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The Shark That Turns Fear Into Fascination · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Most people are afraid of sharks, but there's one shark that turns
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  fear into fascination almost every single time someone sees it.
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  And yes, you can find it in cold Canadian waters.
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  This is the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, your weekday ocean news update.
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  If you care about staying informed on the ocean every weekday, Monday to
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  Friday, hit that follow button right now on your favorite podcast app so you
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  don't miss tomorrow's story, which we're gonna be talking about a sea turtle.
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  This is the largest sea turtle in the world, and it comes in cold
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  waters for visits, and we're gonna talk about that tomorrow, so don't
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  miss it, and hit that follow button.
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  Today, we're answering a simple question.
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  Can one shark change the way people think about all sharks?
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  Because according to marine biologist Kirsti Burnett, there's one species
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  that seems to do exactly that.
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  Now, if you probably wanna know who is Kirsti, if you didn't listen to,
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  uh, yesterday's episode, shame on you.
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  I'm just kidding.
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  You can go back and listen to it after this episode.
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  But Kirsti is my interview for this week.
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  She is a guest on the podcast on Friday.
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  We talk about celebrating cold water in this week before Oceans
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  Week and before Ocean's Day.
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  So she is somebody I work with at Pisces Ocean.
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  She's a marine biologist.
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  She's got a master's degree.
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  She's a dive master, and she talks all about growing up on Nova Scotian
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  shores, and what she likes to do, and how she likes to go below as well as
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  above surface, and be able to see all these wonderful things like the
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  mola mola and the blue shark, which we're gonna be talking about today.
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  When most people picture a shark, they picture a great white,
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  and that can be a little scary.
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  I get that, right?
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  It has big teeth, big reputation, big Hollywood career.
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  But blue sharks are different.
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  They're sleek, they're graceful, and they're one of the most
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  beautiful sharks in the ocean.
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  And Kirsti spent years working with blue sharks off the coast of Nova
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  Scotia, and she says people often arrive nervous about seeing sharks.
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  Then they meet the blue shark, and everything changes after that.
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  People stop seeing a monster.
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  They start seeing an animal, a curious animal at that.
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  An elegant animal, an animal that belongs in the ocean.
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  That's important 'cause blue sharks are one of the great travelers of the sea.
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  A 2024 study led by Francois Poisson tracked blue sharks and found that
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  they move across enormous distances using different parts of the ocean
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  at different times of the year.
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  So these sharks don't live in one neighborhood.
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  They live in an ocean-sized world, if you wanna put it that way, and
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  that world includes Atlantic Canada.
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  And when you see a blue shark off Nova Scotia, you're looking at
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  an animal that may have crossed thousands of kilometers of ocean.
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  Now just think about that.
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  You know, it's not just staying in and around the area.
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  It's incredible when you think about it.
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  Like, they don't have GPS.
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  They don't have maps.
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  There's no roads.
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  Nothing, like, guiding them, like, as a road and a lane with s- like,
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  streetlights and everything like that, yet they somehow navigate
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  one of the largest environments on the planet, an environment that
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  takes up 70% of the planet.
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  Scientists are still trying to understand exactly how they do
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  it, 'cause they just don't know.
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  But we do know that they follow conditions that help them survive.
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  They follow water temperature, they follow food availability,
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  they follow ocean currents.
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  Very common when you look at how animals move.
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  It's like they're reading an invisible map that we just don't have.
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  And they're not alone.
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  Many animals in cold water ecosystems are constantly moving.
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  Whales do it.
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  Leatherback sea turtles do it, which we're gonna be talking about tomorrow.
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  Seabirds do it.
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  Blue sharks are just part of that story.
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  Now, here's the part that often gets overlooked.
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  Blue sharks are predators, and that's a good thing.
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  Healthy ecosystems need predators.
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  Predators help maintain balance.
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  They influence prey behavior, they shape food webs, and they k-
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  help keep ecosystems functioning.
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  Without predators, ecosystems can become… Like, they're fairly unstable.
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  So when people see blue sharks and begin appreciating them, they're not
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  just appreciating a single species.
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  They're appreciating the role that species plays in the ocean.
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  And blue sharks make it easy because they're beautiful.
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  They're fascinating.
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  They're often the shark that changes people's minds.
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  And the big takeaway is simple.
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  The ocean isn't healthier without sharks.
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  It's healthier because sharks are there, and blue sharks make the best
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  ambassadors the shark world has.
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  That's really what it comes down to.
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  They are a great symbol of what sharks can be like.
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  Just be careful if you're diving.
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  You know, you still wanna be careful if you're diving and you see one.
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  They are a shark, they are a predator, but they're curious animals.
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  But when you see them from the surface or you see them from a boat, you're
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  really curious to see how they look.
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  They're a very beautiful shark, and I can't wait for you guys to see them.
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  I want you guys to go to a place like Nova Scotia or Newfoundland
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  or PEI, Prince Edward Island, or New Brunswick or even Quebec.
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  And I want you to take a look at what these blue sharks really look
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  like if you get access to go out and if you know where these sharks are.
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  My interview on Friday with Kirsti, she knows exactly where
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  to find them for the most part.
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  They're, you know, there's a big ocean out there, but she knows where to find
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  them and she can't wait to take people out when she goes to see them, especially
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  the students at Dalhousie University that take the sharks course that she
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  talks about in Friday's interview.
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  But you wanna check out that interview on Friday to make sure you hear all
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  of it because it's a fascinating one.
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  It's a fun one.
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  We have a great time.
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  So if you wanna hear that interview and you wanna hear tomorrow's episodes on
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  the leatherback sea turtle, follow this podcast if you haven't done already,
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  so that you can make sure every day, you get a new episode during the week.
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  So, that's it for today's episode.
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  If you wanna get a hold of me, you can do so by just going to my socials.
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  All the links are in the show notes.
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  And of course, thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the
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  How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I am your host, Andrew Lewin.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next time, and happy conservation.