Latest / The Shed Organics Show / #27 - Villains or Victims? Sharks in the Spotlight | Taylor Ladd Hudson

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#27 - Villains or Victims? Sharks in the Spotlight | Taylor Ladd Hudson · The Shed Organics Show

0:00
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the shared
0:03
organics show. My name is Jordan and today's
0:08
episode is another fabulous one. We are joined by a very
0:14
inspiring young lady by the name of Taylor, who is a very big
0:20
shark enthusiast and she's doing some incredible work in helping
0:25
to spread awareness about the issues that we face with shark
0:31
conservation. And even people like us living
0:36
in Australia who have to deal with and encounter sharks on a
0:41
somewhat regular basis, sharing our beaches and our oceans with
0:45
these incredible creatures. Now, if you're anything like me,
0:50
you might have somewhat of an inbuilt generational fear, as
0:54
Taylor calls it, about sharks and about these apex predators.
0:58
And you might have seen the movie Jaws, like she touches on
1:02
in this episode. And you have this preconceived
1:06
idea of what these giant creatures are like in the ocean.
1:10
And Taylor's here to dispel a whole lot of these myths and try
1:16
and really get us to understand and most importantly, respect
1:20
these incredible creatures. So this conversation was really
1:25
enlightening for me. And I think the passion, the
1:30
enthusiasm, the positivity, and the confidence that Taylor has
1:34
in expressing all of these ideas and bringing them to us in such
1:38
an easy to understand way, inspiring the next generation,
1:43
It's really made me feel super hopeful that we have people like
1:47
Taylor out there doing these wonderful things.
1:51
So if you're a bit of a shark enthusiast yourself or if you're
1:54
into your marine biology, then this episode is for you.
1:58
So let's jump straight into it. This is Taylor and she is our
2:03
wonderful shark enthusiast. For me, and I'm sure like for
2:25
many of the people that I've ever met and around the world,
2:28
when you think of places like Australia, often even like South
2:34
Africa where we've got all this big surf, we're also thinking
2:39
about places where there's loads of sharks, right?
2:42
And I don't know whether you surf or whether you just like
2:49
love the water and have grown up around the water or something
2:52
like that. But most people who surf and
2:55
grow up around the water either have this really big fear of
2:58
sharks because they're going into their place or their
3:03
environment or their at 1:00 with the whole ocean and go
3:07
like, this is just, you know, it is what it is, we're sharing it
3:11
and all of that kind of thing. But I can't help but for me
3:16
personally be petrified that I'm in their territory and I can't
3:21
swim as well as them. So how do you feel about the
3:26
fear of sharks or like how do you balance and teach people not
3:31
to be scared of these really apex predators?
3:35
Yeah, well, that's that's a great question.
3:38
And yes, there is definitely two sides of the story, especially
3:42
in the surfing community. Me personally, I'm a volunteer
3:47
surf lifesaver at Noosa Main Beach and I also love getting
3:50
out in the water, surfing, snorkeling.
3:52
I also do a bit of sustainable spear fishing.
3:56
And yes, you're right, there are definitely very much two sides
3:59
of the stories. For me personally, I didn't
4:02
actually grow up a Little Mermaid baby.
4:06
I did grow up surrounded by wildlife but my family and I
4:09
moved up to the Sunshine Coast in 2018.
4:11
So I believe I was around 10-11 years old and growing up,
4:18
especially on the coast, mum and dad wanted me involved in self
4:21
life saving and nippers. So I got heavily involved in
4:24
that and I just fell in love with being in the ocean.
4:27
But it actually wasn't until I had my very first wild shark
4:30
encounter on the most southern reef of the Great Barrier Reef.
4:36
And I was with my dad and my little sister, and we were
4:40
snorkeling. And he grabs on to me and my
4:42
sister as we see a very small baby black tip swim past us.
4:48
And, you know, he grabbed onto it thinking it's going to come
4:51
up and attack us and eat us. But it didn't do that.
4:54
And it swam off peacefully into the distance.
4:56
And really from that moment, I was hooked on this misunderstood
4:59
species because like a lot of people, I was absolutely
5:03
terrified of sharks growing up. And yeah, that moment really
5:07
kind of hooked me on this species and wanting to learn
5:10
more. But I've been in the water
5:12
multiple times and had some very interesting shark encounters.
5:16
One time I was paddling on my kneeboard Surf Life Saving knee
5:19
board, which is a pretty long board.
5:22
If you guys don't know those, you know, Surf Life Saving
5:26
boards so we can carry people on them.
5:28
So they're really long. And I was paddling with a mate
5:31
around Noosa National Park and we just turned the corner into
5:36
eBay and we're paddling and I look to my right and I see a
5:41
dorsal fin, a really, really big dorsal fin, about half a metre
5:47
away from my friend. And it was so big that it
5:51
literally looked like a baby humpback whale.
5:53
It was in whale season, so it definitely was in the baby
5:57
humpback whale. And you just saw this white
6:00
water and it was grey. Still not sure to this day what
6:03
shark species it was. We reckon it was probably like a
6:08
great white or a really, really big tiger shark just by the
6:11
colours. It was grey and it was lighter
6:14
underneath. And we all know those are the
6:16
colours of our beautiful great white sharks.
6:19
Wow. And that moment definitely
6:22
really like shook me up. And I remember just obviously
6:25
going straight into flight mode and wanting to get away.
6:29
But I calmed myself down somehow in that situation.
6:34
Listen to all the knowledge I've gathered and all the knowledge I
6:37
share, which I'll talk later about with kids about how to be
6:40
shark smart. And I grabbed my friends board
6:42
to make us look like a bigger object and we somehow paddled
6:46
away very slowly. And that moment definitely very
6:49
much, you know, maybe question like I'm I'm still, I'm still
6:54
afraid of sharks, but I respect sharks.
6:58
And that's the difference between fear and respect.
7:00
It's natural to respect to fear and apex predator.
7:04
That is 100% OK. When I'm in murky water swimming
7:07
around, you know, it is always going to be at the back of my
7:09
mind. There's still apex predators.
7:12
Some shark species are a lot friendlier than others.
7:16
And this moment really just grounded me in.
7:19
If sharks wanted to eat us, we would not be in the water and I
7:23
would probably not be here right now because that shark could
7:26
have eaten us both easily. It would have been longer than
7:29
both of our boards combined, well over 5 minutes, so it would
7:33
have been pretty big. And I've had some other pretty
7:36
interesting encounters. I was off Sunshine Beach
7:39
rescuing, trying to rescue a really large female green sea
7:42
turtle on the wildlife rescue jet ski.
7:44
It was the man who runs wildlife rescue, Noosa, Will Watson on
7:50
the front, me in the middle and my dad, Dan on the back.
7:54
Dad will be in quite a few of these stories.
7:56
Big support of mine. And we saw this massive green
7:59
sea turtle. I love these stories.
8:02
And, and we had come up to it and it's on the surface and
8:08
there's this thing with the turtles we rescue 'cause I do
8:11
quite a bit of wildlife rescuing too.
