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What You Think About Cold Water Oceans Is Probably Wrong · How To Protect The Ocean

• 0:00
  When we think about the
• 0:00
  ocean, we think about the tropics.
• 0:02
  We think about the warm water and
• 0:04
  snorkeling or diving
• 0:06
  and looking at beautiful
• 0:07
  sea turtles and coral reefs
• 0:09
  and all that wonderful stuff.
• 0:10
  And that's what we think.
• 0:11
  That's what we picture when we picture
• 0:12
  about going to the
• 0:13
  ocean, we go in the tropics.
• 0:15
  What if I told you there's
• 0:16
  another part of the ocean,
• 0:17
  a major part of the
• 0:18
  ocean that we often ignore,
• 0:19
  but it is just as
• 0:21
  beautiful and some can argue,
• 0:23
  if not more beautiful than the tropics.
• 0:26
  And that is cold water
• 0:27
  systems or temperate water.
• 0:29
  And today we're going to be
• 0:30
  talking to a friend of mine,
• 0:32
  a colleague of mine that I
• 0:33
  work at at Pisces oceans,
• 0:35
  Kirstie Burnett, who is a
• 0:36
  senior ocean project consultant,
• 0:37
  who's here to talk about her
• 0:39
  love for cold water oceans.
• 0:41
  We're going to talk about some of the
• 0:42
  species that she's seen.
• 0:43
  We're going to talk some
• 0:44
  fun stuff about the mola mola,
• 0:46
  the ocean sunfish.
• 0:47
  And we're going to
• 0:47
  talk about blue sharks.
• 0:48
  And we're going to talk
• 0:49
  about a lot of different things
• 0:50
  in the ocean that she loves.
• 0:52
  And the fact that she lives just on the
• 0:54
  water in Nova Scotia.
• 0:55
  And you know, this is an
• 0:57
  episode that I've been wanting
• 0:58
  to do for a while, because oftentimes we
• 1:00
  deal with some heavy topics.
• 1:02
  We deal with some
• 1:03
  major issues in the ocean.
• 1:05
  And a lot of times we forget
• 1:06
  to celebrate what we still have.
• 1:09
  And that I think allows us to be inspired
• 1:11
  to protect more of what we need to do
• 1:13
  when we have to come up and
• 1:15
  come across these heavy issues
• 1:16
  and some of these
• 1:17
  heavy top heavier topics.
• 1:19
  So this is going to be a fun episode with
• 1:22
  Kirstie Burnett here on
• 1:24
  How to Protect the Ocean podcast, where
• 1:25
  you get all your weekday ocean use update
• 1:28
  Monday to Friday, Monday to Thursday,
• 1:30
  usually solo episodes.
• 1:31
  Friday is an interview and we've been
• 1:32
  talking about cold water all week.
• 1:35
  And this is something that we need to
• 1:37
  start learning more about.
• 1:39
  You know, these cold water productive
• 1:41
  systems where you get North Atlantic
• 1:44
  right whales, leatherback sea turtles,
• 1:46
  the ocean sunfish called mola mola,
• 1:49
  as well as blue sharks, some of the
• 1:51
  beautiful species that are part of this
• 1:54
  part of the ocean.
• 1:55
  And I think it's something
• 1:56
  that we need to celebrate.
• 1:57
  So with that said, here is the interview
• 1:59
  with Kirstie Burnett
• 2:00
  on this episode of the
• 2:02
  How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 2:03
  Enjoy and I will talk to you after.
• 2:06
  Hey, Kirstie.
• 2:07
  Welcome to the How to
• 2:08
  Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 2:09
  Are you ready to talk about the ocean in
• 2:12
  cold water this time?
• 2:15
  Always, always.
• 2:17
  I'm most familiar with
• 2:18
  the cold water ocean.
• 2:21
  I love it.
• 2:23
  I love it.
• 2:24
  Look, you know, this is kind of this is
• 2:26
  going to be a fun episode
• 2:26
  because it's almost oceans day.
• 2:28
  It'll be happy.
• 2:29
  And when this publishes, it'll be like
• 2:31
  three or four days off of oceans day,
• 2:33
  you know, and this is a time like a lot
• 2:35
  of the times like here at the how to
• 2:36
  protect the ocean pockets, I would say
• 2:37
  every day is about oceans because we
• 2:39
  talk about the ocean every day.
• 2:40
  So every day is oceans
• 2:41
  day, but it's really special.
• 2:43
  I really got to know like and respect
• 2:46
  oceans day for what it is because it's
• 2:48
  the day where people are thinking about
• 2:50
  the ocean on a regular basis,
• 2:51
  like throughout the day,
• 2:52
  because there's a lot of programs,
• 2:53
  people are doing a lot of things.
• 2:54
  And so this year, what we wanted to do is
• 2:57
  just kind of like celebrate the ocean and
• 2:59
  celebrate parts of the ocean that doesn't
• 3:01
  often get the full
• 3:03
  respect from like a wider
• 3:06
  audience than the people who live in and
• 3:08
  around these cold water environments.
• 3:11
  And so that's what
• 3:11
  we're going to do today.
• 3:13
  And we're going to get to know you,
• 3:14
  Kristy, and we're going
• 3:15
  to get to know cold water
• 3:17
  environments and why you love them so
• 3:18
  much, why I love them so much.
• 3:20
  But maybe why some people just may not
• 3:22
  want to explore them.
• 3:24
  We kind of know why the answer probably
• 3:25
  right off the top just in the name.
• 3:27
  But you know, for those who aren't and
• 3:30
  those who maybe want to help out a little
• 3:32
  bit and be able to show us what we're
• 3:34
  what people are missing.
• 3:35
  I think it's a great,
• 3:36
  great episode to do that.
• 3:37
  So we're going to talk about science,
• 3:38
  ecology, environment.
• 3:40
  It's going to be a lot of fun.
• 3:41
  But before we get into all that stuff,
• 3:43
  Kristy, why don't you just let us know
• 3:44
  who you are and what you do?
• 3:46
  Sure. Thanks, Andrew.
• 3:47
  So my name is Kristy.
• 3:48
  I actually grew up here sitting in Nova
• 3:53
  Scotia on the east coast of Canada.
• 3:56
  Specifically, I grew up born and raised
• 3:59
  on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia.
• 4:02
  So lucky and lucky enough on the ocean.
• 4:06
  And I have such fond memories of my
• 4:09
  parents dragging my
• 4:10
  brother and I to the beach.
• 4:13
  I guess it was probably less dragging and
• 4:15
  more like us bugging them to take us.
• 4:17
  But yeah, you know, building sandcastles,
• 4:20
  playing in the waves, collecting
• 4:22
  jellyfish and buckets to show my I guess
• 4:26
  they pretended to be
• 4:27
  enthusiastic about the jellyfish.
• 4:28
  But yeah, my parents.
• 4:31
  Yeah, so happy to be here and happy to
• 4:35
  talk about my experiences.
• 4:37
  I love it. You know, it's interesting.
• 4:38
  I'm always surprised by this, but a lot
• 4:41
  of people who become marine biologists
• 4:43
  like myself don't necessarily grow up on
• 4:47
  the shores of eastern Canada, western
• 4:49
  Canada, the Arctic or or what have you.
• 4:52
  And and it's it's kind of interesting
• 4:54
  when somebody does and say, oh, because I
• 4:56
  always ask people like, well, what made
• 4:57
  you want to become a marine biologist?
• 4:59
  But you kind of said it right there, I
• 5:01
  assume, is being like, look, I've been,
• 5:04
  you know, I've been taking jellyfish and
• 5:06
  buckets and showing my parents and and
• 5:08
  things like that, which
• 5:08
  I think is a lot of fun.
• 5:09
  But is there a particular time in your
• 5:11
  childhood, you know, whether it be
• 5:13
  elementary school, you know, whether it
• 5:16
  be high school or even university where
• 5:20
  you really like it really kind of hits
• 5:22
  you like, no, no, like I want to be I
• 5:24
  want to be a marine scientist here.
