- Chester Moore interviews Cynthia Wigren of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy about their work with great whites and public outreach.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty k LVII.
This is Chestermore. For my entire life, my favorite creature
in the ocean has been the great white shark, and
I recently had the incredible opportunity to visit the Atlantic
White Shark Conservancy doing some media work up that direction
in Massachusetts, out on beautiful Cape Cod and I'm so
(00:24):
excited to have on the line. Cynthia Wigran. She is
the co founder, along with her husband, of the Atlantic
White Shark Conservancy. In twenty ten, she had a life
change when she got in a shark cage in South Africa.
And that's where our story begins twenty ten. If I
got it correctly in South Africa, yes, that is so.
(00:44):
I'm assuming you're like the rest of us. She just
wanted to go do a cool great white experience again.
And you went into a shark cage in South Africa,
And so what were your expectations before getting in the water,
and what if anything changed while you're in the water.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's a great question. So leading up to the trip,
I was definitely anxious about it. I wanted to do it,
but I was nervous, and I watched a number of
YouTube videos where white sharks were chomping on cages and
it just looked fairly scary, so that I think going
(01:27):
into it, I went in with you know, a lot
of nerves, thinking that it was going to be a
somewhat terrifying experience, even though I still wanted to do it.
But when we were on our way out, we were
on our way out to Seal Island and one of
the Planet Earth that documentary, that was something that really
(01:50):
inspired me, I think, to want to go to Seal
Island see the sharks because there were the famous you know,
breaching sharks in that area. So it was really surreal
to be on a boat heading out to Seal Island
and our naturalist on the boat was incredible talk to
us about what the experience was going to be like
(02:10):
and really calmed I think my nerves. Also learn a
lot about responsible eco tourism through that in finding out
what cage dive operators might be doing to lower the
sharks to the cages and grab the bait around out
last minute so that they are hitting the cage inviting it,
(02:33):
which responsible operators are not doing. So that was in
so it was very educational as well. But once we
got out to the area and it was my turn
to get into the water in the cage and see
a shark. It was just the most spectacular experience. It was,
(02:54):
you know, the first shark that I saw. It was
just so majestic and incredible, and I had absolutely no
fear at all, and I was just mesmerized. It was
really really amazing. And I think because I did go
into it feeling like it would be a kind of
(03:16):
a terrifying experience, and I had that absolute opposite experience
with the sharks, that is what really drew me to
the species and wanting to learn more about it. Because
I realized someone like me, who did, you know, go
into something like that with a love of wildlife but
(03:37):
still had that fear, realized how little I knew about
great white sharks, and just really wanted to learn more
about them. So it was ultimately a life changing experience
for me.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
So this was really an on ramp for you to
think about getting involved deeper in sharks, particularly with great
white What is the transition from there to uh getting
inspired to start the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
So at the time I had interest in learning more
about great white sharks, and the first sharks off of
the off the coast of Cape Cod that had been tagged.
Happened about seven months before I had that experience in
South Africa, so the timing of it was really interesting.
And so I came back from my trip and recognized
(04:33):
that there were great white sharks right in our backyard,
that it was relatively a new occurrence that was happening,
that great white sharks were, you know, that we had
the presence of them off the coast, and that scientist,
one scientist and in particular, doctor Greg Schomel, had the
(04:54):
opportunity to tag great white shark sharks off the coast
of Massachusetts. So I just started to follow the work
that he was doing. And about two years after I
had that experience in South Africa, I had a conversation
with Greg to learn more about the work that he
(05:16):
was doing, and in that conversation I found out that
he relied on outside funding for his research. So he
works for the state of Massachusetts and the Fisheries department
that he's working for, they covered his salary, but he
had to raise the funds to do conduct great white
(05:36):
shark research. And it just seemed like we, you know,
people were traveling all over the world to these remote
places to see great white sharks, and here we have
them right off of the coast of Cape Cod And
what an incredible opportunity to be able to learn about
the species and to find out that funding was needed
(05:59):
to you to provide sustainable research here off the coast.
