Speaker 1: Welcome to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty k LVII.
Speaker 1: This is Chestermore. For my entire life, my favorite creature
Speaker 1: in the ocean has been the great white shark, and
Speaker 1: I recently had the incredible opportunity to visit the Atlantic
Speaker 1: White Shark Conservancy doing some media work up that direction
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts, out on beautiful Cape Cod and I'm so
Speaker 1: excited to have on the line. Cynthia Wigran. She is
Speaker 1: the co founder, along with her husband, of the Atlantic
Speaker 1: White Shark Conservancy. In twenty ten, she had a life
Speaker 1: change when she got in a shark cage in South Africa.
Speaker 1: And that's where our story begins twenty ten. If I
Speaker 1: got it correctly in South Africa.
Speaker 2: Yes, that is so.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming you're like the rest of us. She just
Speaker 1: wanted to go do a cool great white experience again.
Speaker 1: And you went into a shark cage in South Africa,
Speaker 1: And so what were your expectations before getting in the water,
Speaker 1: and what if anything changed while you're in the water.
Speaker 2: That's a great question.
Speaker 3: So leading up to the trip, I was definitely anxious
Speaker 3: about it. I wanted to do it, but I was nervous,
Speaker 3: and I watched a number of YouTube videos where white
Speaker 3: sharks were chomping on cages and it just looked fairly scary,
Speaker 3: so that I think going into it, I went in
Speaker 3: with you know, a lot of nerves, thinking that it
Speaker 3: was going to be a somewhat terrifying experience, even though
Speaker 3: I still wanted to do it. But when we were
Speaker 3: on our way out, we were on our way out
Speaker 3: to Seal Island and one of the Planet Earth that documentary,
Speaker 3: that was something that really inspired me, I think, to
Speaker 3: want to go to Seal Island see the sharks because
Speaker 3: there were the famous you know, breaching sharks in that area.
Speaker 3: So it was really surreal to be on a boat
Speaker 3: heading out to Seal Island and our naturalist on the
Speaker 3: boat was incredible talk to us about what the experience
Speaker 3: was going to be like and really calmed I think
Speaker 3: my nerves. Also learn a lot about responsible eco tourism
Speaker 3: through that in finding out what cage dive operators might
Speaker 3: be doing to lower the sharks to the cages and
Speaker 3: grab the bait around out last minute so that they
Speaker 3: are hitting the cage inviting it, which responsible operators are
Speaker 3: not doing. So that was so it was very educational
Speaker 3: as well. But once we got out to the area
Speaker 3: and it was my turn to get into the water
Speaker 3: in the cage and see a shark. It was just
Speaker 3: the most spectacular experience.
Speaker 2: It was, you know, the first shark that I saw.
Speaker 3: It was just so majestic and incredible, and I had
Speaker 3: absolutely no fear at all, and I was just mesmerized.
Speaker 3: It was really really amazing. And I think because I
Speaker 3: did go into it feeling like it would be a
Speaker 3: kind of a terrifying experience, and I had that absolute
Speaker 3: opposite experience with the sharks, that is what really drew
Speaker 3: me to the species and wanting to learn more about it.
Speaker 3: Because I realized someone like me, who did, you know,
Speaker 3: go into something like that with a love of wildlife
Speaker 3: but still had that fear, realized how little I knew
Speaker 3: about great white sharks, and just really wanted to learn
Speaker 3: more about them. So it was ultimately a life changing
Speaker 3: experience for me.
Speaker 1: So this was really an on ramp for you to
Speaker 1: think about getting involved deeper in sharks, particularly with great
Speaker 1: white What is the transition from there to uh getting
Speaker 1: inspired to start the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 3: So at the time I had interest in learning more
Speaker 3: about great white sharks, and the first sharks off of
Speaker 3: the off the coast of Cape Cod that had been tagged.
Speaker 3: Happened about seven months before I had that experience in
Speaker 3: South Africa, so the timing of it was really interesting.
Speaker 3: And so I came back from my trip and recognized
Speaker 3: that there were great white sharks right in our backyard,
Speaker 3: that it was relatively a new occurrence that was happening,
Speaker 3: that great white sharks were, you know, that we had
Speaker 3: the presence of them off the coast, and that scientist,
Speaker 3: one scientist and in particular, doctor Greg Schomel, had the
Speaker 3: opportunity to tag great white shark sharks off the coast
Speaker 3: of Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: So I just started to follow the work that he
Speaker 2: was doing.
Speaker 3: And about two years after I had that experience in
Speaker 3: South Africa, I had a conversation with Greg to learn
Speaker 3: more about the work that he was doing, and in
Speaker 3: that conversation I found out that he relied on outside
Speaker 3: funding for his research.
Speaker 2: So he works for the.