8:13
It's called floatism. It's when they've ingested
8:15
plastic and they're at the surface and they can't dive down
8:18
because of all the gases and bubbles in their stomach.
8:20
So we get a lot of turtles with that disease.
8:22
And we have this massive green female sea turtle and we're
8:25
thinking, how are we gonna get a on this jet ski with, you know,
8:29
a teenager and two fully grown adult.
8:33
And I just get this feeling in my stomach.
8:35
I'm like, guys, I reckon we should give the turtle a bit of
8:38
space. We should maybe back off a bit.
8:40
And and then I just, I studied the turtles behaviour and I've
8:44
been in the water quite a few times with turtles.
8:46
So not fully professional and understand the behaviour, but I
8:51
just knew something was up by the way was sitting on the
8:53
surface. And I have my phone and I'm
8:57
recording and I say, hey, guys, I think we should give it some
9:00
space. I reckon.
9:01
I reckon there's a shark around. I reckon there's a tiger shark
9:04
around because tiger sharks feed on turtles.
9:06
And at that exact moment, there was a big splash and the turtle
9:10
was gone. And it's important to note that
9:13
it was a dead flat, glossy day. We were actually out looking to
9:17
rescue a humpback whale. And it was like flat.
9:21
We'd made it through Noosa Bar, which can be really sketchy at
9:23
times. Like, no problems whatsoever.
9:25
It was really flat and we're seeing that and this turtle's
9:29
gone from the big splash and I'm still recording on my phone and
9:32
I, I finished recording and then and then all of a sudden the jet
9:38
ski flips over and we all end up in the water and, and it's not
9:48
easy to flip a jet ski over. And like my dad literally
9:52
thought the jet ski was broken it and it was going to like
9:54
drown in that moment. But we end up getting on the jet
9:58
ski and I was like, guys, guys, that was a shark.
10:00
That was a shark. And they don't believe me.
10:04
But it wasn't until later when I slowed down the footage at home.
10:07
But I see the turtle and then I see the back of definitely not
10:11
another turtle. It of a tiger shark coming off
10:15
onto the back of the turtle because you see these two lumps
10:19
and and then you in that moment you're like I told you so that's
10:23
amazing. I'm shocked that had taken the
10:26
turtle. It was very likely that the
10:28
tiger shark had come up underneath us thinking we were a
10:32
second turtle and flipped the jet ski over.
10:34
So I've definitely had some pretty intense encounters.
10:37
But like I said, it just really reinforces the fact for me that
10:43
I mean, if sharks wanted to eat us, we would not be surfing or
10:46
even dipping our toes into the water.
10:48
So yeah, it's just about respecting them.
10:51
It's OK to fear them, but it's all about respecting them and
10:54
like you said, we're in their home and yeah, just a healthy
10:58
amount of respect. You're, you're so right.
11:00
I love those stories. You're a great storyteller.
11:04
I that gives me like the, you know, the weird feeling because
11:08
it's like you're, I've had one shock encounter in my life and I
11:15
was in Byron Bay. I'll tell the story quickly.
11:17
I was in Byron Bay where they don't have shark Nets, correct?
11:20
So there's no shark Nets. But I want to touch on shark
11:22
Nets because I've seen a couple of things that you've posted
11:25
about that. I was out the back.
11:29
They call it for those who aren't surfing, we're just
11:32
behind the break of the waves, right?
11:33
And you're sort of waiting to catch one of these waves.
11:36
And, and bear in mind, even though most people assume
11:38
everyone with dreadlocks can surf, I can't surf or can't surf
11:43
very well at all and would struggle to get maybe one out of
11:47
25 waves. So we're on the beach and sorry,
11:51
we're on the beach. Somebody comes out and starts
11:53
calling for a shark and everybody just jumps on their
11:58
board, jumps on the next wave and cruises all the way in, no
12:02
dramas at all. And there's me who can't catch a
12:06
wave, starting to sort of paddle towards the beach going, Oh my
12:11
goodness, I'm going to be the last one left out here.
12:13
I'm going to be praying. And I actually saw this big
12:17
shadow underneath the the board, like it was maybe not directly,
12:21
but in front of me, this huge big shadow swim underneath me.
12:27
And I was convinced, I'm pretty like convinced that was the
12:30
shark. It's huge.
12:31
And I was just paddling for my life.
12:35
I had no idea how to deal with any of this.
12:38
I didn't know about making yourself big or I was on this
12:41
beautiful multi colored board and like, you know, nice and
12:45
like big waving hello at the shark if he wanted to come and
12:48
get me, But I just yeah, got in, you know, pretty pretty sure I
12:52
just body surfed or like, you know, just boogie boarded the
12:55
wave in and I was shook like after that trying to think about
13:00
it. I was like, Oh my goodness, but
13:01
you're right. One it reminded me that yes, we
13:05
are in their territory. So they're they they've
13:08
controlled that. They know exactly what like is
13:11
up. If they saw these thousands of
13:14
surfers in there every day, they would just pick them off like
13:18
they would if they wanted to eat them.
13:19
So most of the time from my experience and from what I've
13:23
learned, is that they'll only attack if they feel threatened
13:27
or if they mistake you for something that they normally
13:31
would eat, Black Sea turtle or something like that.
13:34
So what what do you find is like the main thing that sharks are
13:40
wanting to attack? Like are they searching for
13:43
specific prey? I suppose it depends on the the
13:46
species as well. But typically I think I'm
13:49
thinking about great white sharks as they're obviously the
13:52
ones that are portrayed as the big, bad, ugly, scary ones
13:57
'cause they're quite damaging. But then we also have species
14:01
like maybe the tiger shark that you mentioned or the bull shark
14:05
as well. And I used to live in when we
14:09
first moved to this country from New Zealand, which has no scary
14:13
animals whatsoever in New Zealand, really come here
14:17
naively. And we lived on some canals and
14:21
we would go, my brother and I would jump in this blow up dingy
14:27
in the canals. And we're like young, probably
14:29
younger than you, paddling around this thing, jumping in,
14:34
having to swim around like this is beautiful weather.
14:36
Australia is great. And then our neighbor was like,
14:40
I'd get out of there. Like there's quite a few bull
14:43
sharks that live under the pontoons and all of this kind of
14:46
thing. And there's been attacks before,
14:48
so get out. And so we never went back in.
14:51
I'd actually even cut my foot on an oyster shell and was bleeding
14:55
through the whole thing as I was like coming out of the water.
14:58
I said that's probably not a good thing to be doing in front
15:01
of a shark. But I'll go back to my question.
15:04
What's what are sharks wanting? Like what are they looking for
15:08
and hunting for and how can you avoid?
15:11
You mentioned something about teaching kids to be shark smart.
15:14
Can we run in through a little bit about that for people in
15:17
general, myself included, all the way down to to our kids as
15:21
well. What?
15:21
How can we be shark smart? Yeah.
15:24
So you mentioned some great points in there.
15:26
I think the first one I wanted to pick up on was that you said
15:29
there's thousands of surfers out there.