• 5:26
  Yeah. So.
• 5:27
  So thinking back, I think I always knew
• 5:32
  or as long as I can remember anyway, I
• 5:34
  always knew that I wanted
• 5:35
  to be a marine biologist.
• 5:38
  My parents still have Crayola drawings
• 5:40
  from me as a child where I'm just drawing
• 5:44
  these ocean ecosystems with sharks and
• 5:47
  kelp and everything like that.
• 5:49
  But the moment that I specifically
• 5:51
  remember being like, you know what, I can
• 5:53
  have a career in this and I want to have
• 5:55
  a career in this because I want to have
• 5:57
  an impact was actually watching the
• 6:00
  documentary Sharkwater by Rob Stewart.
• 6:03
  And this is just such a foundational
• 6:06
  moment in my life because he took these
• 6:10
  incredibly misunderstood animals in
• 6:15
  particular at that time
• 6:16
  when the film was coming out.
• 6:19
  And created this incredible story about
• 6:21
  sharks and their importance and their
• 6:24
  roles in the ecosystem, the diversity of
• 6:28
  sharks in the ecosystem.
• 6:30
  And it was just it was unlike Shark Week,
• 6:33
  which is a little bit, you know, jaws
• 6:37
  focused and terminology
• 6:39
  like monster or man eater.
• 6:42
  And this was much more focused on the
• 6:45
  animal for what it is.
• 6:46
  It's part of the ecosystem.
• 6:48
  They're not monsters.
• 6:50
  They are important species to help
• 6:53
  regulate our oceans and
• 6:54
  keep our oceans healthy.
• 6:55
  So I think seeing a robbed passion during
• 7:00
  that documentary, but also seeing like I
• 7:03
  could be doing that type of work that
• 7:05
  really, really inspired me.
• 7:07
  And then there was a particular professor
• 7:10
  that was part of that documentary for a
• 7:13
  small clip of Professor Boris Worm at
• 7:15
  Dalhousie University.
• 7:17
  Legendary.
• 7:18
  Legendary.
• 7:19
  And I in my head and I was a teenager, I
• 7:23
  was like, well, I guess I have to go to
• 7:25
  Dalhousie because I have
• 7:26
  to study under Boris Worm.
• 7:28
  So yeah, I think that's
• 7:31
  really solidified my career path.
• 7:33
  And I did end up going to Dalhousie
• 7:36
  University for my undergrad.
• 7:39
  And I luckily did get Boris as a
• 7:42
  professor for Dalhousie's first ever
• 7:44
  conservation of sharks,
• 7:46
  skates and raised biology course.
• 7:47
  So that was so cool and such a life
• 7:49
  changing moment for me.
• 7:52
  That was in 2013.
• 7:54
  So, you know, we're
• 7:56
  over a decade ago now.
• 7:58
  I was a student in that class since then.
• 8:01
  I have been involved with the course as a
• 8:03
  teaching assistant, as a co-instructor.
• 8:05
  I'm still involved with the course.
• 8:07
  I help planning that the tagging
• 8:08
  expeditions and the other types of
• 8:10
  expeditions that the students get to go
• 8:12
  out on to see some of the blue sharks
• 8:15
  that we get off Nova Scotia here.
• 8:17
  And so it's just like it was really full
• 8:20
  circle how that all kind
• 8:21
  of came to be, to be honest.
• 8:25
  Yeah. And then I mean, I went on to do a
• 8:29
  master's degree as well.
• 8:30
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 8:32
  But I didn't stay in Nova Scotia.
• 8:34
  So I ended up going to Germany to do my
• 8:36
  master's degree, which is
• 8:39
  a funny story in itself.
• 8:40
  I'm not sure if it's relevant to talk
• 8:43
  about now, but I absolutely.
• 8:45
  Okay, sure.
• 8:47
  Sure. So, um, let's take a step back.
• 8:51
  So I graduated from my bachelor's degree
• 8:54
  and didn't know what I
• 8:55
  wanted to do with my life.
• 8:56
  So decided I'm going to go work as a dive
• 9:00
  master in the Caribbean for a little bit
• 9:02
  and just be with the be underwater until
• 9:06
  I figure things out.
• 9:07
  And I was really fortunate.
• 9:09
  I had an aunt who
• 9:10
  lived on the island of St.
• 9:11
  Martin. So I was easily
• 9:13
  able to pack up, move there,
• 9:15
  stay with her and get my dive master
• 9:18
  certification and work as a
• 9:20
  dive master in St. Martin.
• 9:22
  So I was there for, you
• 9:24
  know, just over a year.
• 9:26
  And during that time while on the island,
• 9:28
  they happened to have a shark conference.
• 9:32
  And at that shark conference was Boris
• 9:36
  Worm, who had been a professor of mine a
• 9:38
  couple of years back.
• 9:40
  And I thought to myself, this is so
• 9:42
  funny, but this also has to be fate.
• 9:45
  And so I took one of my days off and I
• 9:47
  got one day off a week, found somebody
• 9:50
  with a boat and knew that folks from that
• 9:54
  conference were going to be taken out to
• 9:55
  go snorkeling on some of the protected
• 9:57
  reefs in St. Martin.
• 9:59
  Right.
• 9:59
  I was like, take me out to where they're
• 10:01
  snorkeling, which they did.
• 10:04
  They moored up the boat at the closest
• 10:06
  mooring and I jumped off that boat and
• 10:08
  swam over to their
• 10:09
  boat, popped up on the boat.
• 10:12
  It's just like, hey, Boris, I don't know
• 10:15
  if you remember me, but I was a student
• 10:17
  of yours two years ago.
• 10:20
  And so we've been friends ever since.
• 10:21
  I think he thought that was the most
• 10:23
  hilarious thing ever and very random.
• 10:26
  I don't think he'll ever forget, you
• 10:30
  know, having a former student like pop up
• 10:32
  in in like the waters of St. Martin.
• 10:35
  Like, hey, Boris, I'm not
• 10:36
  sure if you remember me.
• 10:37
  I don't know what I was thinking in my
• 10:41
  head, but I was like, I was still
• 10:43
  figuring things out for myself and knew I
• 10:45
  wasn't going to be a dive master forever
• 10:46
  and I couldn't stay
• 10:48
  in St. Martin forever.
• 10:49
  So I was like, you know, this is fate.
• 10:52
  I have to give this a try.
• 10:54
  And so that worked in my favor when I
• 10:56
  ended up moving back to Nova Scotia.
• 10:58
  I, of course, reached
• 11:00
  out to Boris right away.
• 11:02
  And he was like, I know exactly the right
• 11:06
  person for you to start working with.
• 11:09
  And his name is Dr. Manuel DeRoy and he
• 11:11
  has a project in Cabo Verde, West Africa,
• 11:15
  and looking to tag sharks and rays there.
• 11:19
  And he's like, I
• 11:19
  don't think you in touch.
• 11:21
  He's looking for a research assistant.
• 11:22
  I'm like, this is perfect.
• 11:23
  So happy this all worked out.
• 11:26
  And I fast forward a little bit that Dr.
• 11:29
  Manuel DeRoy is now my husband.
• 11:32
  And he's German, which is how I ended up
• 11:37
  in Germany to do my master's degree
• 11:39
  because I really, you know what?
• 11:41
  He did his PhD in Canada.
• 11:43
  Let's go to Germany for a bit and see
• 11:45
  what it's like living there so
• 11:47
  I can get my master's degree.
• 11:49
  And yeah, so I ended up doing that.
• 11:53
  We moved there in September of 2019 and I
• 11:56
  am sure everybody on the whole planet
• 11:58
  remembers what happened early in 2020.
• 12:02
  With the cold pandemic.
• 12:04
  Yeah.
• 12:05
  So my master's degree
• 12:06
  wasn't what I expected.