Speaker 3: State of Massachusetts and the Fisheries department that he's working for,
Speaker 3: they covered his salary, but he had to raise the
Speaker 3: funds to do conduct great white shark research. And it
Speaker 3: just seemed like we, you know, people were traveling all
Speaker 3: over the world to these remote places to see great
Speaker 3: white sharks, and here we have them right off of
Speaker 3: the coast of Cape Cod And what an incredible opportunity
Speaker 3: to be able to learn about the species and to
Speaker 3: find out that funding was needed to you to provide
Speaker 3: sustainable research here off the coast. It was something that
Speaker 3: I felt it needed kind of an advocate to help
Speaker 3: those funds and get that going. So there was no
Speaker 3: nonprofit at the time locally that was supporting great white
Speaker 3: shark research, and I thought, how hard.
Speaker 2: Can it be to start a nonprofit?
Speaker 3: So I just went online and I googled how to
Speaker 3: start a nonprofit in Massachusetts and that was it. My
Speaker 3: career at the time was very different. I worked for
Speaker 3: an online trading platform in the energy energy industry, and
Speaker 3: I asked my boss for a six month hiatus when
Speaker 3: I decided this thing that I was going to do,
Speaker 3: and it would take an initial effort to kind of
Speaker 3: get it up and running. And within three months I
Speaker 3: knew that six months was not going to be enough
Speaker 3: and if I really wanted this to be successful and
Speaker 3: to really support the work, then I needed to commit
Speaker 3: full time to it.
Speaker 2: So so that was it.
Speaker 3: It was a There wasn't a huge amount of thought
Speaker 3: that went into it in advance.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm definitely a just do it kind of person.
Speaker 1: And me too, our nonprofit for children. We decided to
Speaker 1: do it in the next morning, we file paperwork and boom,
Speaker 1: you know, we're working on it, kind of figuring out
Speaker 1: as we go.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know what, I think, that's that's what.
Speaker 3: It takes a lot and you do figure it out.
Speaker 3: I was fortunate to have the you know, the passion
Speaker 3: for the wildlife and then the business background, so that
Speaker 3: I think the combination of those two were helpful in
Speaker 3: the startup world. Nonprofit is you know, is a business
Speaker 3: in all the different aspects that's got its own unique
Speaker 3: characteristics as well. But that part of it I think
Speaker 3: was helpful in getting it initially up and running. But
Speaker 3: it was certainly and you can completely relate to this
Speaker 3: and starting your own you know, just jumping into the
Speaker 3: deep end and just getting it done. So, you know,
Speaker 3: initially we really wanted to support the research because we
Speaker 3: knew that that was critical here to learn about the species.
Speaker 3: We are living in a tourist economy here, so there
Speaker 3: are a lot of millions of people that are visiting
Speaker 3: the beaches here every year and recognizing that connection between
Speaker 3: the research and public safety and education to really inspire
Speaker 3: the long term conservation of the species, that those things
Speaker 3: were all tied together.
Speaker 2: So the mission of.
Speaker 3: Our nonprofit hasn't changed since we launched in twenty twelve,
Speaker 3: but we've just really grown in all of the different
Speaker 3: areas and there's a tremendous amount of interest in the
Speaker 3: species here and that's been really incredible, I think, you know,
Speaker 3: just to see what we've been able to learn over
Speaker 3: the years.
Speaker 1: The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy does incredible work that impacts
Speaker 1: what we know about great white sharks to out not
Speaker 1: only the Atlantic but also in the Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 1: We might remember Leebeth, the great white shark that showed
Speaker 1: up at South Padre, scooted down the coast or up
Speaker 1: the coast over towards Sabine. That shark is now in
Speaker 1: Canadian waters. Amazing stuff we're learning because of research from
Speaker 1: the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. You can get more information
Speaker 1: from them at Atlantic White Shark dot org. And when
Speaker 1: we come back on More Outdoors here on News Talk
Speaker 1: five sixty KILVA, we're talking more with Cynthia Wigran about
Speaker 1: her vision for shark conservation. Welcome back to More out
Speaker 1: Doors on News Talk five sixty klv. I follow me
Speaker 1: at the Chester, more on Instagram, Higher Calling Wildlife on
Speaker 1: Facebook and Higherclung dot net, my blog and also my
Speaker 1: Great White Shark blog at Gulf Great Whites dot com.
Speaker 1: Continue our conversation with Cynthia Wigran of the Atlantic White
Speaker 1: Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 3: We started to talk about jaws and that's how a
Speaker 3: lot of people were educated about the species with not
Speaker 3: necessarily the correct information. So it's it's very cool to
Speaker 3: see people learning as we learn because all of the
Speaker 3: information that we're gathering, the data through the research, is
Speaker 3: shared with the public and so we're all we're all
Speaker 3: learning about these animals together.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's it's such a great marriage of education,
Speaker 1: awareness and research. You know, having been able to be
Speaker 1: up there twice now and see what you guys are doing,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned the public safety element of this, I
Speaker 1: think that is so important to what you're doing because,
Speaker 1: let's face it, sometimes sharks attack people and kill them.
