the air
we rely on to continue living
00:05:10
comes from our oceans.
00:05:11
Either directly or indirectly,
we all rely on the oceans.
00:05:15
Billions rely on it for seafood,
00:05:17
over 200 million rely on it
for direct employments.
00:05:21
Our lives, our futures,
are interconnected.
00:05:24
In the words of one
of my human role models,
00:05:27
the wonderful Dr Sylvia Earle,
00:05:28
"With every drop of water that you drink,
every breath that you take,
00:05:32
you're connected to the sea.
00:05:33
No matter where on the planet you live."
00:05:38
But sharks are still scary, right?
00:05:40
So that's kind of the problem.
00:05:41
Most peoples don't know
many factual things about sharks,
00:05:44
except they have teeth,
00:05:45
and many more people don't know
00:05:48
that sharks are actually being
decimated, globally,
00:05:51
at a rate of over 11,000
every single hour.
00:05:56
That's more than three sharks
every single second.
00:06:00
That translates to 70-100 million
sharks killed every year.
00:06:04
That's like killing everyone in Spain,
Austria and France every single year.
00:06:08
Now, according to fishing records,
over 90% of sharks have been depleted.
00:06:13
According to the International Union
for Conservation of Nature,
00:06:18
over a third of all large sharks
have been wiped out,
00:06:21
or are facing extinction,
or are vulnerable to extinction.
00:06:24
So, why such a mass slaughter
of such an important and keystone species?
00:06:29
Well, some of it is due to silly things
like souvenirs and pharmaceuticals.
00:06:34
Some of it is due to men
and their inferiority complexes ...
00:06:38
I'm guessing.
00:06:39
(Laughter)
00:06:42
(Applause)
00:06:45
80% of long-lining is bycatch,
and most of it is sharks.
00:06:53
Culling, which is probably this least
intelligent reaction a country can have
00:06:59
to an adverse shark-human interaction;
00:07:01
basically, like shooting
yourself in the foot,
00:07:03
from a behavioral standpoint,
00:07:05
also a waste and indiscriminate killer.
00:07:08
But the number one killer
of sharks, globally:
00:07:12
a bowl of soup.
00:07:15
Yes, we are trading
the health and productivity
00:07:19
of our oceans-reliant environment
and economies for a bowl of soup.
00:07:27
What's worse, it's not even nutritious;
it's actually toxic.
00:07:32
It's merely for the Chinese culture belief
00:07:34
that when they serve that soup,
00:07:35
it means that they're
prestigious or important.
00:07:38
But what is classy about catching a shark,
00:07:42
hacking off its fins,
oftentimes while it's still alive,
00:07:45
wasting 95% of the animal
00:07:46
just to make yourself feel better
about your social status.
00:07:49
Consider: sharks have been evolving
for over 400 million years;
00:07:53
humans, 200,000,
and their culturals, far less.
00:07:56
We can live without culture,
but not without our oceans,
00:07:59
and our oceans cannot live
without their immune systems.
00:08:02
Like rhinos killed just for their horns,
and elephants killed just for their tusks,
00:08:07
sharks are being killed, slaughtered,
globally, just for their fins.
00:08:12
Now, I love traveling the world
00:08:14
and experiencing
the diversity of cultures,
00:08:16
but there has to be a point
00:08:18
when we re-evaluate the relationship
00:08:21
that we have with sharks and animals,
00:08:24
and look at how our cultures
can adapt and evolve honorably.
00:08:29
An ancient Chinese proverb says
00:08:31
when you do not change your direction,
you may end up where you are heading.
00:08:36
So what if we were to adopt this idea
00:08:38
and change the way
we interact with sharks?
00:08:41
What would that look like?
00:08:42
Well, the great news is
we already have concrete examples,
00:08:45
places like Palau, Bahamas,
areas like Cabo Pulmo, and Palmyra.
00:08:50
In those areas,
00:08:51
reef and fish stocks are thriving.
00:08:54
Ecotourism is bringing in
over US $314 million to local economies,
00:09:01
directly employing over 10,000 jobs.
00:09:03
This study by Dr Michele Barnes
and the University of British Columbia
00:09:07
is actually showing that that number
will increase, more than double,
00:09:10
in less than 20 years.
00:09:12
So $780 million,
00:09:15
far outweighing the global fin trade.
00:09:18
So put at the most basic terms,
even on just the monetary level,
00:09:21
which is usually
what politicians care about,
00:09:24
a live shark is worth more
than a dead shark.
00:09:27
And what's great is,
these shark ecotourism programs,
00:09:30
they can support research.