15:31
And when you think about it, there's thousands of people out
15:34
there in the water. And I mean, we have an average
15:38
of around 10 attacks across the world, 10 fatalities, sorry,
15:42
across the world each year. And we actually have 250 deaths
15:48
from phones in America, across the world each year.
15:53
Crazy. Compare those two.
15:55
It's like, you know? You're so right, yeah.
15:59
Like you said, and when you think about that, that's only 10
16:02
sharks, mainly juveniles, young teenagers as we know.
16:06
They all make mistakes, having mistakes, and you think about
16:10
how many mistakes we make a day. So they're pretty incredible
16:14
creatures. They've been here, they've
16:15
survived 5 mass extinctions. They've been here for over 450
16:18
million years. They're older than trees, so
16:21
they're pretty smart. And the fact about bleeding.
16:24
So that's another kind of misunderstood thing in the
16:29
community. And I personally thought that it
16:31
was human blood that sharks are attracted to.
16:33
Yes, they can sense human blood, but they're actually attracted
16:37
to fish blood. Wow.
16:38
Not. Human blood.
16:40
So that's really interesting. It is thankfully for me.
16:44
You're you're still here, you're still here.
16:45
So that kind of, you know, found my point.
16:49
But with the shark species, the three sharks you mentioned, yes,
16:53
the the great white, the bull shark and the tiger shark.
16:57
Personally, I've had encounters saying encounters with two of
17:02
them maybe right, but we can't really that one yet.
17:06
But tiger sharks, the reason why the tiger shark would have
17:11
attacked that turtle when we're out on the jet ski, it's because
17:15
most tiger sharks are known to be quite lazy hunters.
17:19
We like to call them the garbage trucks on the of the sea.
17:23
They've eaten. Honestly, if you search it up,
17:26
they've eaten like the weirdest stuff.
17:29
Cows, obviously, sometimes cows on the ocean number plates.
17:34
I'm pretty sure there's been a tiger shark that's had a full
17:36
suit of armour discovered in its stomach, like these guys.
17:40
They will eat anything. Kind of like my dog, She's a
17:43
girdle. She'll absolutely pick up
17:44
anything off the road. So tiger sharks, they're quite
17:47
lazy hunters, so the chances of having an adverse encounter with
17:53
a tiger shark are quite slim. I have a friend over in the
17:57
Bahamas. His name's Jim Abernathy, and
17:59
he's known this one tiger shark, her name's Emma, for 21 years,
18:03
and she actually comes up to him for pets.
18:06
Wow. Yes, it's pretty incredible
18:10
their relationship. Now I'm not saying to go up and
18:12
cuddle a tiger shark by any means, he is a professional, but
18:16
that's just kind of me describing their nature.
18:19
Bull sharks on the other hand, I've quite a bit of respect for
18:25
bull sharks Obviously being in being able to travel up river
18:30
systems. We know the cloudy in the water
18:32
is not great. That will throw back into one of
18:34
my shark tips later, but the clarity is not great.
18:38
So that obviously maxim minimizes our chance of seeing
18:42
the sharks and maximizes their chances because sharks, they
18:45
have incredible senses. They actually have a sixth sense
18:48
called the apoeline of Lorenzini, which is pores on
18:51
their nose and along the lateral sides of their bodies.
18:53
So along the sides of their bodies and that allows them to
18:56
detect electric currents in the water.
18:58
So that's how they find their prey.
19:00
So. And that's how they so.
19:01
Cool. Yes, and that's how the bull
19:03
sharks find their prey, in bad clarity, bad visibility.
19:08
It means visibility. And so bull sharks have actually
19:12
been known to bump before they bite, which is a great thing.
19:16
So if you get bumped while you're in the water, Yeah, We.
19:19
Better. Figure it out.
19:22
Me personally, I've been kind of getting, getting into
19:25
spearfishing because after watching Sea Spira see me and my
19:30
family didn't eat seafood for like 5 years.
19:33
And I've learned over that time if you want to eat seafood, the
19:36
best way is to catch yourself. So I've kind of picked up spear
19:40
fishing in the last few months and I was actually out out of
19:44
Mooloolaba at a blinker and there were bait balls of True
19:47
Valley and we had spear to True Valley and we're bringing it in.
19:52
Well, the boys were bringing it in.
19:53
I go out spear fishing because I'm the person to look after the
19:56
sharks. Gives them a bit more
19:59
confidence. But yeah, they'd spear the True
20:01
Valley and they're bringing it in.
20:03
And we had about 10 three meter bull sharks just absolutely
20:09
shock the fish. So that means they will come in
20:11
and get the fish before we get it.
20:14
We obviously let them have a fish because there's no point in
20:16
bringing up a fish with the 10 bull sharks attached to it.
20:20
So I definitely think bull sharks are a lot more aggressive
20:22
than tiger sharks and great white sharks, normally great
20:27
white sharks, they actually the seals, they bite seals and they
20:32
let them bleed out. Sharks, they're so smart, they
20:35
literally let them bleed out. So a majority of fatalities from
20:38
shark attacks for humans, it's really rare that the shark
20:43
actually comes back and finishes the whole meal.
20:44
Normally they bite and it's actually the death is due to
20:48
blood loss from the shark, but blood loss mainly.
20:51
And yeah, that's they just bleed out and sadly pass away.
20:58
So it just shows once again how smart sharks are.
21:01
And like you said, it's normally mistaken identity.
21:04
So when they bite, they're like, oh, hold on, this isn't normally
21:07
my food source and they will leave.
21:10
Leave it. And like you also said, a lot of
21:14
attacks just aren't random attacks.
21:17
They are normally triggered by an event or an action from a
21:20
human beforehand. Over in WA, over in Wai know
21:25
recently there was an incident where there were two people
21:29
snorkeling, I mean, sorry, spear fishing.
21:31
And they had a fish attached to the end of their line and a
21:35
tiger shark came in because like I said, they're very lazy
21:38
eaters. There's a fish right in front of
21:40
them and yeah, it came up and took the fish and that led to
21:45
accidentally drag the spear fishing speed Fisher under.
21:49
But she was they were absolutely fine in the end, just a bit
21:52
shaken up. But yeah, so a lot of it is
21:56
mistaken identity, like you said, thinking about turtles or
21:59
completely an accident or triggered beforehand.
22:02
So it's really interesting. And surprisingly, out of those
22:06
three sharks, the shark that I would be most worried about is
22:09
called a oceanic white tip. Now, luckily these guys, they
22:13
like to hang out in more the deeper blue, so we don't really
22:17
see them here, but they're actually a lot more aggressive,
22:20
I'd say, than time sharks and bull sharks.
22:23
I'm not sure about great whites yet because obviously I haven't
22:26
really shared the water with them.
22:27
But just being in the water, it's important to remember just
22:30
being in the water with these guys.
22:32
I think that everyone who's being fully present in the water
22:36
with the shark is either being absolutely terrifying or the
22:39
best moment of their lives, depending on who you are.
22:42
But when you come out of the water, you you really respect
22:46
them and they take up this presence, this energy in the
22:49
border. It's just it's pretty insane to
22:51
share the water with them. So yeah, just.
22:54
You're absolutely right. Like having, I mean, I've
22:57
watched a few things of people doing it.