Speaker 1: It happens not often, but you know, don't tell that
Speaker 1: to the person who got hit their family member lost
Speaker 1: You know there's that human part, but you guys are
Speaker 1: able to educate people and give people information that ten
Speaker 1: or fifteen years ago wouldn't have been possible to get people.
Speaker 1: I mean I literally, I like right before we got
Speaker 1: on there was a stark at the Coastguard Beach. You know,
Speaker 1: I got the update there. And so tell us about
Speaker 1: that app, because if someone online listens, probably the first
Speaker 1: way they're going to connect with you is via your app, Sharktivity.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So the Sharktivity app is something that we launched in
Speaker 3: twenty sixteen and it was a collaborative effort with US,
Speaker 3: the Division and Marine Fisheries in Massachusetts, the Cape Cod
Speaker 3: National Seashore, and talents across Cape Cod who really wanted
Speaker 3: to raise awareness about the presence of sharks, offer of
Speaker 3: our post and to be able to provide the public
Speaker 3: with information. And you know, everyone has their phone on
Speaker 3: them all the time, and so it's really a wonderful
Speaker 3: way to be able to share the data that we have,
Speaker 3: our sightings that we have uh with the public in
Speaker 3: a in a really quick and efficient way. So Sharktivity
Speaker 3: has a number of different data points on it. People
Speaker 3: can go and look at shark sightings. There is also
Speaker 3: information about tag sharks. I'm sure your your listeners are
Speaker 3: familiar with lee Beth and heard your.
Speaker 1: Adopted text are adopted text in Great white Yes exactly.
Speaker 3: Uh, so you know, Lee Beth can be tracked on sharctivity.
Speaker 3: And there's also a citizen science component to the app,
Speaker 3: so if people have see their own have their own
Speaker 3: sightings of great white sharks, they can add that to
Speaker 3: the app. They do get vetted and credible sightings are
Speaker 3: added to the the app as well. So it's a
Speaker 3: really it's a great tool and resource for the public.
Speaker 1: It's incredible. I actually my blog up have to send
Speaker 1: it to you. It's called Experiencing Sharktivity, and so I
Speaker 1: talk about being on the water last week and uh
Speaker 1: watching Sharktivity happen, and then watching the update on my
Speaker 1: phone which I screenshot that it came up and put
Speaker 1: it on there and it was in a real time,
Speaker 1: you know, and it was in a real time. And
Speaker 1: then there was a guy on the beach from the
Speaker 1: local beach community with the purple flag you know, in
Speaker 1: the truck and making letting people make informed decisions. And
Speaker 1: then that is so important you're dealing with carnivores, you know,
Speaker 1: when you're dealing with something that you know that could
Speaker 1: be potentially dangerous or even ungulates like you know, a
Speaker 1: moose in an area or something like that. But wildlife,
Speaker 1: you know, human wildlife conflict. And you guys have found
Speaker 1: a way to use this but also to allow the
Speaker 1: public to truth to it, which I think is really
Speaker 1: get some skin in the game.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm. And I think you make a great point
Speaker 3: to say, you know, making informed decisions because from a
Speaker 3: public safety perspective, you can't guarantee someone's safety. They're going
Speaker 3: out in the ocean is a wild environment and that's
Speaker 3: something that people, you know, need to remember. But people
Speaker 3: can have the information and decide what their own risk
Speaker 3: tolerance is. And that's really important because without it, you're
Speaker 3: you're a little bit you know, blindfolded in certain ways
Speaker 3: in that kind of environment. So it's it's great to
Speaker 3: be able to give get that information out in a
Speaker 3: in a really efficient way.
Speaker 1: Incredible, So you've you've been out there and the tagging
Speaker 1: and watching this thing, the genesis of this thing, and
Speaker 1: literally you were connected to warning to learn about it
Speaker 1: right when the first ones were pretty close to being tagged,
Speaker 1: and then early year or so of that. What is
Speaker 1: what have you learned about great white sharks? What is
Speaker 1: the thing that just blows you away that you didn't
Speaker 1: know before this journey.
Speaker 3: I think one of the big things is that they're
Speaker 3: they're just all in, you know, their own individuals, So
Speaker 3: we're seeing different personality types. I don't know if personality
Speaker 3: there were to ease necessarily, but that they behave different
Speaker 3: ways that I think it was kind of an AHA
Speaker 3: moment for me being out on the water and seeing
Speaker 3: different sharks. It makes the science a little bit more
Speaker 3: challenging too, when you recognize that their their behavior is
Speaker 3: not all the same where they're coming to this area
Speaker 3: at different times. Some are here for a full season,
Speaker 3: some just pass through. Some have their kind of favorite spots.