It was something that I felt it needed kind of
an advocate to help those funds and get that going.
So there was no nonprofit at the time locally that
(06:20):
was supporting great white shark research, and I thought, how
hard can it be to start a nonprofit? So I
just went online and I googled how to start a
nonprofit in Massachusetts and that was it. My career at
the time was very different. I worked for an online
(06:43):
trading platform in the energy energy industry, and I asked
my boss for a six month hiatus when I decided
this thing that I was going to do, and it
would take an initial effort to kind of get it
up and running. And within three months I knew that
(07:04):
six months was not going to be enough and if
I really wanted this to be successful and to really
support the work, then I needed to commit full time
to it. So so that was it. It was a
There wasn't a huge amount of thought that went into
it in advance. I'm I'm definitely a just do it
(07:26):
kind of person.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And me too, our nonprofit for children. We decided to
do it in the next morning, we file paperwork and boom,
you know, we're working on it, kind of figuring out
as we go.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah. Yeah, and you know what, I think, that's that's what.
It takes a lot and you do figure it out.
I was fortunate to have the you know, the passion
for the wildlife and then the business background, so that
I think the combination of those two were helpful in
the startup world. Nonprofit is you know, is a business
(08:00):
in all the different aspects that's got its own unique
characteristics as well. But that part of it I think
was helpful in getting it initially up and running. But
it was certainly and you can completely relate to this
and starting your own you know, just jumping into the
deep end and just getting it done. So, you know,
(08:21):
initially we really wanted to support the research because we
knew that that was critical here to learn about the species.
We are living in a tourist economy here, so there
are a lot of millions of people that are visiting
the beaches here every year and recognizing that connection between
(08:43):
the research and public safety and education to really inspire
the long term conservation of the species, that those things
were all tied together. So the mission of our nonprofit
hasn't changed since we launched in twenty twelve, but we've
(09:06):
just really grown in all of the different areas and
there's a tremendous amount of interest in the species here
and that's been really incredible, I think, you know, just
to see what we've been able to learn over the years.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy does incredible work that impacts
what we know about great white sharks to out not
only the Atlantic but also in the Gulf of Mexico.
We might remember Leebeth, the great white shark that showed
up at South Padre, scooted down the coast or up
the coast over towards Sabine. That shark is now in
Canadian waters. Amazing stuff we're learning because of research from
(09:45):
the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. You can get more information
from them at Atlantic White Shark dot org. And when
we come back on More Outdoors here on News Talk
five sixty KLVA, we're talking more with Cynthia Wigran about
her vision for shark conservation. Welcome back to More out
Doors on News Talk five sixty klv. I follow me
at the Chester, more on Instagram, Higher Calling Wildlife on
(10:09):
Facebook and Higherclung dot net, my blog and also my
Great White Shark blog at Gulf Great Whites dot com.
Continue our conversation with Cynthia Wigran of the Atlantic White
Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
We started to talk about jaws and that's how a
lot of people were educated about the species with not
necessarily the correct information. So so it's it's very cool
to see people learning as we learn because all of
the information that we're gathering, the data through the research,
(10:43):
is shared with the public, and so we're all we're
all learning about these animals together.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah. I think it's it's such a great marriage of education,
awareness and research. You know, having been able to be
up there twice now and see what you guys are doing,
and you mentioned the public safety element of this, I
think that is so important to what you're doing because,
let's face it, sometimes sharks attack people and kill them.
It happens not often, but you know, don't tell that
(11:11):
to the person who got hit. The family member lost
you know, there's that human part, but you guys are
able to educate people and give people information that ten
or fifteen years ago wouldn't have been possible to get people.