• 12:08
  It was a lot of working
• 12:09
  from behind a computer.
• 12:11
  I didn't get to do any of my planned
• 12:12
  field excursions or anything like that.
• 12:15
  However, I was very fortunate to have
• 12:18
  connections in places like Cape Verde
• 12:22
  because that meant I could go, I could
• 12:24
  get samples from different shark and ray
• 12:26
  species sent to
• 12:27
  Germany to do my research.
• 12:29
  So what I ended up doing
• 12:31
  was a genomics project.
• 12:34
  I used my connections to get some
• 12:37
  samples, so little tiny fin clips from
• 12:40
  the black chin guitar fish.
• 12:42
  If you don't know what this animal is,
• 12:44
  it's you got to look it up.
• 12:45
  It's the coolest looking animal ever.
• 12:47
  It's a cross between a shark
• 12:48
  and a ray is what it looks like.
• 12:50
  Big triangular shaped nose.
• 12:52
  And they have some of the largest like
• 12:54
  fin to body size ratio.
• 12:56
  So they're really, really highly targeted
• 12:58
  in the shark fin trade
• 13:00
  market because of that.
• 13:03
  And because they live so close to shore,
• 13:07
  their populations are
• 13:08
  just being decimated.
• 13:09
  So these giant guitar fishes are some of
• 13:11
  the most endangered, critically
• 13:13
  endangered marine animals on the planet.
• 13:16
  So what I did was take the fin clips that
• 13:20
  our partners in Cabo Verde
• 13:21
  and myself had collected.
• 13:23
  I had them sent to a sequencing lab in
• 13:27
  Germany, got that sequencing information.
• 13:30
  And for my master's degree, I assembled
• 13:33
  the first ever whole genome
• 13:35
  for the black chin guitar fish,
• 13:37
  which essentially is like taking a bunch
• 13:40
  of DNA puzzle pieces and putting it
• 13:43
  together in a logical order.
• 13:44
  So now nobody else has
• 13:45
  to do that ever again.
• 13:47
  They now have the blueprint
• 13:48
  for the black chin guitar fish.
• 13:51
  And they can use that for monitoring
• 13:53
  things and checking things like
• 13:55
  population health of different
• 13:58
  populations, individual populations.
• 14:02
  People are starting to age species using
• 14:05
  their genomes, which is very interesting.
• 14:07
  Oh, cool.
• 14:08
  So just having that is a very important
• 14:10
  baseline tool for conservation.
• 14:12
  So that's what I did for my master's.
• 14:16
  That's very cool.
• 14:17
  It didn't end up
• 14:17
  falling in love with Germany.
• 14:19
  I'm going to be honest, but I think that
• 14:20
  largely the pandemic is to blame.
• 14:23
  So we ended up coming back.
• 14:25
  Of course, can't get out can't meet
• 14:26
  people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:28
  And you came back to Nova Scotia where
• 14:30
  where you are now. We work together,
• 14:32
  which is which is a lot of fun.
• 14:35
  So we've been like since since April,
• 14:36
  which is you've been here. I think you've
• 14:37
  been at Pisces for a year.
• 14:39
  Just yeah. Yeah, just over a year now.
• 14:41
  I've been working as an
• 14:42
  ocean project consultant.
• 14:44
  And so the academia world, it's it's
• 14:48
  great. It's important, but
• 14:50
  Pisces oceans really drew me in.
• 14:55
  Yeah, because it was taking, you know,
• 15:00
  research that is being done
• 15:01
  by academics or by industry,
• 15:04
  by NGOs and really helping to communicate
• 15:08
  it in a way that resonates with funders,
• 15:12
  with policymakers, like we can be the
• 15:15
  partners helping to manage this important
• 15:18
  work while the researchers are, you know,
• 15:21
  behind the screens doing data analyses,
• 15:24
  doing the data
• 15:25
  collection out in the field.
• 15:26
  It really felt like I could have more of
• 15:29
  an impact helping others drive their
• 15:33
  research forward than
• 15:34
  doing my own research.
• 15:35
  So I was so excited to be able to join
• 15:40
  Pisces oceans. And I've
• 15:42
  just loved my time here so far.
• 15:43
  And I think if I'm not mistaken, Andrew,
• 15:46
  you feel the exact same way.
• 15:49
  100 percent, 100 percent to be able to
• 15:51
  help. The one thing that I love about,
• 15:53
  you know, for me, I'm
• 15:54
  on the communication side
• 15:56
  where we both kind of overlap in a lot of
• 15:57
  the areas that we that we work on.
• 15:59
  But as we've discussed in the past, you
• 16:02
  know, it's nice to be able to scale that
• 16:05
  effort where it's not just you just doing
• 16:06
  one project that will help something
• 16:09
  maybe who knows may forge some
• 16:11
  legislation through or help some policy.
• 16:14
  But we're also working on like a number
• 16:15
  of different projects, you know, in the
• 16:17
  nonprofit world, in the for profit world,
• 16:19
  indigenous world and academic world.
• 16:21
  And we're being able to have a I feel
• 16:25
  like a significant positive impact on
• 16:27
  each one of those
• 16:27
  projects to move that forward.
• 16:29
  So at the end of the day, we can be like,
• 16:31
  oh, hey, like we've done all this great
• 16:33
  stuff, which is which is a lot of fun,
• 16:35
  which, you know, for us, you know,
• 16:37
  especially I've been in this this game
• 16:39
  for quite some time
• 16:40
  for for over 25 years.
• 16:41
  And it's nice to be able to see things
• 16:44
  progress and to be a part of that on a
• 16:47
  variety of different different ways,
• 16:49
  which is which is a lot of fun.
• 16:50
  But I want to go back. I feel like
• 16:52
  there's this like theme for you in terms
• 16:55
  of not only just looking at like the
• 16:58
  science or the policy, the thing that
• 17:01
  really caught my ear was when you
• 17:03
  mentioned shark water, you know, and
• 17:06
  you're looking at at shark water and
• 17:08
  you're saying, look, and it's true.
• 17:10
  Like when I think of shark water, I think
• 17:12
  of an advocacy film, right? It's it ends
• 17:16
  up being a documentary that celebrates
• 17:19
  sharks and we'll come
• 17:19
  to that in a second.
• 17:21
  But also at the end, really, I feel like
• 17:23
  open the eyes to a lot more people on the
• 17:26
  shark fin trade and how prevalent it was
• 17:29
  throughout the world, not just in Costa
• 17:31
  Rica, where a lot of this was shot and
• 17:33
  where they discovered the roofs of shark
• 17:35
  fins, but also like where it
• 17:37
  goes and all that kind of stuff.
• 17:39
  And it's it's it was kind of it was
• 17:41
  before blackfish, but it kind of did what
• 17:43
  blackfish did for the captive marine
• 17:45
  animals industry, which is kind of, you
• 17:47
  know, took the blinders off a lot of
• 17:49
  people and really opened it up, which is
• 17:51
  which was kind of cool.
• 17:52
  But when you mentioned the film, it
• 17:54
  wasn't just about shark fins actually
• 17:56
  never mentioned anything about shark fins
• 17:58
  is more about what the movie started out
• 18:00
  to be was a movie to celebrate sharks and
• 18:06
  the diversity of
• 18:06
  species that are out there.
• 18:08
  Right. Because we think, you know, a lot
• 18:09
  of times when I if I ask anybody, name me
• 18:12
  a shark, it's either a white shark, a
• 18:13
  tiger shark, a bull shark, hammerhead
• 18:16
  shark, maybe thresher shark, you know,
• 18:19
  like the kind of hitting those iconic
• 18:20
  species, which are
• 18:22
  fascinating in their own right.