Speaker 3: My favorite shark, his name was James, and he would
Speaker 3: just set himself up each year in this particular area
Speaker 3: and he was just this steady, this big fourteen foot
Speaker 3: great white shark who would spend a lot of time
Speaker 3: at the surface and he was just super chill around
Speaker 3: the boat and it was amazing to watch him and
Speaker 3: so cool to see the shark come back and spend
Speaker 3: time in the same area each year, so that I
Speaker 3: think is one of the biggest kind of surprises for
Speaker 3: me for being fortunate enough to see so many great
Speaker 3: white sharks on the water.
Speaker 1: And of course a lot of this data has to
Speaker 1: do with the tagging being able to not only put
Speaker 1: these satellite tags now camera tags on certain ones it
Speaker 1: lasts for like twenty four hours or so. Acoustic ones,
Speaker 1: which actually the ones that interests me the most because
Speaker 1: of there are a lot of acoustic setups, like in
Speaker 1: places like the Flower Gardens Marine National Sanctuary, which I
Speaker 1: being a journalist, pesky journalist, asking all these biologis, I'm like,
Speaker 1: have you heard any great white signals anywhere? And they're
Speaker 1: like great white showing up? Nobody knows about out there,
Speaker 1: you know, except scientists. So there's a lot of ways
Speaker 1: that data is collected here and it's fed into this app,
Speaker 1: but also fed out to the different agencies that are
Speaker 1: managing these species and these waterways and things like that.
Speaker 1: And the first thing I noticed about you mentioned the
Speaker 1: fact that they all have different personalities. Go back to Leebeth.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean this shark was surfacing like it
Speaker 1: was going like she was going crazy. I mean this
Speaker 1: thing because you know, if you know, if you're listening,
Speaker 1: if they have the satellite tag, if I have this correct,
Speaker 1: they have to affect their fin out of the water
Speaker 1: for that to pick up. So this girl is like
Speaker 1: bam bam, bam bam everywhere, and I thought that was
Speaker 1: so that really was for for us in Texas. Was
Speaker 1: such an interesting journey to watch happen. You know. So
Speaker 1: I see someone and I hadn't heard of AWSC at
Speaker 1: this point, I see someone on an instant, someone on
Speaker 1: a shark group a pose at South Padre Island Great White,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, boom, you know, went made a bunch
Speaker 1: of phone calls, harassed a bunch of people. So I
Speaker 1: eventually got Chip, Michael Love and Megan went in on
Speaker 1: the line. But this journey, this shark took and it
Speaker 1: got people excited about that the Great White's coming back
Speaker 1: to the golf and it was it was in a thing.
Speaker 1: So with that said, what has been your favorite part
Speaker 1: of the public's reaction to all of this. Has there
Speaker 1: been something that's really just made you go, man, we're
Speaker 1: doing a pretty good job here. Is there something that
Speaker 1: in the public that you've seen that's a real positive
Speaker 1: that's come out of these this app and this tagging information.
Speaker 3: I think for me, the most impactful thing that I've
Speaker 3: seen publicly as the connection to particular sharks, sharks that
Speaker 3: people name. So one of the most significant is we
Speaker 3: have a shark that was named after a soldier that
Speaker 3: was killed in Afghanistan. He was killed in on September fourth,
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen, and on the same day that he was killed,
Speaker 3: there was a shark that was tagged, so we caname
Speaker 3: that shark after this soldier and we have remained very
Speaker 3: close with his family, and it's just a really incredible thing.
Speaker 3: You know, it's a shark, and to see how moved
Speaker 3: people can be, and especially someone who's you know, lost
Speaker 3: a loved one when they have a shark the name
Speaker 3: of this individual and they're able to follow at shark
Speaker 3: you know on our app. It's it's really powerful and
Speaker 3: really incredible and not something when I still think for
Speaker 3: the nonprofit that I would have thought about.
Speaker 2: And you know, there are people that we met who.
Speaker 3: Are battling cancer and they use sharks, you know, just
Speaker 3: keep swimming as their motto, kind of pushed through what
Speaker 3: they're dealing with challenges in life, so I think there
Speaker 3: are those surprises.
Speaker 1: You can connect with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy at
Speaker 1: Atlantic White Shark dot org. Also download their Shark Activity
Speaker 1: app lots of great information to learn more about these
Speaker 1: amazing species and the cutting edge research done on great
Speaker 1: white sharks. You can follow my Great White Shark blog
Speaker 1: Golf Great Whites dot com. If you subscribe, send me
Speaker 1: an email at Chester at chestermore dot com with your
Speaker 1: mailing address and I'll get you Golf Great Whites decal.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll continue our conversation about the
Speaker 1: Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Welcome back to More Outdoors on
Speaker 1: Newstalk five sixty klv. I. This is Chester Moore continuing
Speaker 1: our conversation with Cynthia Wigban of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 3: We're just seeing things like that, you know, over the years,
Speaker 3: these incredible connections.