I mean I literally, I like right before we got
on there was a stark at the Coastguard Beach. You know,
(11:33):
I got the update there. And so tell us about
that app, because if someone online listens, probably the first
way they're going to connect with you is via your app, Sharktivity.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah. So the Sharktivity app is something that we launched
in twenty sixteen and it was a collaborative effort with US,
the Division and Marine Fisheries in Massachusetts, the Cape Cod
National Seashore, and talents across Cape Cod who really wanted
to raise awareness about the presence of sharks, offer of
(12:05):
our post and to be able to provide the public
with information. And you know, everyone has their phone on
them all the time, and so it's really a wonderful
way to be able to share the data that we have,
our sightings that we have uh with the public in
a in a really quick and efficient way. So Sharctivity
(12:28):
has a number of different data points on it. People
can go and look at shark sightings. There is also
information about tag sharks. I'm sure your your listeners are
familiar with Lee Beth and heard.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Your adopted text or adopted text in Great White yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Uh, so you know, Lee Beth can be tracked on Sharktivity.
And there's also a citizen science component to the app,
so if people have see their own have their own
sightings of great white sharks, they can add that to
the app. They do get vetted and credible sightings are
(13:09):
added to the the app as well. So it's a
really it's a great tool and resource for the public.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's incredible. I actually my blog up. I have to
send it to you. It's called Experiencing Sharktivity, and so
I talk about being on the water last week and
uh watching Sharktivity happen, and then watching the update on
my phone which I screenshot that it came up and
put it on there and it was in a real time,
you know, and it was in a real time. And
then there was a guy on the beach from the
(13:40):
local beach community with the purple flag you know, in
the truck and making letting people make informed decisions. And
then that is so important you're dealing with carnivores, you know,
and you're dealing with something that you know that could
be potentially dangerous or even ungulates like you know, a
moose in an area or something like that. But wildlife,
you know, human wildlife conflict. And you guys have found
(14:00):
a way to use this but also to allow the
public to tribute to it, which I think is really
get some skin in the game.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Mm hmm. And I think you make a great point
to say, you know, making informed decisions because from a
public safety perspective, you can't guarantee someone's safety. They're going
out in the ocean is a wild environment and that's
something that people, you know, need to remember. But people
can have the information and decide what their own risk
(14:31):
tolerance is. And that's really important because without it, you're
you're a little bit you know, blindfolded in certain ways
in that kind of environment. So it's it's great to
be able to give get that information out in a
in a really efficient way.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Incredible, So you've you've been out there and the tagging
and watching this thing, the genesis of this thing, and
literally you were connected to warning to learn about it
right when the first ones were pretty close to being tagged,
and then early year or so of that, What is
what have you learned about great white sharks? What is
the thing that just blows you away that you didn't
(15:11):
know before this journey.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think one of the big things is that they're
they're just all in, you know, their own individuals, So
we're seeing different personality types. I don't know if personalities
were to ease necessarily, but that they behave different ways
that I think it was kind of an AHA moment
(15:36):
for me being out on the water and seeing different sharks.
It makes the science a little bit more challenging too,
when you recognize that their their behavior is not all
the same where they're coming to this area at different times.
Some are here for a full season, some just passed through.
(15:58):
Some have their kind of favorites. My favorite shark, his
name was James, and he would just set himself up
each year in this particular area and he was just
this steady, this big fourteen foot great white shark who
would spend a lot of time at the surface and
(16:18):
he was just super chill around the boat and it
was amazing to watch him and so cool to see
the shark come back and spend time in the same
area each year, so that I think is one of
the biggest kind of surprises for me for being fortunate
enough to see so many great white sharks on the water.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And of course a lot of this data has to
do with the tagging being able to not only put
these satellite tags now camera tags on certain ones it
lasts for like twenty four hours or so. Acoustic ones,
which actually the ones that interests me the most because
of there are a lot of acoustic setups, like in
places like the Flower Gardens Marine National Sanctuary, which I
(17:03):
being a journalist, pesky journalist, asking all these biolots, I'm like,
have you heard any great white signals anywhere? And they're
like great white showing up? Nobody knows about out there,
you know, except scientists. So there's a lot of ways
that data is collected here and it's fed into this app,
but also fed out to the different agencies that are
managing these species and these waterways and things like that.