23:00
I haven't done it myself and I don't know if I would I might.
23:04
I've thought about doing one of these kind of cage dive
23:07
experiences and I don't know whether you've done this, but
23:11
there was when they first released these headset things
23:15
for, for for the games. Like I'm, I don't really play
23:18
games, but they had this one where you could do a shark dive
23:21
encounter in virtual reality and you put the headphones on and
23:25
you put the goggles on and then you go down and you're sort of
23:28
like looking around, but it's obviously a game.
23:31
So they make it so that the shark comes and starts trying to
23:34
smash through the cage at you. And that like at the beginning
23:39
of virtual reality was scaring me because it sort of hijacks
23:43
your senses and things. But so being in the water, I
23:47
imagine is totally different. They're not going to dramatize
23:49
it as much. And I've seen, I actually
23:53
watched, you might know of it. Chris Hemsworth did a
23:56
documentary on sharks. I watched that fair few years
23:59
ago. That was really cool.
24:00
Gave me a lot of understanding as well as to what's going on.
24:03
But even just watching people swimming with sharks where they
24:07
go down and they're actually not in a cage and they're around
24:11
these creatures and watching how they move effortlessly through
24:15
the water. And also watching you, your one
24:19
with the whale shark, was it this enormous one that was so
24:23
beautiful, like that sized creature?
24:25
That experience must be so surreal for you to be in there
24:30
and kind of swimming around. What's that feeling like for you
24:35
in terms of just being like, yeah, having this respect for
24:39
them? Is there is there any fear at
24:41
all? Or are you just like, whoa, this
24:43
is crazy. I say there's a there's a little
24:49
bit of fear in situations where like for example, spearfishing,
24:55
you know, it's going crazy. There's 1000 things happening.
24:59
There's always going to be that little bit of fear.
25:01
But then again, like I'll go straight towards them if one's
25:05
coming at me with little to No Fear.
25:07
And that moment, I guess, when you're in the water with a
25:11
shark, it's really hard to put into words, just trying to think
25:14
about it because I've never had a question like this.
25:17
But I think it almost makes me think, yeah, I love the work I'm
25:23
doing and I'm going to continue to protect these guys because
25:27
it's those moments that I want more people to experience.
25:32
I don't want these guys. I don't want sharks to go exist
25:35
extinct. I want, you know, future
25:37
generations to be able to experience the experiences I
25:41
have, like swimming alongside a whale shark.
25:43
I was over in WA, like you said a month ago, swimming with whale
25:47
sharks and I just want future generations to be able to
25:50
experience that too. So I think that's more it just
25:54
feels your bucket and it's it's a beautiful experience.
25:58
And a lot of my conservation work is not always in the water,
26:02
you know, hands on saving all these creatures.
26:04
A lot of it is public speaking, which I was absolutely terrified
26:09
at first. But when you speak about what
26:10
you love to be, it does go away and it's all a lot, you know,
26:16
emails speaking, you know, education, not of it, not a lot
26:20
of it's actually in the water with the animal you're
26:23
protecting. So those moments are just
26:25
absolutely beautiful and really hard to put into words.
26:28
Yeah. Like you said, it reaffirms it
26:30
for you, doesn't it? Yeah.
26:32
Then 100% and like you mentioned before, being shark smart, so I
26:36
do. Since being involved in this
26:38
space since 12 years old, I will start to touch on the subject.
26:42
It is a very big topic at the moment, especially in
26:45
Queensland. Shark Nets and germlines.
26:49
Yeah. Yeah.
26:50
So I got kind of involved in that space when I was 12 years
26:54
old. I might as well start talking
26:56
about it. Now go for it, Go for it.
26:58
So after becoming hooked on sharks after that encounter only
27:02
a few months later in Boy Shark Cub, which is a documentary you
27:06
can see watch on Stan and Netflix now I believe you can
27:10
watch it on Netflix. It's an amazing documentary and
27:14
I watched it with my friends from nippers and it's all about
27:18
the shark control program, which is shark Nets and drumlines.
27:21
And we as nippers actually used to paddle.
27:24
Not really meant to be saying this, but we actually used to
27:26
paddle around the shark Nets during training and we had no
27:31
idea what these devices were doing.
27:33
So to give a basic rundown, shark Nets in Queensland are 124
27:40
to 186 meters and they're placed in a body water of 12 meters,
27:45
however only go down 4 to 6 meters.
27:48
So they're placed only a few 100 meters of popular swimming
27:51
beaches. I'm not sure of the exact number
27:54
of shark Nets right now, I'll tell you why in a second in
27:57
Queensland specifically. But yeah, they're placed on
28:01
beaches kilometers long and they're probably the most
28:04
smallest patch of water. So sharks actually have a 96%
28:08
chance of getting past the shark Nets and over 40% of the sharks
28:12
caught in the net is actually caught on the beach side,
28:15
meaning they've already been in close contact and a peacefully
28:18
making their way back out into deeper water.
28:21
And drum lines. Drum lines is basically like
28:25
fishing, basically like fishing. It's basically a fishing device.
28:28
So it's a big boy with long chain and a really, really big
28:33
hook. So about the size of an adult
28:36
male's hand, really big hook. And that's normally baited with
28:40
sharp flesh or mullet. Sometimes it's baited off
28:46
products from the sharks that are caught which is really sad
28:50
to think that. And the problem with the shark
28:54
knits and drum lines is the bycatch.
28:57
Bycatch is insane. The numbers I believe for
29:01
everyone shot caught 3 by catches caught.
29:06
So bycatch includes like turtles, dolphins, whales,
29:10
humpback whales, migrating humpback whales.
29:13
We get rays, jugongs, Penguins down in Sydney.
29:16
Like it's insane. Any species known in that area
29:19
or known to migrate through that area will basically become
29:22
entangled in the program if they go close enough.
29:25
And the problem is when bycatch is caught, it's basically like a
29:30
free buffet for sharks. Actually, it's attracting the
29:33
largest species into popular swimming beaches.
29:36
So not only is the program put in place to protect us, it
29:41
firstly doesn't do that. It actually tracks larger
29:44
predators into popular beach going loving places like for
29:48
example Noosaw. We got them basically at any
29:51
popular beach beaches you'd go swimming at, there'd be shark
29:55
Nets and drum lines, normally 3 drum lines, one shark net.
29:58
Here in Noosaw at in my backyard, my local beach, we
30:02
have two shark Nets and three drum lines.
30:05
Personally, I've managed so many whale entertainments in those
30:08
Nets since the age of 12. Baby humpback whales filming
30:12
original content. It is absolutely heartbreaking,
30:15
but it's also really sad that it's not only bycatch like
30:22
whales, dolphins, turtles. There have been so many human
30:26
incidents with the program that is called drownings, which
30:31
absolutely devastating and that rarely gets reported on.