• 18:24
  But you never hear of a guitar fish, a
• 18:27
  soft, you know, sawtooth, you know, you
• 18:30
  never hear of all those different types
• 18:32
  of sharks as as a buddy of mine and my
• 18:35
  co-host on Beyond Jaws, Dave Ebert calls
• 18:37
  the the the rays, the shark rays like
• 18:39
  like he calls either shark rays or a flat
• 18:41
  shark, you know, just to kind of the
• 18:42
  marketing, you know, to get people in or,
• 18:44
  you know, or even like chimeras.
• 18:46
  You know, a lot of people don't know that
• 18:48
  chimeras are part of the shark family or
• 18:50
  even skates and rays are
• 18:51
  part of the Lassmo Branks.
• 18:53
  And so I think it's really interesting
• 18:55
  hearing that from your perspective of
• 18:58
  like this movie was
• 18:59
  about the beauty of sharks.
• 19:00
  And if I asked anybody else about shark
• 19:02
  water, it's a movie about shark fins.
• 19:04
  And I think that goes to say why, why you
• 19:06
  got into this and sort of your history of
• 19:08
  like growing up around the ocean and
• 19:10
  enjoying species, enjoying sharks, but
• 19:13
  also enjoying like jellyfish and the fish
• 19:15
  and the invertebrates.
• 19:16
  I'm sure you saw in the tide pools and in
• 19:19
  your snorkeling and diving experience.
• 19:21
  What is it about just for that marine
• 19:23
  environment that you
• 19:25
  that you love so much?
• 19:27
  Because I know you are worth all talk
• 19:29
  about in a second. You love wildlife in
• 19:30
  and around your house that you've seen.
• 19:32
  Take some amazing photographs.
• 19:33
  But what is it about like ocean species
• 19:35
  in particular that that really kind of
• 19:37
  get peak your interest?
• 19:39
  Yeah, so my husband and I talk about this
• 19:43
  all the time because truly I love all
• 19:45
  animals. I love land animals as well. But
• 19:48
  land animals feel just so accessible.
• 19:51
  And there's just something like the
• 19:53
  little bit of mystery about animals
• 19:56
  living under the water. They're just not
• 19:57
  as accessible. And I think as a kid, that
• 20:01
  was really fascinating to me.
• 20:03
  And like I have fond memories of my
• 20:08
  grandmother reading bedtime
• 20:09
  stories to my brother and I.
• 20:11
  And the story that I always asked her to
• 20:14
  read was actually more of a mini textbook
• 20:16
  of these really kind of neat, different,
• 20:21
  unusual type ocean creatures. Right.
• 20:24
  My poor grandmother. And I just like I
• 20:28
  couldn't believe that animals
• 20:30
  like that existed out there.
• 20:31
  Like I think I was always asking her
• 20:34
  about the lion's mane jellyfish and the
• 20:36
  blue bottle jellyfish and like, how long
• 20:38
  do their tentacles get? Oh, my goodness.
• 20:41
  And yeah, I just just something about
• 20:45
  that mystery is really what drew me in.
• 20:47
  And then being in Nova Scotia and living
• 20:51
  here, like you said, I
• 20:52
  could explore tide pools.
• 20:53
  So so one of the things that always
• 20:55
  caught my eye were these bright blue
• 20:57
  polychaete worms that you could find in
• 20:59
  the tidal pools here.
• 21:02
  And I don't know much about them, but I
• 21:05
  do know that they're very beautiful and I
• 21:08
  do know that pollution
• 21:09
  seems to have affected them.
• 21:11
  I don't see them as much
• 21:13
  around anymore, to be honest.
• 21:16
  What else have I seen? The seagrasses
• 21:19
  here, like the
• 21:20
  eelgrass here in Nova Scotia.
• 21:22
  The eelgrass is a cold water species and
• 21:24
  I've really I remember growing up and
• 21:27
  seeing eelgrass in the different inlets
• 21:29
  and harbors here where I grew up.
• 21:31
  And you just don't see as much of it here
• 21:34
  anymore. But what you do see is a lot of
• 21:37
  coastal erosion here now.
• 21:40
  And it's just I think it's interesting
• 21:42
  having grown up and being obsessed with
• 21:46
  the ocean because it's all these things
• 21:47
  that I'm not sure the
• 21:48
  average person would notice.
• 21:52
  So just being able to acknowledge these
• 21:56
  types of ecosystems and being a part and
• 22:00
  feeling like I'm a part of these
• 22:01
  ecosystems and that I can have a voice
• 22:03
  for them has just always I don't know.
• 22:06
  That's drawn me in and it's what keeps me
• 22:09
  interested in why I love living in the
• 22:11
  community I live in and still on an inlet
• 22:13
  and still in the ocean.
• 22:15
  And yeah, that's awesome.
• 22:18
  Now, you mentioned at one point you went
• 22:20
  down to St. Martain to pursue being a
• 22:23
  dive master and you
• 22:25
  did that and you dove.
• 22:27
  I would assume like every weekday or
• 22:28
  every time you worked, you're pretty much
• 22:30
  in the water being able to see again,
• 22:32
  explore and be able
• 22:33
  to understand animals.
• 22:35
  What type of perspective did you get
• 22:37
  coming from a cold water temperate
• 22:39
  environment to a warm tropical
• 22:41
  environment and diving?
• 22:43
  I assumed you dove in in in the in Nova
• 22:46
  Scotia as well when you were learning
• 22:48
  before you became a dive master. Yes.
• 22:51
  What perspective did that give you, you
• 22:53
  know, in terms of just experiences diving
• 22:56
  and because a lot of people would rather
• 22:58
  go down to the tropics to dive.
• 23:00
  They'll do make these
• 23:01
  elaborate trips to go diving.
• 23:03
  But then, you know, there's still some
• 23:05
  beautiful things to
• 23:05
  see in the cold water.
• 23:07
  So like what what kind of perspective
• 23:08
  that give you going down
• 23:10
  to the tropics to dive?
• 23:11
  Yeah, so I think
• 23:13
  perspectives go both ways.
• 23:16
  So I learned to dive here in Nova Scotia.
• 23:20
  So I learned to dive in cold water and
• 23:23
  having done both diving in cold water and
• 23:25
  warm water, I can definitely say cold
• 23:28
  water diving is a whole other beast.
• 23:32
  And mad respect to
• 23:34
  people who do that often.
• 23:36
  And I think doing that made diving in St.
• 23:41
  Martin feel easy to me.
• 23:45
  I feel like in St. Martin, I thought I
• 23:48
  was seeing a lot more than
• 23:50
  I would see in Nova Scotia.
• 23:52
  But that's not true.
• 23:54
  So the practices and the techniques I
• 23:56
  learned while doing my dive master and as
• 23:59
  I took people out on tours to see the
• 24:01
  reefs was that if you
• 24:03
  really stay still underwater,
• 24:06
  and just look at an area on a coral reef
• 24:09
  or in a kelp or on a rock bed,
• 24:12
  you will see more than if you're swimming
• 24:13
  fast and trying to see it all.
• 24:16
  So just taking that experience from St.
• 24:18
  Martin and actually bringing it back here
• 24:20
  to Nova Scotia and really just being calm
• 24:24
  underwater and staying still and feeling
• 24:28
  like I am a part of the environment and
• 24:31
  just enjoying my immediate surroundings.
• 24:34
  You see so much more than
• 24:36
  I think people can expect.
• 24:38
  Like we get these really cool nudibranchs
• 24:40
  here in Nova Scotia.
• 24:41
  Also very colorful types
• 24:43
  of underwater sea slugs.
• 24:45
  They're very, very tiny centimeters big.
• 24:48
  So you really have to be still and look
• 24:51
  for them and just
• 24:52
  enjoy what you're seeing.
• 24:53
  And if you're doing a night dive, you can
• 24:55
  see different types of polychaete worms,
• 24:57
  for example, the kind of bioluminous as
• 25:01
  they're swimming by you,
• 25:02
  which is really, really neat.
• 25:03
  Oh, that's cool.
• 25:04
  Yeah.
