Beyond Jaws: Exploring Shark Science and Conservation

Dr. Pilar Blanco-Parra grew up in Bogotá, high in the Andes and far from any ocean. She saw the sea for the second time in her life when she moved to Santa Marta to finish her marine biology degree. Within a couple of years she had been stranded overnight on a fishing boat during her first shark project and sent diving as the Galápagos National Park's "shark expert" after a tourist was bitten. She was still an undergrad. In this episode of Beyond Jaws, Andrew Lewin and Dr. David Ebert hear the stories behind Pilar's career, one of the best runs of storytelling we've had on the show. She explains how she fell for sharks during a class presentation, how she pieced together a master's project on blue shark age and growth after two projects fell through, and why her PhD on the banded guitarfish filled a gap nobody else was working on. She defended that PhD a week before giving birth, nearly left science for a corporate job, and rebuilt her research career in the Mexican Caribbean with a citizen science program run with divers and fishers. Now Pilar is the Endowed Faculty in Marine Conservation Biology at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she's building a new shark and ray program with a focus on rays. Dave also offers a word of advice for students: if a field task doesn't feel safe, you're allowed to say no. Links mentioned in this episode Dr. Pilar Blanco-Parra, Florida Gulf Coast University: https://scholarscommons.fgcu.edu/esploro/profile/maria_del_pilar_blanco Blue shark age and growth paper (2008): https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-19572008000300010 Banded guitarfish reproductive biology paper (2009): https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315409990348 Citizen science for sharks and rays in the Mexican Caribbean (2022): https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116490 Searching for Lost Sharks: Extinct or Alive series: https://youtu.be/2ZXrAHgkEkQ?si=wytRFQzWSRDU1vLT Takeaways You don't need to grow up by the ocean to build a life around it Some of the best shark careers start by finding a species or region nobody else is studying When a project falls through, keep asking around; the next contact may have the samples you need Citizen science can produce real data when funding is thin, especially in places with active diving and fishing communities Careers can bend around family and still come back to sharks If a field task feels unsafe, you can say no, even as a student Pilar's advice: don't accept no as an answer. Your approach is your own, even if others are working on the same thing Connect with us: Website: https://bit.ly/37TMqeKInstagram: https://bit.ly/3eorwXZ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondjawspodcast7591 Dave:  Website: https://www.lostsharkguy.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/3q1J9Q5 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lostsharkguy Andrew: Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/37g5WkG YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OceanDecoded4U  

Sharks and rays are landed every day along the coast from Mauritania to Angola, yet for decades almost nothing was known about them. Researchers working in the region have often been the only people in their country doing this work, isolated by distance, language and a lack of funding. That changed this year with the public launch of the West and Central African Elasmobranch Coalition. Andrew and Dr. David Ebert welcome back Ghofrane Labyedh and Ana Lucia Furtado Soares, two of the people leading the coalition. They explain how a small Gulf of Guinea network that began in 2023 grew into a 14-country coalition backed by Manta Trust and the African Marine Conservation Organization, and how its members work across French, English, Portuguese and Spanish to share knowledge fairly. You'll hear about the coalition's standardized data collection protocol, five planned CITES workshops through 2028, a rapid landing-site assessment running in five countries during the same season, and the region's role as the final stop for the global ISRA initiative. Ghofrane closes with a dream for the future: a West and Central Africa where scientists study sharks alive in the water. Takeaways The coalition started in 2023 as the Gulf of Guinea Elasmobranch Network and expanded at governments' request It now includes 14 of roughly 20 countries between Mauritania and Angola Coordinators work across four languages so knowledge reaches every member country fairly A shared data protocol will be published in three languages within months Five countries are running the same landing-site survey design in the same season for the first time Five CITES workshops are planned between now and 2028 to turn science into national policy The African Atlantic was the last region assessed for Important Shark and Ray Areas Website: https://www.wcasharksandrays.org/ Connect with us: Website: https://bit.ly/37TMqeKInstagram: https://bit.ly/3eorwXZ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondjawspodcast7591 Dave:  Website: https://www.lostsharkguy.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/3q1J9Q5 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lostsharkguy Andrew: Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/37g5WkG YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SpeakUpForBlueTV  