30:36
There was, I just researched it this morning and I had no idea,
30:40
but there was actually a drowning December 8th, 2024 in
30:47
Gold Coast in a shark net. And another thing that's really
30:51
sad is sad and scary, scarier than sharks in my opinion, is
30:56
during extreme weather events, like, for example, cycling
30:59
Alfred, they get the equipment actually gets displaced and it
31:05
ends up coming closer in. And I've had mates catching
31:09
barrels with, like, photos. I've seen my mates catching
31:13
barrels with a boy from the the drumline actually in the wave
31:18
with them. And you're thinking like this
31:22
massive hook. And that would be fatal.
31:24
Yeah. And and the equipment can also
31:28
be dragged by large marine creatures like whales and
31:33
mantrays. And yeah, it doesn't sound like
31:37
a very good idea. Like how was?
31:39
I mean, obviously everything might start with some good
31:43
intentions and they're thinking, look, if we can deter them and
31:47
all of that kind of thing, then it might be a good idea.
31:50
But if someone sat down to me in a meeting room and said we're
31:53
going to dangle like a few Nets in the water here, there's a 96%
31:59
chance that they can get around it.
32:01
And they also are going to collect up and kill a whole
32:04
bunch of other marine life as well, which will then bring in
32:07
more sharks. Do you think that's a good idea?
32:09
I'd say no, but these things have been in place for a while
32:14
and I'm imagining that they're not really thinking about the
32:20
data that's being collected from this and doing anything about
32:23
it. From the research that I've done
32:27
on your page and what you're talking about and everything,
32:30
there are obviously other alternatives that are starting
32:33
to to come in. What can we do instead of that?
32:41
And if we are to like share the water with them, how are we
32:48
supposed to make sure that the public themselves, like people
32:52
like me who go to the beach, for example, I would think, OK, if
32:56
I'm going to the Gold Coast where they've got shark Nets,
32:58
I'm, I feel so much better because they've said there's a
33:02
shark net. When in reality, they don't tell
33:05
you that there's 96% chance that then it's not even going to work
33:08
anyway. So how do you explain to the
33:11
public, hey, like these shark Nets don't do anything And and
33:15
you're actually at risk, probably more risk bringing in
33:19
more species. But then yeah, how do you
33:21
educate the public? And then what else can we do
33:24
instead of these crazy fishing lines and things like this?
33:29
Yeah, it's, it's really scary. So the program has been in place
33:33
for nearly 100 years. 100 years. 1932 they were installed in NSW
33:40
in 1964 in Queensland. We also have drum lines inside
33:46
the Great Barrier Reef, which is pretty.
33:49
That's why why that's yeah. Insane to think about.
33:54
So yeah, just touching on recent updates and everything.
33:58
So obviously we've had change in government.
34:01
I'm still young, so I don't completely understand.
34:03
I try not get into all the political.
34:05
Me neither, don't worry. Crazy for my brain, honestly.
34:09
I've got too much else happening, but so the government
34:12
has actually just invested 88.228, I believe $1,000,000 in
34:19
not replacing the program, in expanding it.
34:25
Doesn't that give you a lot of hope for our government?
34:28
Oh man. In Queensland, so we will be
34:32
seeing here on the Sunshine Coast.
34:34
More shark Nets and John Lyons at Happy Vale Valley.
34:37
Happy Valley, keep my number up, Mucky that that place.
34:45
Kujian North and Cool NI believe those other identified spots
34:49
here on the Sunshine Coast, which is absolutely devastating
34:53
to see. And we recently NSW has taken a
34:59
step back on the sharknet. So we're actually the last state
35:04
in Australia to cull sharks of our beautiful beaches.
35:07
So WA stopped quite a few years ago and NSW, as I mentioned, has
35:13
specifically taken a step back regarding shark Nets.
35:17
Also, NSW is a lot better than Queensland because even before
35:22
they took the step back, they didn't have shark Nets in the
35:24
water during whale season, whereas we kept our shark Nets
35:28
in. But yeah, honestly, since being
35:31
involved in this space, like you said, it can be really doom and
35:34
gloom. But I try to remain as positive
35:37
and hopeful as I possibly can, which is at times can be really
35:41
hard. But there's no point in being
35:44
looking at the situation in a negative way.
35:45
Nothing ever is going to happen. So since being involved in this
35:49
space, I've gone to state parliament multiple times
35:53
talking and empowering ministers to look at all the modern
35:56
solutions and alternatives. And those alternatives are
36:00
absolutely incredible. They're absolutely insane.
36:03
So we have working with surf life saving drones.
36:06
So drones can not only spot an ID parks in the local area, but
36:09
they can also perform rescues, which is so cool.
36:14
Barriers that have been installed over at beaches in WA
36:18
that I've seen, they're really cool.
36:19
So they go from the top of the water to the bottom.
36:22
They're made out of a cycle plastic.
36:23
They're eco friendly, nothing could become entangled.
36:25
And they also create miniature ecosystems, which is really
36:28
cool, especially looking at it from a tourism point of view.
36:31
And then you also have personal deterrence.
36:33
So Ocean Guardian, which is a small device you can put on your
36:37
wrist in the tail of your board, which is where for people that
36:41
don't surf near the leg rope, which is the rope that attaches
36:45
to your ankle. So in the surfboard, you can put
36:49
it on your spear gun, you can wrap it around your ankle.
36:51
And like I mentioned before, sharks have their sixth sense.
36:54
And basically this small little device overpowers that sense and
36:58
deters the shark. So it's not like an electric
37:01
shock, but more like a really bad smell.
37:03
So there's all these incredible alternatives.
37:05
And after reading the report and gathering clarity from the chief
37:09
of staff on Tuesday, they will be doubling the drone program in
37:15
Queensland and making that permanent, which is a step in
37:18
the right direction considering the terrible extension of the
37:22
traditional program. And they will be looking at
37:25
investing in modern technology. But I'm not too sure how long
37:29
that will take. That's what was said with the
37:32
last, you know, last people in power.
37:36
So we will see what happens, but I think since being involved in
37:44
this space, like I mentioned, I like to be positive and hopeful.
37:48
And when I say those two words, positive and hopeful, I always
37:51
think about the next generation. So I absolutely love talking to
37:55
kids students, you know, environment kids that are into
38:00
the environment scouts, kids that are interested in the
38:04
ocean, kids that aren't interested in the ocean and just
38:08
informing them about how to be sharks smart in the water.
38:10
That's that's my main goal is giving the next generation the
38:14
knowledge. So it might not completely
38:17
eliminate the fear, but it will give them the respect and the
38:20
confidence that's needed in the water.
38:23
So they won't need, you know, that mental, like you said, that
38:27
mental thing where you know, the shark Nets in the water, I'm
38:29
safe. They won't need that.
38:30
They won't need that. And kids, they like to talk to
38:34
their parents. They like to talk to their
38:36
grandparents. So yeah, just, I give them these
38:39
tips. And some of them are like really
38:41
simple tips, like you eat in the morning and at and in late
38:47
afternoon, you know, before at night, you eat in the morning
38:50
at, at. Yeah, you eat in the morning and
38:53
at night. And that's when sharks eat too,
38:56
like water clarity is bad or if it's been raining and it's mixed
38:59
up the nutrients, it's probably not best to go on the water
39:02
because the small nutrients attracts the smaller fish, which
39:05
attracts a medium fish, which eventually attracts our
39:08
beautiful sharks. You know, if there's a whale
39:10
that's washed up or a turtle, probably not best to go swimming
39:13
in that area because obviously that scent is going to attract
39:16
sharks. Like I mentioned that blood does
39:18
attract sharks. Just general tips like that.