• 25:05
  And we have so much fish that just hide
• 25:07
  and bury themselves in the sand.
• 25:09
  Not that St. Martin doesn't, but I feel
• 25:11
  like you've got a lot of that right here
• 25:13
  in Nova Scotia, a lot
• 25:14
  of hiding creatures.
• 25:16
  And so I think it really just taught me
• 25:19
  to slow down and just really appreciate
• 25:22
  everything that was around me.
• 25:23
  St. Martin was easy because you could
• 25:25
  still see a lot without doing that.
• 25:27
  But if you learn to do that, you can
• 25:30
  really learn to appreciate in
• 25:31
  particular cold water diving.
• 25:35
  Yeah, because I mean, I feel like cold
• 25:37
  water diving is a quicker dive, you know,
• 25:39
  just because you probably go through a
• 25:41
  little bit more air, you're breathing a
• 25:42
  little faster because of the cold.
• 25:43
  It's just the body's
• 25:45
  physiology reacting to the cold water.
• 25:48
  When you're in the tropics, it would
• 25:48
  probably be a little
• 25:49
  bit of a longer dive.
• 25:51
  I think a lot of the myths, the myth is
• 25:53
  that you would probably see more in the
• 25:55
  tropics or more cool
• 25:56
  things in the tropics.
• 25:57
  But you have already talked about a
• 26:00
  number of different things.
• 26:01
  Now, I have to admit, I'm a diver.
• 26:02
  I haven't gone diving in
• 26:03
  a while, but I'm a diver.
• 26:05
  I am terrified of night dives anywhere,
• 26:07
  whether it be in the ocean or whether it
• 26:09
  be in the Great Lakes.
• 26:10
  There's something about it.
• 26:11
  I don't I don't feel that I would panic.
• 26:13
  I think if I if I went down, I'd be back
• 26:15
  up in about 15 minutes
• 26:16
  because I'd be out of air.
• 26:17
  But but like you've mentioned a lot of
• 26:21
  cool, cool things, cool animals that you
• 26:24
  see, especially in the in the worm.
• 26:26
  You know, like you see some nematodes,
• 26:27
  you see some polychaete
• 26:29
  worms, which is kind of cool.
• 26:30
  And then you see the bioluminescence at
• 26:32
  night, which is which is really amazing.
• 26:35
  What's your favorite animal that you've
• 26:37
  seen in in in like off the coast of Nova
• 26:39
  Scotia in this cold water environment?
• 26:42
  Yeah, so I haven't seen these animals
• 26:45
  diving here because admittedly, I do less
• 26:48
  diving now that I've been spoiled with
• 26:50
  warm water or something.
• 26:52
  I've been here a little
• 26:52
  bit and then I used to.
• 26:54
  But we still do go out on a boat.
• 26:58
  I still paddle quite often.
• 27:00
  So the coolest animal that I've ever seen
• 27:03
  here, oh, my gosh, I've been so lucky.
• 27:05
  I've seen so many and definitely the
• 27:08
  sharks and the sharks.
• 27:11
  How special place in my heart because
• 27:13
  this is the shark that I was introduced
• 27:16
  to when I was a student at
• 27:18
  Dalhousie doing my undergrad.
• 27:21
  And it's if you've never worked with a
• 27:23
  shark before or if you're scared of
• 27:25
  sharks and you've never seen a shark
• 27:27
  before, this is really the perfect shark
• 27:30
  for you to encounter in the wild.
• 27:32
  They are kind of dopey kind of puppy dog
• 27:35
  like they are typically not beat up like
• 27:40
  you'd see with the with a white shark
• 27:42
  that has a bunch of
• 27:43
  scarring over its face.
• 27:44
  So they don't look aggressive per se.
• 27:48
  It's still a shark.
• 27:49
  It's still a wild animal and they still
• 27:51
  should be respected as such.
• 27:53
  But everybody who I've taken out to see a
• 27:56
  blue shark in the wild who has been
• 27:58
  apprehensive about sharks
• 27:59
  has come back from that.
• 28:02
  Without apprehension anymore.
• 28:05
  They they love sharks
• 28:06
  after meeting a blue shark.
• 28:08
  So I think that holds a special place in
• 28:10
  my heart because it it teaches people to
• 28:12
  appreciate sharks in a way that like a
• 28:16
  great white shark or a tiger shark
• 28:19
  couldn't just because of kind of the
• 28:22
  stigma that they have around them.
• 28:25
  Of course, I really love a poor shark.
• 28:27
  I get to see them as well.
• 28:28
  They're like tiny little.
• 28:29
  I mean, they grow big, but the ones that
• 28:31
  I'm seeing here off Nova Scotia are often
• 28:34
  quite small, tiny little footballs.
• 28:36
  They are so.
• 28:37
  I never thought of a poor being like a
• 28:41
  football, but that makes
• 28:42
  I'm a big football fan.
• 28:43
  Yeah, I know them a little bit more.
• 28:46
  You got your fan of
• 28:47
  football and blow poor people.
• 28:52
  Let me ask you, you mentioned like when
• 28:53
  you when you take people out, how are you
• 28:56
  like you are you taking
• 28:57
  them on a paddle board?
• 28:58
  Are you taking them on a boat?
• 28:59
  Like how are you taking
• 29:00
  people out like friends?
• 29:01
  I assume and and colleagues and stuff
• 29:03
  like how are you seeing?
• 29:06
  Good question.
• 29:08
  Good question.
• 29:09
  So I has not been friends
• 29:11
  yet, but that is to come.
• 29:16
  Students, but you know, some of the
• 29:18
  students that I've been fortunate enough
• 29:20
  to work with at Dalhousie either through
• 29:24
  my role as a teaching
• 29:25
  assistant or as a co instructor.
• 29:26
  Some of them have seen sharks before, but
• 29:28
  many of them have never even stepped foot
• 29:31
  on a boat before, let alone seen a shark.
• 29:33
  True.
• 29:34
  So yeah, they're taking the course
• 29:37
  because they're interested in sharks, but
• 29:38
  some of them do still
• 29:39
  have that apprehension.
• 29:40
  So it's really the students and getting
• 29:42
  to show that to the students and allow
• 29:45
  that to be a part of
• 29:46
  their learning journey.
• 29:48
  That really resonates with me.
• 29:50
  Now, saying that my
• 29:51
  husband and I just bought a boat.
• 29:53
  Yes.
• 29:53
  So we are looking forward to going out
• 29:55
  and being able to see sharks, just the
• 29:58
  two of us or bring
• 29:59
  out friends and family.
• 30:02
  We know where they
• 30:03
  are off of Nova Scotia.
• 30:04
  We know how to find them.
• 30:06
  So that'll be it'll be a nice experience.
• 30:08
  And and to be honest, when we're seeing
• 30:10
  the sharks through Dalhousie shark class,
• 30:13
  there's always an aspect to it that is a
• 30:16
  little bit stressful because we are
• 30:18
  tagging the animals.
• 30:19
  So we are taking them out of the water.
• 30:22
  Yeah, I can go out on my
• 30:23
  own boat and just see them.
• 30:25
  I don't have to take
• 30:26
  them out of the water.
• 30:26
  I can leave them in the water.
• 30:28
  They can do their own thing.
• 30:30
  I can just enjoy them in
• 30:32
  their natural environment.
• 30:34
  And so I'm really looking forward to that
• 30:36
  and being able to show
• 30:37
  friends and family that.
• 30:38
  Yeah.
• 30:39
  So I think this is interesting.
• 30:40
  You know, I approached this episode
• 30:42
  initially as like, because of I know your
• 30:44
  your history in scuba
• 30:45
  diving, which is amazing.
• 30:46
  And I am like, oh, yeah, well, if you
• 30:47
  scuba dive, you'll probably
• 30:48
  see like so many cool things.
• 30:50
  You're talking about
• 30:51
  taking people on a boat.