(17:24):
And the first thing I noticed about you mentioned the
fact that they all have different personalities. Go back to libeth.
I mean, I mean this shark was surfacing like it
was going like she was going crazy. I mean this
thing because you know, if you don't, if you're listening,
if they have the satellite tag, if I have this correct,
they have to affect their fin out of the water
(17:44):
for that to pick up. So this girl is like
bam bam, bam bam everywhere, and I thought that was
so that really was for for us in Texas. Was
such an interesting journey to watch happen.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So I see someone and I hadn't heard of AWSC
at this point, I see someone on an instant, someone
on a shark group and pose at South Padre Island
Great White and I'm like, boom, you know, went made
a bunch of phone calls, harassed a bunch of people.
So I eventually got Chip, Michael Love and Megan went
in on the line. But this journey, this shark took
(18:25):
and it got people excited about that the Great White's
coming back to the golf and it was it was
in a thing. So with that said, what has been
your favorite part of the public's reaction to all of this.
Has there been something that's really just made you go, man,
we're doing a pretty good job here. Is there something
that in the public that you've seen that's a real
(18:46):
positive that's come out of this app and this tagging information.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I think, for me, the most impactful thing that I've
seen publicly as the connection to particular sharks, sharks that
people name. So one of the most significant is we
have a shark that was named after a soldier that
(19:14):
was killed in Afghanistan. He was killed on September fourth,
twenty fourteen, and on the same day that he was killed,
there was a shark that was tagged. So we beame
that shark after this soldier and we have remained very
(19:35):
close with his family, and it's just a really incredible thing.
You know, it's a shark, and to see how moved
people can be, and especially someone who's you know, lost
a loved one when they have a shark the name
(19:57):
of this individual and they're able to follow that shark,
you know, on our app. It's it's really powerful and
really incredible and not something when I still think for
the nonprofit that I would have thought about. And you know,
there are people that we met who are battling cancer
and they use sharks, you know, just keep swimming as
(20:19):
their motto, kind of pushed through what they're dealing with
challenges in life, so I think there are those surprises.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You can connect with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy at
Atlantic White Shark dot org. Also download their Shark Activity
app lots of great information to learn more about these
amazing species and the cutting edge research done on great
white sharks. You can follow my Great White Shark blog
Golf Great Whites dot com. If you subscribe, send me
(20:49):
an email at Chester at Chestermore dot com with your
mailing address and I'll get you Golf Great Whites decal.
When we come back, we'll continue our conversation about the
Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Welcome back to More Outdoors on
News Talk five sixty KLVI. This is Chester More continuing
our conversation with Cynthia Wigman of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
We're just seeing things like that, you know, over the years,
these incredible connections. So I think from a public perspective,
having that ability to tag sharks and track sharks and
provide information, how that touches people's lives in really unique
and special ways is really incredible.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Absolutely, And I said, our nonprofit, my listeners will know this.