39:22
Avoid drop offs. We don't really have Dropbox
39:24
here of our beaches, more for the Great Barrier Reef and
39:29
that's basically when it's really shallow and then all of a
39:31
sudden goes really, really deep. And it's actually in Finding
39:35
Nemo, if you guys kind of know. Yes.
39:38
That's right with those drop offs because that's where shark
39:41
sharks like to hang out and looking for the next meal like
39:43
turtles. So yeah, just those general tips
39:47
and letting the kids know about those and hopefully changing,
39:51
changing minds and opinions and it's really awesome.
39:56
Kids absolutely love sharks. They love sharks.
39:59
That's so true. It's like setting them up for a
40:03
more positive image of these sharks.
40:07
And as you said, the kids will like share that to their parents
40:11
and go, oh, they're so fascinating and it might change
40:13
the parents mind and then change your grandparents and.
40:16
Ripple effect out from there. Percent, 100% It's the fear is
40:21
definitely a generational fear. 100% When I start my talks, I
40:27
ask the room 3 questions. Who's afraid of sharks, who
40:30
isn't afraid of sharks and who respect sharks. 99% of the kids
40:35
say they respect sharks and there's only probably one or two
40:38
people that put their hands up that are afraid of sharks.
40:41
Really. And since talking to kids, I
40:44
would say the number of people, number of young people who are
40:49
afraid of sharks, that number is dropping greatly.
40:52
When I first started, it'd be about 5.
40:54
Now it's about one or two, if I'm lucky, one or two that are
40:57
afraid of sharks. And all of them respect sharks,
40:59
which is which is really wonderful.
41:01
And that generational fear is definitely due to movies such as
41:04
Jaws. I actually, I actually watched
41:06
Jaws right before an interview for my very first time.
41:10
And I liked it, to be honest with you, because like you said,
41:14
technology has changed. When it first came out, it
41:16
looked really realistic. But looking back at it now, it's
41:19
like, yeah, I, I see which ones real ones not.
41:24
And I'm also really lucky to be working alongside Valerie
41:27
Taylor. Valerie Taylor.
41:29
So she's a well known shark conservationist and film maker,
41:34
and she actually helped film Jaws.
41:35
So getting to know about all the little tips behind Jaws, you're
41:38
like, Yep, I know what happened there.
41:40
I know what happened there. So yeah, just it's definitely a
41:43
generational thing. And things like social media,
41:46
like you said, you'd seen people swimming alongside sharks.
41:50
Just it does change. Just change the next
41:53
generation's opinions for sure. That's so cool.
41:55
Look, Taylor, one thing I liked about when I figured out what
42:00
you do, it was secondary. As I said to you before, I found
42:05
out that you are only 16, which is crazy.
42:08
And the reason I say it's crazy is because you know, like I, you
42:14
know, I'm 32. So even in that gap of a
42:17
generation or our age gap, I get people my age and older thinking
42:25
that 16 year olds these days are just scrolling on TikTok and
42:29
doing nothing with their lives, which is so not true because I,
42:33
in my opinion, much more informed generation and much
42:39
more aware of what's going on. And I love to highlight people
42:45
that are young because I still consider myself young at 32,
42:50
trying to do something about gardening, which is often talked
42:53
about as something you do when you retire.
42:56
So I'm ahead of my time trying to do something that is a
43:00
retirement age thing. So I'm trying to change that.
43:03
And seeing people like yourself be quite honestly, I'm, I'm
43:08
pretty amazed by you in terms of your confidence, your knowledge,
43:12
your positivity. And I wanted to ask you, how do
43:17
you, how does how do you get received by other people your
43:21
age and what do you think about people your age in their
43:29
understanding of these types of topics?
43:31
So what response do you get from all of the type of work you do?
43:37
Yeah. So when I first started, I, as I
43:41
mentioned, in the past four years, perceptions have
43:45
definitely changed. When I first started, I was kind
43:49
of, you know, that weird kid that was obsessed with sharks,
43:51
stay away from her kind of thing.
43:53
So it definitely wasn't perceived as cool swimming with
43:56
sharks. It was more like weird because
43:58
no one does that. But it definitely changed for
44:03
young people. Me, you know, being at school,
44:06
at first it was like, yeah, OK. But the more I kept doing it and
44:11
the more I kept, you know, working with the surfing
44:13
community in particular, they're like, wait, hold up.
44:16
She's kind of on to something. This is actually kind of cool.
44:18
So I definitely young people, as you mentioned, they're so well
44:22
informed and educated. I love those two words, young
44:26
people, so well informed and educated.
44:28
But I'm talking to kids like you too.
44:30
They're busting out facts that I don't even know.
44:32
Do you know plastic bags take this many years to decompose at
44:35
the bottom of the Mariana Trench?
44:37
Like, how do you know? This stuff is absolutely insane.
44:40
So I think young people definitely like listening to
44:45
what I have to say because it's definitely something new and
44:48
challenging, the typical stereotype of a shark.
44:51
And I think our generation loves to challenge issues.
44:56
And yeah, older people, I haven't had that much pushback.
45:01
I've been really supported in the conservation space and I
45:05
think it's because the topics I talk about are relevant,
45:10
especially to the next generation, because the
45:13
decisions made will affect the next generation.
45:15
And I definitely have something to say.
45:19
I was at first terrified of public speaking.
45:22
I could not speak in front of my class in Grade 4 and just
45:27
pushing myself to get outside of my comfort zone and becoming
45:30
really confident in what I say. Especially like how I mentioned
45:33
at the start, those encounters made me really confident in what
45:36
I was saying because I've lived through it, you know, lived
45:40
through a pretty intense encounter and just being
45:44
confident in what I was saying. People were ready to listen to
45:47
me, especially councils and ministers in power, they're
45:52
pretty keen to hear from you. So I think that really threads
45:55
back into what youth can do. And as you mentioned, a lot of
45:59
kids are on social media, TikTok, Instagram, not so much
46:03
Facebook. Personally, I struggle with
46:05
Facebook. I don't really know much about
46:07
that, but Instagram and TikTok and actually using those
46:10
platforms to educate more kids, that's what I've done.
46:15
So using social media to your advantage and it reaches so many
46:20
people and I get so many young people, especially young girls,
46:23
DM me, say what can I do to help?
46:25
How do I do this? I don't live on the coast.
46:27
Can I still make a difference? And my response is always anyone
46:32
can make a difference. Everyone can add to this battle.
46:35
My favorite quote goes a drop becomes a ripple, a ripple
46:38
becomes a wave, and waves do change tides.
46:41
And it doesn't matter whether you live on the coast or in the
46:43
middle of Australia or overseas in the middle of America,
46:47
everything is connected to the ocean.