37 shark and ray species documented in Benin, the result of more than 15 years of fieldwork by fisheries biologist Dr. Houangninan Midinoudewa. He has built Benin's first dedicated shark and ray research program from almost nothing on the Gulf of Guinea. On this episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast, Andrew Lewin and shark scientist Dr. David Ebert explore what he's found and why West Africa is the next frontier for elasmobranch research. Houangninan shares how Jacques Cousteau's films inspired his career, how he recorded shark and ray landings at Benin's harbors from dawn until midnight, and how he confirmed an angel shark as a new record for the country in 2026. He explains how his Save Our Seas Foundation grant is funding a national species guide and IUCN Red List groundwork for a shark and ray action plan, and why migrant fishing fleets targeting large sharks and guitarfish make that plan urgent. You'll also hear why he's shifting his research toward West Africa's data deficient rays, how speaking local languages shapes fisheries research, and his advice for early career marine scientists in Africa and beyond: stay consistent and leave your comfort zone. Takeaways Benin has 37 documented shark and ray species, with more likely in deeper offshore waters Only one researcher studied sharks in Benin before Houangninan began in 2009 A Save Our Seas Foundation-supported species guide will help policymakers protect threatened sharks and rays Many West African rays and guitarfish are data deficient and need dedicated research Trust and local language skills are essential for fisheries data collection in West Africa Connect with us: Website: https://bit.ly/37TMqeKInstagram: https://bit.ly/3eorwXZ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondjawspodcast7591 Dave:  Website: https://www.lostsharkguy.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/3q1J9Q5 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lostsharkguy Andrew: Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/37g5WkG YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SpeakUpForBlueTV  

What flying drones over great whites really revealed is that far more white sharks live off Southern California beaches than anyone's records showed, often within a few yards of swimmers who never know they're there. Carlos Gauna, known online as The Malibu Artist, has spent years documenting them from above. It started with a shot he missed: sitting atop Point Dume at sunset without his camera or phone, he watched a large white shark chase a sea lion right below him. He had been flying his drone over gray whales, and from that night on he went looking for sharks. Today the photographer and FAA-certified drone pilot films white sharks nearly every month of the year, has published peer-reviewed research on their behavior, and funds most of his fieldwork through his YouTube channel. Andrew and Dave follow the whole path with him: storm chasing in Oklahoma with his university's first digital camera, 16 years in corporate insurance while shooting weddings on the side, and a first drone bought in 2016 by someone who admits he couldn't stand drones at first. Carlos explains how he scouted beaches by tallying decades of reported encounters in Ralph Collier's Shark Research Committee records, then used empty COVID-era beaches to search alone. That's where his first viral clip came from: four white sharks consuming a common dolphin in 18 minutes. He also describes how outreach to Dr. Chris Lowe's Shark Lab and to Dr. Alison Towner turned an artist's curiosity into careful science communication. Dave adds what he saw from helicopters over Monterey Bay and South Africa decades ago, and the three of them work through a hard question: are there more white sharks now, or are we just finally able to see them? The conversation also gets into water temperature as the most reliable predictor of where sharks show up, reading a shark's mood from the angle of its pectoral fins, filming natural behavior with no chum in the water, and the viral video of a swimmer who waved off a lifeguard while white sharks circled him. Carlos compares Southern California's approach to shark sightings with Cape Cod's, shares his simple rule for beachgoers when his drone flies close, and closes with advice for young creators: find a story, and make the content you want to watch. Takeaways: Carlos Gauna switched from filming whales to filming white sharks after seeing a sea lion chased at Point Dume, a moment he couldn't record. He found his first shark hotspots by tallying reported encounters, beach by beach, in Ralph Collier's Shark Research Committee records, then searching those beaches by drone. Encounter databases rely on people noticing sharks. Drone surveys show white sharks close to swimmers who never knew they were there. Warm water temperature is the most consistent predictor Carlos has found for locating white sharks, especially in January and February. Hours of observation let him read shark behavior from fin posture, telling a calm, agitated, or foraging shark apart. Filming without chum shows natural behavior, which differs from the amped-up sharks seen on baited TV shoots. Staying with a group in the water lowers risk, and when a drone hovers close to you, a shark is probably nearby. Carlos' YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/themalibuartist