Speaker 2: So I think from.
Speaker 3: A public perspective, having that ability to tag sharks and
Speaker 3: track sharks and provide information, how that touches people's lives
Speaker 3: in really unique and special ways is really incredible.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I said, our nonprofit, my listeners will know this.
Speaker 1: We grant wildlife encounters for children who are going through
Speaker 1: hell on Earth. The loss of a parent or a
Speaker 1: sibling terminal illness. We work with the group that brings
Speaker 1: sex trafficking victim kids to us. We have one coming today,
Speaker 1: actually this afternoon. We do wildlife encounters. And you know,
Speaker 1: I found out this summer how many shark couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, actually, how many shark fans we had in
Speaker 1: our in our midst you know. So I was able
Speaker 1: to go out there with you guys, and I'm in
Speaker 1: the center and I'm shooting videos on the phone in
Speaker 1: front of your you know, your shark replicas for my kids,
Speaker 1: you know, to send to their parents, you know, just
Speaker 1: saying hey, these people are awesome, and you know, and
Speaker 1: Meghan has been really kind to one of our kiddos
Speaker 1: and sending a video and some merch. And so I think, Cynthia,
Speaker 1: what I've seen on this, and I think you and
Speaker 1: I have maybe seen this in a different way, because
Speaker 1: nature can be so inspirational to people, you know, And
Speaker 1: I think when something bad happens, it's almost like all
Speaker 1: of us life will never get better than the day
Speaker 1: before that happened. And then the idea that there's something
Speaker 1: epic and awesome and untamed and wild and beautiful out
Speaker 1: there that you're connected to. Maybe maybe that's something that
Speaker 1: can give people hope that better things can still happen,
Speaker 1: you know. And so I suys things that people I
Speaker 1: know that makes it gigantic difference in lives. And who
Speaker 1: to thunk a great white shark is going to be
Speaker 1: inspiring people, you know, fifty years ago, forty, you know,
Speaker 1: fifty one years whatever it was when Jaws, Gill and
Speaker 1: Jaws came out, you know. But here we are and
Speaker 1: people are happy and smiling and wanting to learn more
Speaker 1: about these incredible creatures. And but there's something you do
Speaker 1: that I find is so amazing. It's your Gills Club.
Speaker 1: So tell us about the Gills Club.
Speaker 3: So our Gills Club is an education initiative that we
Speaker 3: launched in twenty fourteen, actually very soon after starting the nonprofit.
Speaker 3: And I was really inspired by these young girls. When
Speaker 3: we would do presentations about the work, I'd have young
Speaker 3: girls come up to me at the end of the
Speaker 3: presentation and they would tell me how much they loved sharks,
Speaker 3: and it was really really cool to meet these kids.
Speaker 3: But then I recognize that, you know, as much as
Speaker 3: people love Shark Week and the shows that are out
Speaker 3: there about sharks.
Speaker 2: They're really.
Speaker 3: Kind of dominated by male scientists and people that are
Speaker 3: maybe not scientists but just talking.
Speaker 1: About big personalities.
Speaker 2: On team right, thank you.
Speaker 3: That's but for these young girls, you know, where else
Speaker 3: would they actually be able to see an example of
Speaker 3: what they could do when they grow up for a
Speaker 3: career with sharks. Weren't seeing that on television, which is
Speaker 3: you know where a lot of kids are getting their information.
Speaker 3: So anyway, it inspired me because after starting the nonprofit,
Speaker 3: I was also meeting female scientists in the industry and
Speaker 3: just wondered if there was a way that we could
Speaker 3: connect the two, and so we created the Gills Club
Speaker 3: that was focused on connecting young girls to female scientists
Speaker 3: in the field of shark research so that they could
Speaker 3: share information and essentially also jumpstart girls interest in STEM
Speaker 3: subjects and inspire them, providing them with role models in
Speaker 3: the fields to be inspired about what they could potentially
Speaker 3: do in the future. And so we have over one
Speaker 3: hundred scientists from around the world that are part of
Speaker 3: the Gills Club program, and we do hands on.
Speaker 2: Workshops with local kids.
Speaker 3: So we utilize the research that's taking place and our
Speaker 3: education and team creates workshops, these hands on learning opportunities
Speaker 3: where where these kids can learn about what is research
Speaker 3: kind of in real time.
Speaker 2: In these workshop environments.
Speaker 3: And we also have a Gills Club podcast so people
Speaker 3: can listen to what the background is and research of
Speaker 3: a number of our science team members for the girls club.