46:49
And if you're passionate about it and if you love it, you're
46:52
going to make it happen. And it's honestly those small
46:55
little actions that create those waves of change, like picking up
46:59
plastic. I know it's everyone says that,
47:01
but picking up plastic, putting it in the bin, making sharks
47:04
part of the conversation. I think personally, the way the
47:09
shark control program, shark Nets and drum lines are going to
47:13
become removed and replace is through informing the public.
47:17
Like how I told you about the 96% chance, laying out all those
47:21
facts, informing them so they can make their own educated
47:24
decision. It's honestly all those really
47:27
small actions, and when I first became involved in this space, I
47:31
started volunteering for my local wildlife rescue group and
47:35
then that led to Sea Shepherd and then that led to Amboy
47:38
Foundation, the thing that inspired me.
47:40
So it's making also connections in that space and it's really a
47:44
flowering network and everyone in that space is so, so
47:49
supportive of young voices and they want those young voices to
47:53
be heard. So it's a beautiful space to be
47:56
involved in. And if you're passionate about
47:58
it, especially if you're young, 100% get into it.
48:01
Just honestly, just full send into it.
48:03
That's what I'd do. That's so cool, Taylor.
48:06
That's really an awesome story because I imagine being young
48:12
and rocking up to, you know, these people in suits and trying
48:17
to convince them that, you know, you have something worthy of
48:22
being listened to might be quite difficult.
48:24
If they're often, I don't know, it's maybe it's unfair to say,
48:28
but they're often stuck in their ways and they look, you know,
48:31
look down on young people as if they don't have that lived
48:35
experience. But you're backing it up with
48:39
the facts and the lived experience and as you say, some
48:43
relevant information, which is really cool.
48:45
And I'm so impressed by your ability to inspire people and
48:50
just to hold this space and, and knowledge and be able to
48:53
communicate it so effectively. I think you're doing an
48:56
Absolutely Fabulous job. Can I, let's go back to sharks a
49:01
little bit. I just want to wheel back a
49:03
little bit to one thing. So we all possibly if you're in
49:10
Australia, I do have some international listeners, but in
49:13
Australia you might have seen the Kelly Slater or is it Kelly
49:17
Slater or Mick Fanning? Mick Fanning shark.
49:21
Thank you. There you go, There's my
49:23
knowledge. Mick Fanning shark encounter
49:25
where he was surfing in the competition and encountered a
49:30
shark. Now, we touched on a few things
49:34
about maybe they bump you, maybe they're confused by you and
49:39
things like this. And you also touched on making
49:42
yourself seem really big and things like this.
49:47
What do you think about techniques to deal with
49:52
encountering a shark? If you do encounter a shark,
49:55
what can you do? I swear I've heard it in movies
49:59
and TV shows, but they say like poke it in the eye.
50:01
Is that something that's an actual thing or what can we do?
50:06
So worst case scenario, that would work.
50:10
Don't quote me on don't quote me on it.
50:11
Every shark is different. But yeah, so Mick Fanning, I
50:15
believe it was a great white shark and he ended up punching
50:18
it in the nose. And that is where all the extra
50:21
senses are. So that's a really sensitive
50:23
spot. So worst comes to worst, I would
50:26
not recommend doing it if you have other options.
50:28
But if you do come face to face with a shark, push it, punch it
50:33
in, it's around its nose, around its skills.
50:37
That's really another sensitive area.
50:39
You can also poke it in the eyes, but I would rather go for
50:42
the nose and the eyes because the eyes are further back than
50:45
the nose. So yeah, just give it a nice
50:49
back on the nose. And that should deter it,
50:52
usually that. Should because it will get upset
50:55
because it's got all its sense senses there.
50:58
Can't quote me on this, but yes, that is what I would do in that
51:01
situation if you come face to face with a shot.
51:05
Yeah, OK, cool. Because like, yeah, I think
51:08
people, you know, they are all OK sharing, respecting, and most
51:15
people don't want to encounter a shark when they're out there in
51:18
the ocean. They're not looking to encounter
51:20
a shark. So sometimes it can just
51:23
surprise you and all of a sudden you're in the situation where
51:26
there's one nearby. And as you said, sort of make it
51:31
a little bit, make yourself seem bigger if they're sort of
51:33
swimming around. And generally, they probably
51:36
will leave you alone, I would imagine.
51:40
Have you, have you ever heard of anybody sort of successfully
51:49
coming up with techniques to kind of talk about this stuff?
51:52
Is there anybody that you are inspired by that's really
51:56
leading the way in these types of conversations?
51:59
Not only for just dealing with sharks when you meet them in the
52:03
water, but who are you looking up to in this space, in this
52:07
whole area and inspired by? I definitely have quite a few
52:13
mentors and people I definitely look up to.
52:16
One of them, as I mentioned, is Valerie Taylor.
52:18
She's 90 this year, so she's older.
52:22
But I'll tell you what, she has got all the stories.
52:25
I think my mind has like doubled in like, storage capacity after
52:30
meeting her last year. She's an incredible lady.
52:33
And her advice to me would be just, you know, push it on the
52:36
nose. But there are other people like
52:39
Ocean Ramsey over in Hawaii. I would recommend checking out
52:42
her page. She swam with like, the biggest
52:45
great white shark. It was a pregnant female.
52:47
I think it was like something like 6 metres.
52:50
I've seen this. Yep, incredible.
52:53
And she actually has a book. If anyone is really interested
52:56
in techniques to deter sharks and understand sharks, I believe
52:59
it's called My Shark Teacher. Otherwise, just search up Ocean
53:03
Ramsey in books. She's got some incredible
53:06
resources out there. Other people that inspire me are
53:09
Madison Stewart. So she's actually working with
53:12
shark fishermen up in Indonesia in Lombok and she's transferring
53:17
them from shark fishing into ecotourism, which is insane.
53:21
Like that is honestly to grassroot credits to her insane
53:25
work that she's doing up there. Other people that have
53:28
influenced my journey is Lauren Sandeman.
53:31
I met her through Sea Shepherd and we've really like shared
53:34
this beautiful journey together. And whenever I need advice, I'd
53:38
go to her for it. So there's some absolutely
53:41
incredible people who have shaped me to who I am today and
53:45
all credits to them. When people say, oh, you know,
53:48
you're confident, you know what you're saying, like credits to
53:50
them because they have made me who I am and supported me so
53:54
much on this journey so far. So.
53:56
Wonderful. Yeah.
53:57
That's the that's that's important to me to highlight
54:00
people that you're looking up to as well, because someone else
54:03
who might, you know, constantly want to do something doesn't
54:08
know who's in this space and who they can reach out to and who
54:11
they can start following for all the information.
54:14
Obviously following you as well because you're leading the way
54:17
with that too. Another thing I want to touch
54:21
on, if that's OK with you. What's your, what's your vision
54:26
for yourself moving forward and the work that you're wanting to
54:31
do? What's top of mind at the moment
54:33
in terms of trying to make a difference for you?
54:37
You mentioned young kids trying to inspire the next generation,
54:41
being shark smart, and then obviously the Nets and things
54:44
like this and the drum lines. SO2 parts to the question, what
54:50
are you wanting to make a difference with moving forward,
54:54
if there's anything we haven't touched on?