We grant wildlife encounters for children who are going through
hell on Earth, the loss of a parent or a
sibling terminal illness. We work with the group that brings
sex trafficking victim kids to us. We have one coming
today actually this afternoon. We do wildlife encounters. And you know,
I found out this summer how many shark couple of
(21:58):
years ago, actually how many sharks we had in our
in our midst you know. So I was able to
go out there with you guys, and I'm in the
center and I'm shooting videos on the phone in front
of your you know, your shark replicas for my kids,
you know, to send to their parents, you know, just
saying hey, these people are awesome, and you know, and
Meghan has been really kind to one of our kiddo's
and sending them a video and some merch. And so
(22:21):
I think, Cynthia, what I've seen on this, and I
think you and I have maybe seen this in a
different way, because nature can be so inspirational to people,
you know. And I think when something bad happens, it's
almost like all of us life will never get better
than the day before that happened. And then the idea
(22:43):
that there's something epic and awesome and untamed and wild
and beautiful out there that you're connected to. Maybe maybe
that's something that can give people hope that better things
can still happen, you know. And so I scuse guys
things that people's I know that makes a gigantic difference
in lives. And who to funk, a great white shark
(23:06):
is going to be inspiring people, you know, fifty years ago,
forty you know, fifty one years whatever it was when
Jaws gill, when Jaws came out, you know. But here
we are and people are happy and smiling and wanting
to learn more about these incredible creatures. But there's something
you do that I find so amazing. It's your Gills Club.
(23:27):
So tell us about the Gills Club.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So our Gills Club is an education initiative that we
launched in twenty fourteen, actually very soon after starting the nonprofit,
and I was really inspired by these young girls. When
we would do presentations about the work, I'd have young
girls come up to me at the end of the
(23:52):
presentation and they would tell me how much they loved sharks,
and it was really really cool to meet these kids.
But then I recognize that, you know, as much as
people love Shark Week and the shows that are out there,
about sharks. They're really kind of dominated by male scientists
(24:18):
and people that are maybe not scientists but just talking.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
About big personalities.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
On team thank you. That's but for these young girls,
you know, where else would they actually be able to
see an example of what they could do when they
grow up for a career with sharks. Weren't seeing that
(24:48):
on television, which is you know where a lot of
kids are getting their information. So anyway, it inspired me
because after starting the nonprofit, I was also meeting the
female scientists in the industry and just wondered if there
was a way that we could connect the two and
(25:08):
so we created the Gills Club that was focused on
connecting young girls to female scientists in the field of
shark research so that they could share information and essentially
also jumpstart girls interest in STEM subjects and inspire them,
(25:31):
providing them with role models in the fields to be
inspired about what they could potentially do in the future.
And so we have over one hundred scientists from around
the world that are part of the Gills Club program,
and we do hands on workshops with local kids. So
(25:53):
we utilize the research that's taking place and ovation team
creates workshops. These hands on learning opportunities where where these
kids can learn about what is research kind of in
real time in these workshop environments. And we also have
(26:17):
a gils Club podcast so people can listen to what
the background is and research of a number of our
science team members for the girls club. So it's really
been Yeah, I mean we I think it's interesting. Our
conversation today is using the word inspire quite a bit
(26:41):
and people being inspired by sharks, and I think people
inspiring each other in really ways. So the Shark Network
is is pretty amazing and I'm incredibly grateful for all
of the connections that I made through running this nonprofit
(27:04):
and then seeing these young kids and being able to
engage them, and it's been pretty remarkable. So yeah, we
love What are the ages for that? So the ages
are it's kind of a younger probably eight to eleven
(27:28):
for the workshops, and then the podcasts are geared towards
older girls to listen to, you know, the career paths
of scientists in the field. And then kind of that
the middle age group we look to recruit for volunteer
work for participating these workshops and also able to learn
(27:51):
as they as they go, but participating in educating young
girls who are who are joining the workshops.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has many educational resources. You
can find them an Atlantic White Shark dot org. That
is Atlantic White Shark dot Org. Now, most of the
people listening, if you've heard of this organization here from
the Gulf Coast reads, you've probably heard about Leibeth, the
(28:21):
great white that showed up at South Padre Island, made
her way all along the coast, popped up out of
Sabine Pass, and by the way, that shark is now
in Nova Scotia. At the last time she sent a
transmission to the satellite up there. And this is why
this research is important. It's unveiling the mysteries of great
(28:42):
white sharks and getting people an upclose look at the
most famous iconic creature in the entire ocean. Wales get larger,
much larger, but there is nothing as iconic and popular
as the great white shark. And I want have Cynthia
Wigren on to talk about this and to talk about
(29:03):
her outreach and the outreach that AWSC does and things
like the Gills Club and other aspects of it, and
get the heart for this great organization because trust me,
if they have one thing other than just great science
and scientists. They have heart, and they have miles and
miles of it. Like I said last week, I got
to go up there and have the privilege of being
(29:25):
on the water with a couple other scientists and it
was a really amazing thing to see a great white
shark swimming under the boat and watch them as they're
doing a study utilizing drone to observe great white sharks
and truly amazing seeing the drone, seeing the sharktivity app
updated in person and seeing that happen was a really
(29:45):
incredible thing as a journalist to see. If you would
like to connect with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, go
to Atlantic White Shark dot org. It's Atlantic White Shark
dot organ. Check out my blog about the sharktivity experience
seeing it in real life happening at Gulfgreat Whites dot com.