Speaker 3: So it's really been Yeah, I mean we I think
Speaker 3: it's interesting. Our conversation today is using the word inspire
Speaker 3: quite a bit and people being inspired by sharks, and
Speaker 3: I think people inspiring each other.
Speaker 2: In really ways.
Speaker 3: So the Shark Network is is pretty amazing and I'm
Speaker 3: incredibly grateful for all of the connections that I made
Speaker 3: through running this nonprofit and then seeing these young kids
Speaker 3: and being able to engage them, and it's been pretty remarkable.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we love What are the ages for that?
Speaker 3: So the ages are it's kind of a younger probably
Speaker 3: eight to eleven for the workshops, and then the podcasts
Speaker 3: are geared towards older girls to listen to, you know,
Speaker 3: the career paths of scientists in the field. And then
Speaker 3: kind of that the middle age group we look to
Speaker 3: recruit for volunteer work for participating these workshops and also
Speaker 3: able to learn as they as they go but but
Speaker 3: participating in educating young girls who are who are joining
Speaker 3: the workshops.
Speaker 1: The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has many educational resources. You
Speaker 1: can find them in Atlantic White Shark dot org. That is,
Speaker 1: Atlantic White Shark dot Org. Now, most of the people listening,
Speaker 1: if you've heard of this organization here from the Gulf coastreads,
Speaker 1: you've probably heard about Leebeth, the great white that showed
Speaker 1: up at South Padre Island, made her way all along
Speaker 1: the coast, popped up out of Sabine Pass, and by
Speaker 1: the way, that shark is now in Nova Scotia. At
Speaker 1: the last time she sent a transmission to the satellite
Speaker 1: up there. And this is why this research is important.
Speaker 1: It's unveiling the mysteries of great white sharks and getting
Speaker 1: people an upclose look at the most famous iconic creature
Speaker 1: in the entire ocean. Wales get larger, much larger, but
Speaker 1: there is nothing as iconic and popular as the great
Speaker 1: white shark. And I wanted to have s theo Wigren
Speaker 1: on to talk about this and to talk about her
Speaker 1: outreach and the outreach a AWSC does and things like
Speaker 1: the Gills Club and other aspects of it, and get
Speaker 1: the heart for this great organization, because trust me, if
Speaker 1: they have one thing other than just great science and scientists,
Speaker 1: they have heart and they have miles and miles of it.
Speaker 1: Like I said last week, I got to go up
Speaker 1: there and have the privilege of being on the water
Speaker 1: with a couple other scientists and it was a really
Speaker 1: amazing thing to see a great white shark swimming under
Speaker 1: the boat and watch them as they're doing a study
Speaker 1: utilizing drone to observe great white sharks and truly amazing
Speaker 1: seeing the drone, seeing the sharktivity app updated in person,
Speaker 1: seeing that happen was a really incredible thing as a
Speaker 1: journalist to see. If you would like to connect with
Speaker 1: the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, go to Atlantic White Shark
Speaker 1: dot org. It's Atlantic White Shark dot organ check out
Speaker 1: my blog about the sharktivity experience seeing it in real
Speaker 1: life happening at golf Great whites dot com. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty KLVI. This
Speaker 1: is Chester Moore. What a great interview was Cynthia Wigman
Speaker 1: of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. You need to go
Speaker 1: back if you if you miss part of that, go
Speaker 1: listen to the whole interview. Go to KLVI dot com
Speaker 1: and click on the podcast link at the top of
Speaker 1: the page and can go back and see archives and
Speaker 1: more outdoors, including that program which is up right now.
Speaker 1: Really proud to have her. She is a conservation visionary
Speaker 1: and it's really cool to see the work they're doing
Speaker 1: at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, and I had a
Speaker 1: chance to go up there with my friend Paul Pazinsky.
Speaker 1: We're working on a special project involving great white sharks
Speaker 1: and a really amazing aspect of the great white shark.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have an interest in great white sharks if
Speaker 1: it weren't for the movie Jaws. Now, there's a such
Speaker 1: thing as the Jaws effect, where you know, there were
Speaker 1: a lot of people interested in, you know, catching a
Speaker 1: big great white hanging the jaw the wall, that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, and there was certainly negative impacts for a while.
Speaker 1: But in my opinion, the net value of what Jaws
Speaker 1: did to sharks globally is probably a net positive, because
Speaker 1: I don't think as many people would be interested. As
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, I know not as many people
Speaker 1: be interested in sharks that weren't for Jaws. I had
Speaker 1: the chance interviewed doctor Greg schollmol and he's just an
Speaker 1: incredible shark researcher that you know, is a big part
Speaker 1: of the origin story when he was doing his initial
Speaker 1: shark tagging in Massachusetts for the state government there. That's
Speaker 1: a big part of why Miss Wigran founded the Atlantic
Speaker 1: White Shark Conservancy. And I said, what was your shark story?