54:56
And then secondly, where are you hoping to take your career or
55:01
yourself in sharks and ocean life and all of this?
55:06
Yeah, those those are really great questions and obviously
55:09
they're always changing and evolving.
55:13
The difference I want to make in, as I mentioned is just
55:16
education and changing that stereotype.
55:18
I think that is honestly going to be the game changer to shark
55:22
conservation and just getting all those facts out there.
55:25
I'm also currently working with Valerie Taylor on her project
55:29
called The String of Pearls, which is protecting these
55:33
beautiful aggregation spots for the critically endangered
55:36
Grayner shark. And an aggregation spot is a
55:39
spot where all these beautiful Grayner sharks like to hang out
55:43
when they're migrating up the East Coast of Australia and get
55:47
those spots fully protected. That would be an amazing goal to
55:52
achieve. And obviously removing and
55:53
replacing the program, but there's always work to be done
55:57
in the informing and educating the public space.
56:00
So I want to keep going with that and just see what
56:03
opportunities that opens up. And I'm still in year 11, so I
56:07
got to I got to finish school. I'm looking to get an Atta and
56:12
I'll probably take a gap year before I go to university.
56:14
And just just getting in the water and just enjoying the
56:17
ocean. I think that's one of my main
56:19
goals for that gap, getting in the water with the sharks that I
56:24
love to protect. So that's where I see myself
56:26
going. But always leaving all the
56:28
pathways open and just seeing what the universe has for me.
56:31
I really believe everything happens for a reason.
56:34
And even being in the in this space, like sometimes you can
56:38
get really down. And I feel in a way, the ocean
56:41
always sends me little messages like it will give me one day.
56:45
I was walking along the beach and I was talking to dad about,
56:47
you know, the shark net. It's really sad to see.
56:50
And and then we find this massive ghost net from
56:53
Indonesia. I mean, that that really
56:56
happens. Yeah, it was massive.
56:57
We ended up carrying out the beach.
56:58
So just these little messages. I mean, last year for my
57:01
birthday I was out snorkeling and I had mother and baby
57:07
dolphin come less than half a metre to me.
57:09
Like it was insane. So there's all these little
57:12
messages that keep me going and I really, you know, take them
57:15
personally into heart. Yeah, as you should, because you
57:19
are doing incredible work and I feel like the ocean knows that.
57:24
Without sounding too spiritual, I think it.
57:27
Does. Yeah, I seriously believe that
57:31
too. Now, you also mentioned Dad
57:33
quite a bit. Can you talk to me about your
57:35
relationship with Dad in terms of like, he obviously supports
57:39
you in a lot of things that you're doing.
57:41
Is this new territory for Dad, or has he been involved in this
57:45
the whole time? Or are you sort of leading him
57:47
into all of this? Yeah, So I'm up here on the
57:50
coast of my little sister Ruby. She is nearly 13 in a week.
57:56
Mum and dad. So dad actually used to ride
57:59
elephants. So he was really, we lived in
58:02
Asia for a little bit. So he was really into, you know,
58:04
the conservation, looking after elephants when he was little.
58:07
He also used to do quite a bit, not as much as me, but he, you
58:11
know, used to write little letters when whaling was
58:13
happening. So he was quite involved in that
58:16
space. And mum, she used to ride horse,
58:19
she still does whenever she can. So she was an equestrian.
58:21
So I grew up surrounded by wildlife and mum and dad always
58:24
supported me whenever they could.
58:27
And yes, last year and the years before I got to have quite a few
58:31
days of school whenever there was a turtle rescue or something
58:34
like that. But this year we've kind of had
58:36
to look in a little little bit with school and study,
58:39
obviously, because it's my final years of schooling.
58:41
But they understand that I learned so much more at times
58:45
outside the classroom experiencing those.
58:47
And Dad is normally the one following me around with the
58:51
camera, trying to get all the content.
58:54
If the camera is not in my hand, it'll be in his hand.
58:57
There's this really funny moment that I remember I think my
59:01
little sister was recording and I had found like a white tip out
59:04
here in Ireland and I was like, dad, come look at the shark.
59:07
He's like alright coming. So that definitely describes
59:10
dad. He's always trying to keep up
59:12
with me and he does an amazing job and inspiring me and keeping
59:16
me motivated when at times it gets hard.
59:18
And he's just an incredible person to keep pushing me and
59:23
mum and dad and my little sister as a support system is honestly
59:27
the best support system I could ever have in place.
59:30
Because obviously days it does get kind of hard and you know,
59:33
they take me down to the ocean, I get in the water and then I
59:36
feel all filled up ready to go again.
59:38
So I'm very lucky to have them all supporting me on this
59:42
journey. And there we have it, everybody.
1:00:01
What a beautiful way to round out that conversation with
1:00:05
Taylor giving some flowers to her family.
1:00:08
Obviously having a supportive family that is all in with the
1:00:12
things that you are doing is so crucial and important and.
1:00:17
That's such a perfect example of it, seeing Taylor running with
1:00:21
it while she's still in school, which is such an incredible
1:00:24
thing. I only remember when I was in
1:00:26
school and I was not thinking about these types of things.
1:00:30
And that's generationally or, you know, society just tends to
1:00:36
have that happen where we're just not focused on these types
1:00:39
of things. But to have somebody like Taylor
1:00:41
at such a young age going up there and knocking on the door
1:00:44
of our parliaments and trying to make change is just such a heart
1:00:48
warming and inspiring thing. So I was very impressed by
1:00:52
Taylor and I'm sure you will be as well.
1:00:56
Please, as always, go and check out her links.
1:00:58
They will all be down in the description below in the video
1:01:02
links. So whether you're watching this
1:01:04
on Spotify, you're listening on Apple, or you're watching on
1:01:08
YouTube, check the show notes, check the description, you'll
1:01:11
find the links. Go and follow Taylor and keep up
1:01:14
to date and also let her know that you heard this episode and
1:01:17
that you enjoyed it and to keep up the good work.
1:01:21
I'm sure some words of encouragement will go a long,
1:01:23
long way. She's also a really good point
1:01:26
of call if you are interested in doing some work with any marine
1:01:30
biology or shark activism and you're here in Australia or
1:01:34
you're in other parts of the world that see some of these
1:01:37
incredible creatures. Now lastly for me, remember if
1:01:41
you found some value in this show, it only takes 2 seconds,
1:01:45
but all you can do for me as a favor is go and either hit the
1:01:49
subscribe button, the follow button, or jump on and just give
1:01:52
this show a rating. Drop some stars, drop a comment,
1:01:57
let me know what your thoughts were, give me some encouragement
1:02:00
to keep producing better and better episodes and reaching out
1:02:03
to more and more guests. And hopefully we can spread the
1:02:06
awareness of all of these important topics to more people
1:02:09
around the world. So that's it for me.
1:02:12
Thank you again so much for listening and being a part of
1:02:15
this podcast. I very much look forward to
1:02:18
seeing you on the next episode. So take care and we'll see you
1:02:22
then. Bye for now.