Dr. Clova Mabin never set out to become a shark educator. She grew up on Scotland's windswept, freezing beaches with no TV until she was 13, which meant a childhood spent outside with her nature-loving father, and an honors degree in zoology from the University of Edinburgh that ended up focused on bird behavior, not the ocean, simply because no marine supervisor was available. A three-month marine conservation placement in Madagascar gave her a first taste of the field. A chance meeting with a South African at a Scottish aquarium turned what was meant to be a three-month trip to South Africa into 21 years and counting. Today she's the Education Centre Director at the Save Our Seas Foundation's Shark Education Centre in Kalk Bay, leading a team that's grown from six people to more than a dozen. Andrew and Dave trace the whole winding route with her: two weeks with ragged-tooth and tiger sharks on South Africa's East Coast and two and a half months working alongside Michael Scholl aboard the White Shark Trust's research vessel in Gansbaai, a detour into wildlife filmmaking that included a National Geographic shoot and three and a half years working under a longtime BBC Natural History Unit cinematographer, and a pivotal moment watching a mass whale stranding near her home in Hout Bay that made her question whether chasing dramatic film footage was really the work she wanted to do. From there it was a master's in conservation biology at the University of Cape Town studying invasive species hitching rides on yachts, a solo-adjacent transatlantic sailing crossing from Martinique to the Azores as a break between degrees despite never having spent a night at sea before, and a PhD at Stellenbosch spent leading a team that pulled 36,000 invasive European shore crabs out of a harbor whose official population estimate was 6,000, research that fed directly into South African invasive species legislation. She finished writing it up nine months after her first daughter was born. Clova also talks candidly about applying for a different role at Save Our Seas and not getting it, only to be asked to step into the director's chair six months later, starting the job four months pregnant with her second daughter, and what it's meant to grow an education team into portfolios covering facilities, digital engagement, a nutrition program that feeds the school groups who visit, and a new research arm focused on how ocean connection shapes kids' lives. It's a conversation about what an unconventional, occasionally "unhinged" career path can look like when you say yes to almost everything that comes your way. Takeaways: Clova Mabin is the Education Centre Director at the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Education Centre in Kalk Bay, South Africa, a role she's held since 2019 after previously applying for and not getting a different position there. Her path to shark education ran through bird behavior research, invasive species work, a transatlantic sailing crossing, and several years in wildlife filmmaking, not a straight line through shark biology. Her PhD team removed roughly 36,000 invasive European shore crabs from a harbor with an official population estimate of 6,000, research that directly informed South African invasive species legislation. A mass whale stranding near her home in Cape Town became the turning point that pushed her out of wildlife filmmaking and back into graduate school. The Shark Education Centre's team has grown from six people to more than a dozen, now organized into education, facilities, digital engagement, nutrition, and a newly added research arm. Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Education Centre (Kalk Bay) Website: saveourseas.com/sosf-shark-education-centre Instagram: @sharkeducationcentre Facebook: SOSFsharkeducationcentre TikTok: @sharkeducationcentre LinkedIn: Shark Centre X (formerly Twitter): @sharkcentre Save Our Seas Foundation (global) Website: saveourseas.com Instagram: @saveourseasfoundation Facebook: saveourseasngo YouTube: youtube.com/saveourseas LinkedIn: Save Our Seas Foundation Connect with us: Website: https://bit.ly/37TMqeKInstagram: https://bit.ly/3eorwXZ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondjawspodcast7591 Dave:  Website: https://www.lostsharkguy.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/3q1J9Q5 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lostsharkguy Andrew: Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/37g5WkG YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SpeakUpForBlueTV