00:09:31
I was working out with Dr Mauricio Hoyos,
00:09:34
we were tagging, taking biopsies,
00:09:35
and I was wondering:
00:09:36
Is any of this conservation-based research
00:09:38
going to make a difference
00:09:40
before these guys are
just wiped out off the planet?
00:09:42
Then one day, 20 meters underwater,
00:09:44
doing a population count
surrounded by these beautiful sharks,
00:09:47
I was realizing by the time I gather,
process and publish my studies,
00:09:52
another 3-6 million sharks will be killed.
00:09:54
So why study something that's being
eradicated the rate the sharks are
00:09:57
and not do anything about it.
00:09:59
So I opened my research to the public.
00:10:01
I developed a program,
00:10:03
where people could come to learn about
sharks from a scientific perspective.
00:10:07
I collaborated with @juansharks,
00:10:11
who is a well-known
shark and marine photographer
00:10:14
and shark specialist.
00:10:16
We developed this program
that's research- and conservation-based,
00:10:20
and opened it to the public
00:10:21
so they could learn about
their biology, physiology, behavior,
00:10:24
how to interact with them safely,
00:10:26
answers all those questions
people don't know about sharks.
00:10:29
The cool thing is people actually
get to get in the water with us
00:10:32
and see for themselves, eye to eye,
what sharks are really like.
00:10:35
It's such a successful program
00:10:37
as people can speak up for sharks
from a first-hand perspective
00:10:40
and also influence their networks,
and change people's minds.
00:10:44
We are also able to fund
educational outreach through this,
00:10:46
reef and beach cleanups,
local conservation campaigns,
00:10:49
and international conservation campaigns,
00:10:52
like stopping the cull
in Western Australia,
00:10:54
a story for another time
00:10:56
I'm honestly rather glad I don't have time
to share tonight as I'd end up crying.
00:11:00
But we were able to save
one of the juvenile sharks.
00:11:07
She was under three meters,
and she would have just died,
00:11:10
even though she was
cattle tagged improperly,
00:11:12
and, you know, for 90 minutes,
I swam with her, looking her in the eye,
00:11:17
and trying to tell her
it was going to be okay
00:11:20
as blood was spilling out of her head,
00:11:21
and kind of trying to tell myself
it was going to be okay.
00:11:24
After 90 minutes, she swam off:
and it was that effort.
00:11:28
This is another conservation campaign,
a little better known.
00:11:31
It reached over 2 million people in 2 days
00:11:33
and featured none other
than the lovely role model, Bella,
00:11:38
who is so great for her species,
a great representative.
00:11:42
At the time when we released it,
00:11:43
it was because there was a study put out
00:11:46
showing there were less
than 350 great whites,
00:11:48
in the area from California to Alaska
to Hawaii to Mexico,
00:11:51
an area where juansharks and I
grew up diving with sharks,
00:11:54
with white sharks specifically.
00:11:56
We knew many of them,
had spent much time with them,
00:11:58
studying behavior, working with them.
00:12:00
So what do you do when you hear
someone you love, care about, understand,
00:12:04
is being eradicated?
00:12:05
Something.
00:12:06
So, we thought, with Water Inspired
00:12:09
we'd try and use inspiring photography
and videography to inspire people to care.
00:12:13
We needed people to give white sharks
a second look, a second chance.
00:12:17
They don't make the news very often.
00:12:19
When they do, I'm sure you guys all know,
it's not usually good press.
00:12:23
So we were successful.
00:12:25
We wanted to show
the natural beauty of sharks.
00:12:27
But most often, when people see
a beautiful image like this,
00:12:30
they just think it's just on its way
to eat the next person, right?
00:12:33
So, we want to do the anti-Jaws.
00:12:36
The little blond girl, she gets eaten
in the fictitious movie, right?
00:12:39
So what's it like in reality?
00:12:41
Well, I've been working with them
for a long time, right?
00:12:44
We dive to get receivers
and other things like that,
00:12:47
so I wanted to show a connection,
00:12:49
I wanted people to be able to connect,
see another side of these animals,
00:12:52
realize that we can coexist.
00:12:55
But in order to coexist,
they have to exist,
00:12:59
and there's so much more
to these animals than meets the eye.
00:13:04
When you take the time
to get to know somebody,
00:13:06
you know, you can understand
that maybe there's more to them.
00:13:10
And so I wanted
to share that with the world.
00:13:13
And I have to give the disclaimer -
00:13:16
I mean, there's just so many things that
I would love to share with you guys --
00:13:20
but I do have to give the disclaimer
00:13:22
that they deserve
a lot of respect ... not fear,
00:13:27
but they are apex predators,
they do have a role ...