Speaker 1: How did you want to become a shark scientist? He said, A.
Speaker 1: My initial inspiration was a fictional character called Matt Hooper.
Speaker 1: You might not know the name Matt Hooper right off,
Speaker 1: but if you're a big Jaws fan, you probably do
Speaker 1: because Matt Hooper in the movie was portrayed by Richard Dreyfus,
Speaker 1: one of the iconic actors of America. I mean, what
Speaker 1: a great cast. You had Roy Scheider, you had Robert Shaw,
Speaker 1: you had Richard Dreyfus. I mean, just really an incredible
Speaker 1: directed movie by Steven Spielberg, a score by John Williams,
Speaker 1: who also did Star Wars et Raiders of the Lost Stark,
Speaker 1: iconic movie, literally the first summer blockbuster movie back in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five. And so I'm up in the Cape
Speaker 1: Cod area and there was no way I was going
Speaker 1: up that direction without seeing some of the sites where
Speaker 1: Jaws was filmed. Jaws was filmed in Martha's Vineyard. It's
Speaker 1: the island just across from Cape Cod, and so me
Speaker 1: and Paul went over there and rode the forty five
Speaker 1: minute ferry and it was really surreal because as we're leiaeving,
Speaker 1: we look back and I see the Oceanographic Institute and
Speaker 1: in Jaws, Matt Hooper played by Richard Dreyfus, says he
Speaker 1: was from the Oceanographic Institute on the mainland. So literally,
Speaker 1: I'm leaving the mainland of Cape Cod looking at the
Speaker 1: ocean Graphic Institute, headed toward Cape Cod, which is Amity
Speaker 1: in the Jaws movie. It was just one of those
Speaker 1: cool connecting moments, you know. So that was a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. And you know, I'll go over to the eeland.
Speaker 1: I get see the Jaws Bridge, and that was really
Speaker 1: surreal because that's one of my favorite scenes where the
Speaker 1: kids are out and what they call the pond little
Speaker 1: lagoon with their sailboats and here comes the big the
Speaker 1: big fin under the bridge and that's a very iconic
Speaker 1: moment in the movie. And the most chilling moment for
Speaker 1: me in the movie is when a little boy is
Speaker 1: attacked and it's such a sad scene. But we went
Speaker 1: on at that beach as well. We did a couple
Speaker 1: of things there, very cool. I'll be blogging about that
Speaker 1: at Gulfgreat Whites dot com. But what I thought was
Speaker 1: really interesting about this whole experience was looking at how
Speaker 1: much Jaws impacted me and impacted doctor Skullmahl and other
Speaker 1: people I've spoken with that like to work with sharks.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm not defending and saying like, you know,
Speaker 1: nothing negative happened to sharks, but a lot of people
Speaker 1: were inspired by it, and certainly Peter Benchley, the author
Speaker 1: of the novel, he's also a reporter in the movie.
Speaker 1: He had a great foundation later on became one of
Speaker 1: the greatest shark conservationists of all time. And I just
Speaker 1: wanted to just share this moment and talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about Jaws for coming into the fiftieth anniversary next year,
Speaker 1: but not really just about Jaws, about what I got
Speaker 1: to do. You know, we have really challenging times upon
Speaker 1: us right now. Financially, a lot of us are struggling
Speaker 1: a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world,
Speaker 1: a lot of unrest, but a dream of mine got
Speaker 1: to come true. I got to go to a jaw
Speaker 1: site and an even bigger dream of mine come true.
Speaker 1: I got to go see a great white shark and
Speaker 1: work with some scientists for a story in the Atlantic Ocean.
Speaker 1: And I'm no one special. I'm just a regular guy,
Speaker 1: but I get to do some special things because I
Speaker 1: work hard, I believe, I have faith, and to see
Speaker 1: that happen in this point in my life was just
Speaker 1: really a fantastic thing. And I just want to inspire
Speaker 1: a lot of you. I talk to a lot of
Speaker 1: shark fans. I mean, my friend Fortune Ford and are
Speaker 1: always trading messages. I have probably twenty people on my
Speaker 1: social media who regularly message me about sharks, and I'm
Speaker 1: talking about ranging from you know, teenagers to people in
Speaker 1: their seventies. There's a universal love of sharks out there.
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe not a universal love, a universal appreciation
Speaker 1: for sharks. And then there's just a wide spread love
Speaker 1: of sharks out there. And you can do great things
Speaker 1: for sharks. You know. You can get involved with a
Speaker 1: group like the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, support their actions,
Speaker 1: their fundraisers and things they do, and you can find
Speaker 1: ways to use your social media presence to raise awareness
Speaker 1: to sharks, even right here in the Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 1: Through our Wild Wishes program, we got to take some
Speaker 1: young people into the shark Cage at the Texas State Aquarium.