• 30:52
  Sometimes students, you know, where
• 30:54
  you're doing work with them and showing
• 30:56
  them how to do so so they can build on
• 30:58
  their skills and their
• 30:58
  experience and on their career.
• 31:00
  But when you're saying, hey, when you and
• 31:02
  menu go out on the on your own boat,
• 31:04
  which congratulations, by the way, you're
• 31:07
  you want to see them in
• 31:08
  their natural environment.
• 31:10
  So I guess the question is, is like what
• 31:13
  type of animals if you're on the surface
• 31:15
  and you're and you're just, you know,
• 31:17
  kind of cruising along.
• 31:19
  Obviously, you're probably not going to
• 31:20
  see like a ton, even when you're in
• 31:22
  tropics, like by cruising along.
• 31:25
  But what could people expect to see on a
• 31:29
  on a fairly regular basis
• 31:31
  when you do see animals?
• 31:32
  What could you what could they expect to
• 31:34
  see or what do you expect to see?
• 31:36
  Yeah.
• 31:37
  Without a question, catching a tag.
• 31:41
  Yeah, no, this is great because this is a
• 31:44
  way that everybody can experience ocean
• 31:47
  life without having to.
• 31:48
  To learn how to dive because I realized
• 31:50
  that is not for everybody.
• 31:53
  Of course, if you go out here off of Nova
• 31:56
  Scotia and you don't
• 31:57
  even need to go very far.
• 31:59
  So, you know, you could be
• 32:00
  right along the coastline.
• 32:02
  You can see gray seals.
• 32:04
  I see them right from my house almost
• 32:06
  weekly, which is very cool.
• 32:09
  You can see Harbor porebice.
• 32:12
  You know, they're going into all the
• 32:13
  inlets, the harbor, Halifax Harbor.
• 32:15
  You can see them all the time.
• 32:17
  And if you go out a little bit further
• 32:19
  offshore and I'm not talking very far,
• 32:22
  you can still see land where I'm talking.
• 32:25
  We've seen different animals like ocean
• 32:27
  sunfish kind of setting themselves up the
• 32:30
  surface of the water.
• 32:33
  Otherwise known as a mola mola.
• 32:35
  And they are the best looking fish that
• 32:38
  you would ever imagine seeing.
• 32:41
  Again, if you're listening to this and
• 32:43
  you have no idea what an
• 32:46
  ocean sunfish is, look it up.
• 32:49
  They have essentially on the top and
• 32:51
  bottom of their body and they do not look
• 32:53
  like they should be
• 32:54
  able to move, but they can.
• 32:56
  And that is just incredible.
• 32:59
  Other things that we've
• 33:00
  seen before you go on.
• 33:03
  Sorry, just before you go on just to just
• 33:06
  to interrupt, I have to say this because
• 33:09
  like one of my most memorable moments
• 33:12
  work because I did my master's at Acadia.
• 33:15
  And Nova Scotia and I remember we did a
• 33:18
  project, you know, I was working as a
• 33:19
  technician for my profit.
• 33:20
  We were going around all the inlets and
• 33:22
  stuff and we were just at
• 33:23
  the outskirts of an estuary.
• 33:25
  So kind of like out in the ocean.
• 33:27
  And I remember seeing this
• 33:28
  like weirdest thing in the ocean.
• 33:31
  It was like it looked like something was
• 33:33
  dead at the surface of the ocean.
• 33:35
  Right. And a lot of people I think
• 33:36
  usually usually see that.
• 33:38
  So we kind of say, let's just go and see
• 33:40
  if we can get a closer look.
• 33:42
  And and as you get closer, you see this
• 33:44
  this this like thing that looks flat, but
• 33:47
  it's really vertical and then it kind of
• 33:49
  shifts to flat and then vertical.
• 33:51
  And so and that's what it does.
• 33:52
  That's why it's known as the sunfish is
• 33:54
  because of bays in the sun at the at the
• 33:55
  surface and things like that.
• 33:57
  And it goes out. But it is
• 33:58
  the weirdest looking fish ever.
• 34:00
  And it is so cool to see a fish like this
• 34:04
  where you're just like, I did not expect
• 34:06
  to see this today to be able to see it.
• 34:08
  So, sorry, I just wanted to mention that
• 34:09
  little story because it is
• 34:10
  one of the favorite things.
• 34:12
  So you can see that in the Roshanohiscocha.
• 34:13
  So totally cool animal to see.
• 34:17
  Other animals that you can see are
• 34:19
  leatherback turtles.
• 34:21
  So the largest turtle
• 34:23
  species that we have.
• 34:24
  Yeah. They come in in the
• 34:26
  summer to feed on our jellyfish.
• 34:29
  And we see and I feel like more and more
• 34:32
  in recent years, I've been seeing a lot
• 34:34
  of different whales, which is incredible.
• 34:37
  So yeah, humpback whales.
• 34:40
  We're seeing fin whales, which is the
• 34:43
  second largest whale.
• 34:44
  Now, in saying that we do get blue whales
• 34:46
  here off of Nova Scotia.
• 34:48
  And I've been trying to manifest a blue
• 34:52
  whale in my life for years now because I
• 34:56
  think that would be incredible.
• 34:58
  But yeah, we get we get a lot of
• 34:59
  different whale species.
• 35:02
  I've seen say whales before as well.
• 35:05
  Last year was my first
• 35:07
  time seeing pilot whales.
• 35:09
  So that was really interesting.
• 35:12
  Yeah, different dolphin species.
• 35:16
  Different bird species.
• 35:18
  So I think we get a lot of bird people
• 35:19
  here in Nova Scotia.
• 35:21
  So if you go offshore at all, you are
• 35:24
  seeing completely different bird wildlife
• 35:26
  than you're seeing here onshore.
• 35:28
  It's absolutely incredible.
• 35:31
  One of my favorite are storm petrels.
• 35:33
  You rarely will see them onshore.
• 35:36
  And there are these tiny little black
• 35:38
  petrels, tiny little blackbirds.
• 35:40
  And they'll just like
• 35:41
  whip in and around your boat.
• 35:43
  And they are beautiful and fast and fast.
• 35:46
  I have no idea what
• 35:47
  they're doing out there.
• 35:48
  I have no idea where they're going.
• 35:49
  My background is not in ornithology, but
• 35:52
  they're very cool to see.
• 35:54
  Yeah, I remember the first time I saw
• 35:58
  those, I thought they were bats.
• 35:59
  I really did. I thought they were bad.
• 36:00
  I'm like, how does the
• 36:01
  basket all the way out here?
• 36:02
  I'm like, I don't understand.
• 36:04
  Yeah, because they're quite dark and they
• 36:06
  they went around quite fast.
• 36:08
  Yeah. So just tons of wildlife that you
• 36:11
  can see from the surface, to be honest.
• 36:13
  And then, like I
• 36:15
  said, you can see sharks.
• 36:16
  There are more white shark
• 36:17
  sightings each year, it seems.
• 36:20
  And people have seen basking sharks here
• 36:22
  in Nova Scotia from the surface.
• 36:24
  They come to the
• 36:25
  surface to feed on plankton.
• 36:28
  And yeah, we do get
• 36:31
  different types of mobulids.
• 36:33
  So those are larger ray species.
• 36:36
  I haven't seen them myself, but they are
• 36:38
  here off Nova Scotia.
• 36:40
  I think it's just it's something new
• 36:43
  every time you go out
• 36:44
  and it makes it exciting.
• 36:46
  I think that's I think it's pretty cool
• 36:47
  because I don't think a lot of people
• 36:49
  will think about that on a break.
• 36:51
  I like when they think about the
• 36:53
  coastline, you know, we think in the wet
• 36:55
  on the west coast off the coast of like
• 36:57
  Vancouver and in the
• 36:58
  Charlotte islands and everything.
• 37:01
  You you think of of orca as you think of
• 37:05
  gray whales and humpbacks because we
• 37:07
  people show them quite quite often.