00:13:30
and we need them for that role,
00:13:32
it's very important.
00:13:33
I mean, I could cite study
after study after study,
00:13:36
showing the importance of that.
00:13:39
You know, if I wanted to go out
into the African savanna and pat a lion,
00:13:43
you know what I would do?
00:13:44
I would call up the lion whisperer,
and I'd go hang out with him,
00:13:48
and I'd learn, and I'd study from him,
00:13:50
out of respect for the animal
because of its reputation.
00:13:53
So, while I understand that,
00:13:55
especially the way that they are
portrayed in the media,
00:13:58
that people are afraid of them,
00:14:00
you shouldn't be afraid of them;
00:14:02
you should just respect them.
00:14:04
they are beautiful animals,
there's so much more to them.
00:14:07
So if there's one thing
that Bella has taught me,
00:14:09
it's that, like Bella,
00:14:11
we can all positively change and influence
our environments for the better.
00:14:15
All we need to do is take action.
00:14:19
In the words of Jane Goodall:
00:14:20
Every day we make an impact.
00:14:21
It's up to us what kind of an impact
we want that to be.
00:14:27
Now, this was just one successful
collaborative program
00:14:30
that we collaborated with GoPro on.
00:14:32
They were very true to the message
and released a beautiful piece,
00:14:35
but there are so many other things,
other media pieces we could do,
00:14:39
even just writing to a restaurant,
asking them not to serve shark fin soup.
00:14:44
New campaigns, political policies,
the ideas are endless.
00:14:48
What it comes down to is:
00:14:50
Yeah, knowledge is powerful,
but it's nothing without action.
00:14:53
I love Nike.
00:14:54
I get up every morning and go running.
00:14:56
It's like, just do it.
00:14:57
You may not feel like it,
but any effort is better than no effort.
00:15:00
[We may feel like what we are doing
is just a drop in the ocean,
00:15:03
but the ocean would be less
without that drop.]
00:15:05
So I want to ask you guys tonight,
00:15:08
(Laughter)
00:15:10
to take action for your future.
00:15:12
Sharks and the oceans affect us all.
00:15:14
I'd like to see a raise of hands
00:15:16
for all those that are willing to take
a small, small action for a better future.
00:15:23
Raise your hands if you are
willing to take that action.
00:15:26
Oh, I so see all those hands.
00:15:27
Okay, I'm going to call you out on it.
00:15:29
I want you guys to use that hand
and grab your phones.
00:15:32
I'll do it with you.
00:15:33
Grab your phones.
00:15:34
I know it's usually rude to grab
your phones during a talk,
00:15:37
but you'll be helping me.
00:15:39
This is really good. This is good.
This is your call to action.
00:15:42
Let's do it!
(Laughter)
00:15:44
So I want you guys to grab your phone,
00:15:47
and we're going to spread
great ideas globally.
00:15:51
I want you guys to Tweet,
Facebook, Instagram, something.
00:15:55
Spread an idea,
00:15:57
share a fact about a shark.
00:16:00
I'm going to do it with you
because it's actually really fun.
00:16:03
Even though you guys are kind of dark -
00:16:05
Okay, ready? Smile!
00:16:07
Okay. So don't get distracted
with the missed call or text.
00:16:10
This'll only take a minute,
and I'm off the stage, so ...
00:16:13
All right, let's do this together.
00:16:15
We're going to make a difference,
a measurable impact for sharks.
00:16:19
So I'm going to Instagram.
00:16:21
This is how the world is now, right?
We all just walk around on our phones.
00:16:25
I think I saw that on a talk earlier.
00:16:27
This is all good. Okay next.
00:16:29
So I'm going to use a hashtag.
00:16:32
#HelpSaveSharks.
00:16:35
Okay. #HelpSaveBella.
00:16:37
Here with the amazing group
at TEDx conference in Europe,
00:16:40
helping spread great ideas and ways
we can help save sharks and our future.
00:16:43
Sharks are important.
00:16:45
Redefining the relationships
we have with sharks.
00:16:47
#SharkConservation, #HelpSaveSharks,
#NoSharkFinSoup, #TEDSavesSharks,
00:16:52
#TEDTalksonSharks.
00:16:53
Okay.
00:16:54
And I will share that.
00:16:56
Awesome!
00:16:57
And this is the best part.
00:16:59
I get to thank you all
00:17:03
for being a part of the force
00:17:04
that redefines the relationship
we have with sharks for a better future.
00:17:09
Thank you, guys.
00:17:10
(Applause)