Speaker 1: This year we had our Summer of the Sharks sponsored
Speaker 1: by CC and it was a lot of fun. We
Speaker 1: kicked it off by bringing my buddies Marina and Skyler
Speaker 1: into the Shark Cage of the Texas State Aquarium. Got
Speaker 1: to do this two other years with Olivia in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, Eric Kasha in twenty twenty three, and now
Speaker 1: Skyler and Marina. And Marina is going to school right now,
Speaker 1: she graduated. She's going to school to work in marine conservation.
Speaker 1: It couldn't be prouder of her. And Skyler's a big, fun,
Speaker 1: awesome advocate of sharks, and so is Erica Sha so
Speaker 1: awesome young people motivated by sharks right and motivated by that.
Speaker 1: And Miss Wigram was telling me about, you know, people
Speaker 1: who have cancer, saying that they kind of use that
Speaker 1: the shark keeps on swimming as like, you know, a
Speaker 1: place to inspire themselves to keep on fighting and keep
Speaker 1: on living. So if you have a love of sharks,
Speaker 1: you can help sharks and help the ocean by being
Speaker 1: an advocate via social media, getting involved in the groups
Speaker 1: like the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, or you know, other
Speaker 1: groups are doing great things for the oceans. Groups like
Speaker 1: CCA are just doing great advocacy for the Gulf Coast
Speaker 1: and helping with habitat issues that impact sharks and things
Speaker 1: like that. So if you would like to find a
Speaker 1: way that you can use maybe social media to help sharks,
Speaker 1: or you know, maybe you have an article you've written
Speaker 1: about sharks you would like to publish somewhere, or you
Speaker 1: know your love of sharks, some cool videos. I can
Speaker 1: publish some of this stuff at my blog at Gulf
Speaker 1: Great Whites dot com. I would love to help you
Speaker 1: realize your dream of being a shark advocate here on
Speaker 1: the Gulf Coast and lots of ways do that, and
Speaker 1: you can email me at Chester at Chestermore dot com,
Speaker 1: Chester at chestermore dot com. And more importantly, if you
Speaker 1: know of a young person struggling, someone eighteen and under
Speaker 1: struggling that's maybe lost a parent, have an illness, they
Speaker 1: got some kind of major life challenge of depression, something
Speaker 1: going on in their life, and they are big shark lovers,
Speaker 1: please reach out to me. We would love to do
Speaker 1: something special for them related to sharks. We would love
Speaker 1: to give them a shark gift package and I can
Speaker 1: mail that out real quickly if you contact me at
Speaker 1: Chester at chestermore dot com with some info. But maybe
Speaker 1: they want to get involved somehow, or maybe they want
Speaker 1: to go see a cool aquarium or something like that
Speaker 1: or whatever. We can make some cool things happen through
Speaker 1: our Wild Wishes program. You know, Wild Wishes grants wildlife
Speaker 1: encounters basically for hurting children and kids going through stuff.
Speaker 1: And we just granted yesterday from recording this our two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty first Wild Wish in this program that's
Speaker 1: been going on for ten years now. So maybe we
Speaker 1: can do a shark Wish for a kid out there
Speaker 1: that's struggling right now, let them know that life can
Speaker 1: get better and use their love of sharks to inspire
Speaker 1: them and maybe help them get some skin in the game.
Speaker 1: I'm getting involved in conservation because what I've seen people
Speaker 1: going through struggles. When they get in the skin in
Speaker 1: the game, they can help something else that's been through
Speaker 1: some persecution. They do amazing at it. So we believe
Speaker 1: in the young people. We believe in shark conservation and
Speaker 1: we love to tie kids into our Wild Wishes program
Speaker 1: into things like conservation. So you can email me at
Speaker 1: Chester at Chestermore dot com. Maybe we can help a
Speaker 1: wild wish shark wish come true for a hurting kid
Speaker 1: out there. And this doesn't matter where you're from. You
Speaker 1: might be listening, you know in Oregon. Just send a
Speaker 1: package of stuff to some kids that love sharks and Oregon.
Speaker 1: So email me Chester at Chestermore dot com and thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening to the program. It's always
Speaker 1: an honor and privilege to have people at Cynthia Wiggan
Speaker 1: from the Atlanta White Shark Conservancy on the program. I
Speaker 1: believe we have the best guests in All Outdoors Radio.
Speaker 1: Follow me at the Chestermore on Instagram, Higher Calling Wildlife
Speaker 1: on Facebook, Higher Calling dot net, my blog and my
Speaker 1: newer blog, Golf Great Whites at Golf Great Whites dot com.
Speaker 1: God bless and have a g rate outdoors Weekend.