• 37:11
  I feel as though with with the the
• 37:14
  presence of a man by the
• 37:16
  name of Dr. Neil Hamish.
• 37:17
  Like he has really up the the the the
• 37:23
  public awareness of of great whites that
• 37:25
  are coming to Nova Scotia and that they
• 37:28
  they are here and that they keep seeing
• 37:30
  them come in more north.
• 37:32
  And it's it's probably a function of a
• 37:33
  number of different things.
• 37:34
  Climate change, including climate change
• 37:36
  and and just how well they're doing on
• 37:38
  the east coast and moving forward, I
• 37:40
  assume, for for better, better
• 37:42
  competition or less competition.
• 37:43
  So that I think it's kind of cool to see
• 37:47
  that. But, you know, do you find that
• 37:50
  people you grew up with, you know, your
• 37:52
  marine biologists, you know, you not only
• 37:54
  do you go up around the shore, you know,
• 37:56
  the coastline, but you also like live and
• 37:58
  breathe it on a daily basis.
• 38:00
  Our work is all around ocean stuff,
• 38:02
  whether we're not in it. We may not be in
• 38:04
  it every day, but we're talking about
• 38:05
  ocean. So you're more aware
• 38:06
  of the stuff that goes on.
• 38:06
  Do you find like your average person who
• 38:09
  lives in Nova Scotia, you know, is aware
• 38:13
  of the different species that around do
• 38:15
  they go out? Do they have the opportunity
• 38:17
  to go out on a boat or have friends that
• 38:21
  go out on a boat, whether they're part of
• 38:22
  a fishing community or something else
• 38:24
  where they have access to go out?
• 38:26
  Do you find there there as much invested
• 38:28
  in the coastline as say someone like you
• 38:31
  and I that are marine scientists?
• 38:32
  Yeah, so I think that's an interesting
• 38:35
  question. So, for example, my family,
• 38:40
  there are in my immediate family, there
• 38:42
  are no fishers, there are no marine
• 38:44
  biologists, there's nobody else working
• 38:45
  in the ocean sector, per se.
• 38:48
  Sometimes I come back after being on the
• 38:51
  ocean with stories of things that I seen
• 38:54
  out there. And I'm like, I had no idea
• 38:56
  you could see that off of here.
• 38:57
  Yeah, in saying that I do live in a
• 39:01
  fishing community. And I think fishers
• 39:05
  know more than they talk about. Because
• 39:09
  every time that I've had discussions with
• 39:11
  the local fishers, they're like, of
• 39:12
  course you have that
• 39:13
  here. I see that all the time.
• 39:14
  And I'm like, this is great. This would
• 39:19
  be great research. It would be so these
• 39:22
  animals. And I think it's just a
• 39:26
  different lifestyle. You know, they're
• 39:27
  going out and they're targeting, you
• 39:29
  know, their lobsters or anything.
• 39:30
  And they're talking targeting their cod,
• 39:32
  you know, they're not thinking about the
• 39:34
  marine life in the same way that I'm
• 39:36
  thinking about it. So yes, they're seeing
• 39:38
  it. They know it's out there. But it's
• 39:40
  not registering to them.
• 39:43
  How how special and unique that
• 39:45
  experience it is. I'm the same way that
• 39:47
  it is for somebody like me who grew up,
• 39:51
  like obsessed with animals and
• 39:54
  biodiversity. Not saying that they don't
• 39:58
  think it's important.
• 39:58
  Every fisher that I talked to
• 40:00
  acknowledges the importance of a
• 40:02
  biodiverse ecosystem and because that
• 40:05
  helps maintain healthy fish populations.
• 40:08
  It's just that's the lens they're seeing
• 40:10
  it in. So I think, you know, to answer
• 40:14
  your question, yes and no. There are
• 40:16
  community members here who are very aware
• 40:18
  of what's out there. But I think a lot of
• 40:20
  people are not. And that a lot of cool
• 40:25
  opportunity to try and
• 40:26
  teach people and show people.
• 40:27
  What is out there? Yeah, for sure. And
• 40:31
  like I'm going out to Halifax for a
• 40:33
  conference. We're going to we have some
• 40:34
  work to do at the H2O conference in
• 40:37
  Halifax. June, I believe it's June 8th,
• 40:41
  June 9th and June 10th, which is going to
• 40:43
  be a lot of fun. But what can people do?
• 40:47
  I'm looking forward to going explore. I'm
• 40:49
  looking forward to I live there, you
• 40:50
  know, like 20 years ago. I'm looking
• 40:52
  forward to going to see how things have
• 40:53
  changed. But also, like, I can't wait to
• 40:55
  go back to that
• 40:56
  waterfront and walk it out there.
• 40:56
  And just enjoy the smell of the ocean and
• 41:00
  being able to see trying to be able to
• 41:03
  spot any kind of animal I can see for
• 41:04
  sure. Maybe even go out on a little bit
• 41:07
  of a harbor cruise. I don't know. We'll
• 41:09
  see. But like for the people who are
• 41:12
  visiting Nova Scotia or even for Nova
• 41:14
  Scotians themselves who haven't
• 41:15
  connected, haven't had a chance to
• 41:17
  connect or I mean, like a lot of tourists
• 41:19
  go to the East Coast, especially during
• 41:22
  the June, July, these types of months, the summer, spring and summer.
• 41:25
  What is there to do to really dive deep
• 41:30
  into, you know, what we're looking at,
• 41:34
  like, or what is available in terms of
• 41:36
  productivity animals, all that kind of
• 41:38
  stuff in the ocean? How can they really
• 41:40
  connect? What's there to do in in whether
• 41:42
  be Halifax, Dartmouth,
• 41:44
  Nova Scotia, wherever?
• 41:46
  Yeah, that's a great question. So I guess
• 41:51
  right before the H2O conference in
• 41:53
  Halifax itself, actually, it's a great question.
• 41:54
  So June 7th on Halifax waterfront and at
• 42:01
  various other stops along that route.
• 42:05
  Basically, it's a bunch of businesses,
• 42:08
  organizations, NGOs, academia, dive
• 42:11
  shops, you know, Pisces oceans is even
• 42:14
  getting involved with a cold water connector event. So check that out.
• 42:16
  Yeah, I think really that is the day if
• 42:22
  you want to learn more about the oceans
• 42:24
  here in Nova Scotia, particularly to come
• 42:28
  on down to the Halifax waterfront or the
• 42:30
  different stops along the Oceans Day
• 42:33
  route and just learn from the different
• 42:36
  people doing different things like, for
• 42:38
  example, last year, I believe there was
• 42:41
  the Marine Animal Response Society was
• 42:43
  there and they're talking about the work that they do.
• 42:44
  Helping to rescue stranded whales or
• 42:50
  injured seals and things like that. Or
• 42:53
  you could talk to the different dive
• 42:54
  shops about the stuff that they're seeing
• 42:56
  underwater, which would be like the event
• 42:59
  we're teaming up with the dive shop to
• 43:01
  talk about cold water and the different
• 43:04
  wildlife and animals you can see there.
• 43:04
  So I think really that's the place to go,
• 43:08
  you know, even government goes in on that
• 43:11
  event. So fisheries and oceans Canada or
• 43:15
  DFO has been involved in that event.
• 43:18
  They have like a large map that they lay
• 43:20
  out on the floor sometimes and then it
• 43:22
  shows the different areas where there are
• 43:24
  marine protected areas or where they're
• 43:26
  planning to put in
• 43:27
  marine protected areas.
• 43:27
  So that's a really, really great day to
• 43:30
  showcase all the different work that is
• 43:32
  happening around Nova Scotia. Otherwise,
• 43:36
  a lot of our beaches are provincial
• 43:37
  parks. So you know, just get out and go
• 43:39
  to a beach and learn by being there, you
• 43:43
  know, take a moment at the ocean.
• 43:45
  Don't rush your stay. Just like really be
• 43:50
  in the moment. Be with the beach, be with
• 43:52
  the water. And I think you'd be surprised
• 43:55
  what you can see or find on the beach or
• 43:57
  see from the beach. So 100% 100% I I was
• 44:02
  up at a conference in
• 44:03
  Newfoundland back in 2014.
• 44:05
  We went up and we were in St. John's. We
• 44:09
  decided, Hey, you know what the thing to
• 44:10
  do is let's walk up signal Hill. It says
• 44:13
  it's a hill. It's a big walk. So be
• 44:16
  careful when you walk up there. Be ready
• 44:17
  to big walk. When we got to the top, you
• 44:20
  know, you see on the other side of it as
• 44:23
  you get to the top, you just see ocean as
• 44:25
  far as you as far as your eye can see.
• 44:27
  And it's certain times the year we were
• 44:28
  there in July, certain times the year you
• 44:30
  get to see the humpbacks frolicking in
• 44:32
  the water and jumping and stuff. And I
• 44:34
  got to see that just by being there. Now,
• 44:36
  that's not a guarantee every time you're
• 44:37
  going to see wildlife like that.
• 44:38
  But, you know, spend some time just sit
• 44:42
  and enjoy, you know, a lot of the times
• 44:44
  we don't realize how soothing it is to be
• 44:47
  able to stare at that big blue ocean and
• 44:49
  just enjoy the calmness and like start to
• 44:52
  observe how many seabirds you can see,
• 44:54
  you know, the, you know, all the
• 44:56
  different like the waves, the coastline,
• 44:58
  the wind. It's just, it's unbelievable.
• 45:01
  Unbelievably relaxing. It's
• 45:02
  great for your mental health.
• 45:04
  Because I think we all have to worry
• 45:06
  about our mental health these days with
• 45:07
  all the world happening. But there's
• 45:09
  nothing better than on Oceans Day, which
• 45:13
  I think Oceans Day is officially on the
• 45:14
  8th to go out, spend some time along the
• 45:17
  coastline. If you're in the Halifax
• 45:19
  Dartmouth area, please stop
• 45:22
  by where we're going to be.
• 45:23
  We all put some more information in the
• 45:26
  outro, an intro so that you can check us
• 45:28
  out if you're in that area. We'd love to
• 45:30
  say hi. If you've been a long time
• 45:32
  listener to the How to Protect the Ocean
• 45:33
  podcast, please come say hi. I'd love to
• 45:34
  have a chat with you on that. And you get
• 45:36
  to see some really cool dive shop as well
• 45:40
  as some, we got some aquariums, I think,
• 45:42
  that we're planning on bringing by.
• 45:43
  Yeah, there's going to be some touch
• 45:45
  tanks and I'm bringing in my personal
• 45:48
  shark collection, I'm calling it. So I
• 45:50
  will teeth, jaws, skate eggs. So if you
• 45:53
  don't know what a state is, it is a
• 45:56
  cousin of the sharks and rays. We have a
• 45:59
  lot of them here. We actually have 19
• 46:01
  different ray and skate species here in
• 46:03
  Nova Scotia. So I will be chatting about
• 46:06
  those. I even have a baby shark, not
• 46:09
  alive, but you can
• 46:11
  come see a real new shark.
• 46:12
  That is so cool. I can't wait to take a
• 46:15
  look at it. But Chrissy, I want to thank
• 46:17
  you so much. I think this is your first
• 46:19
  podcast. It is my first podcast. Thank
• 46:21
  you for having me. That is amazing. And
• 46:24
  it won't be your last. We'll have you do
• 46:25
  some more stuff later on if you're
• 46:27
  willing to come back and talk more about
• 46:29
  not only just, you know, your enjoyment
• 46:32
  of species, but we'll get into the
• 46:33
  science that you've done in the next in
• 46:36
  another episode. And we'd love to have
• 46:38
  you back on. But thank you so much for
• 46:40
  joining us today. It was a lot of fun.
• 46:42
  Thank you for having me. Thank you,
• 46:44
  Kirsty, for joining us on today's episode
• 46:46
  of the how to protect the ocean podcast
• 46:48
  was great having her on and I'm looking
• 46:49
  forward to having her back on to talk
• 46:50
  more about the wonderful ocean species.
• 46:52
  She is a shark biologist,
• 46:54
  and we're gonna be talking more with her
• 46:56
  about psychology in the coming episodes,
• 47:00
  probably later on, but because I always
• 47:02
  like to mix it up a little bit with
• 47:03
  people. But she's just a wealth of
• 47:05
  knowledge and so much fun to be able to
• 47:07
  talk to you. And if you want to talk to
• 47:09
  Kirsty and myself, as well as some of the
• 47:12
  other members of Pisces oceans, Natalie
• 47:14
  and Melissa from our co CEOs, we are
• 47:18
  hosting an ocean day event
• 47:21
  that's Sunday, June 7th in house.
• 47:22
  That's Sunday, June 7th in Halifax off
• 47:24
  the Bedford Highway in Bedford, Nova
• 47:26
  Scotia. It's at 1440 Bedford Highway.
• 47:29
  It's actually at a dive shop. We're going
• 47:31
  to be hanging out in the parking lot.
• 47:33
  We're going to have some some things to
• 47:35
  touch and feel in terms of some
• 47:38
  fossilized teeth, shark teeth and maybe
• 47:42
  some jaws and we'll see a lot of
• 47:43
  different things. But we're there to talk
• 47:45
  if you ever want to chat if you're in the
• 47:46
  Halifax, greater Halifax region or in
• 47:49
  Nova Scotia and you want a fun morning of
• 47:52
  hanging out with and talking oceans. You
• 47:54
  can do that from 9am to 11am Halifax
• 47:58
  time. That's Atlantic time. That's
• 48:00
  Sunday, June 7th, 1440 Bedford Highway
• 48:03
  Bedford Nova Scotia would love to chat
• 48:05
  with you if you're a fan of the podcast
• 48:06
  or you're a fan of just oceans in general
• 48:08
  and you want to come out and hang out
• 48:10
  with us for a couple of hours. Please let
• 48:12
  us know. We'd be happy to do so. So
• 48:14
  that's it for today's episode. I want to
• 48:16
  thank Kirsty and I want to thank you for
• 48:17
  listening to this episode. We got more
• 48:20
  Oceans Week fun stuff coming from the
• 48:22
  ocean. I'm going to do some off the cuff
• 48:26
  like five episodes just for fun and see
• 48:29
  what we can come up with in terms of
• 48:31
  topics. I'm looking forward to doing that
• 48:33
  and I want to thank you so much for being
• 48:35
  a fan of the how to protect the ocean
• 48:37
  podcast because the fact that you guys
• 48:39
  listen to this episode and that you
• 48:41
  listen to the all the episodes or as many
• 48:43
  episodes as you can and get yourself
• 48:46
  interested in the oceans and you're
• 48:47
  looking at resources. I love the fact
• 48:49
  that you come each and
• 48:50
  every day or whenever you
• 48:52
  can to come back and listen to these
• 48:53
  episodes. I can't it's just fun to be
• 48:56
  able to have that and be able to talk to
• 48:57
  you and for if you want to get a hold of
• 48:59
  me, you can hit me up in my socials in
• 49:01
  the show notes and of course I'll put the
• 49:04
  information to our event for oceans.
• 49:06
  Well, the day before Ocean's Day June 7th
• 49:08
  to talk about more about cold water,
• 49:11
  especially around Halifax. So I want to
• 49:13
  hear your stories and what your favorite
• 49:14
  species is in and around the Nova Scotia
• 49:17
  area in the ocean up in Eastern Canada.
• 49:19
  So thank you again for
• 49:20
  joining us on today's episode.
• 49:22
  Of the how to protect the ocean podcast.
• 49:23
  I'm your host, Angelo and have a great
• 49:25
  day. We'll talk to you next
• 49:25
  time and happy conservation.