Welcome back to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty
(30:06):
klv This is Chester Moore. What a great interview was
Cynthia Wigan of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. You need
to go back if you If you miss part of that,
go listen to the whole interview. Go to KLVI dot com.
And click on the podcast link at the top of
the page and can go back and see archives and
more outdoors, including that program which is up right now.
(30:26):
Really proud to have her. She is a conservation visionary
and it's really cool to see the work they're doing
at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, and I had a
chance to go up there with my friend Paul Pazinski.
Were working on a special project involving great white sharks
and a really amazing aspect of the great white shark.
(30:47):
I wouldn't have an interest in great white sharks if
it weren't for the movie Jaws. Now, there's a such
thing as the Jaws effect, where you know, there were
a lot of people interested in, you know, catching a
big great white hand in the Jaws in the wall,
that kind of stuff, and there was certainly negative impacts
for a while. But in my opinion, the net value
(31:09):
of what Jaws did to sharks globally is probably a
net positive, because I don't think as many people would
be interested. As a matter of fact, I know not
as many people being interested in sharks that weren't for Jaws.
I had the chance to interviewed doctor Greg schollmol and
he's just an incredible shark researcher that you know, is
(31:29):
a big part of the origin story when he was
doing his initial shark tagging in Massachusetts for the state
government there. That's a big part of why miss Wigran
founded the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. And I said, what
was your shark story? How did you want to become
a shark scientist? He said, A, My initial inspiration was
a fictional character called Matt Hooper. You might not know
(31:50):
the name Matt Hooper right off, but if you're a
big Jaws fan, you probably do, because Matt Hooper in
the movie was portrayed by Richard Dreyfus, one of the
icon actors of America. I mean, what a great cast.
You had Roy Scheider, you had Robert Shaw, you had
Richard Dreyfus. I mean, just really an incredible directed movie
(32:11):
by Steven Spielberg, a score by John Williams, who also
did Star Wars et Raiders of the Lost Ark. Iconic movie,
literally the first summer blockbuster movie back in nineteen seventy five.
And so I'm up in the Cape Cod area and
there was no way I was going up that direction
without seeing some of the sites where Jaws was filmed.
(32:34):
Jaws was filmed in Martha's Vineyard. It's the island just
across from Cape Cod, and so me and Paul went
over there and rode the forty five minute ferry and
it was really surreal because as we're lieving, we look
back and I see the Oceanographic Institute, and in Jaws,
Matt Hooper played by Richard Dreyfus, says he was from
the Oceanographic Institute on the mainland. So literally, I'm leaving
(32:58):
the mainland of Cape Cod looking at the Oceanographic Institute,
headed toward Cape Cod, which is Amity in the Jaws movie.
It was just one of those cool connecting moments, you know.
So that was a lot of fun. And you know,
I'll go over to the island. I get see the
Jaws Bridge, and that was really surreal because that's one
of my favorite scenes where the kids are out in
(33:18):
what they call the pond little lagoon with their sailboats
and here comes the big the big fin under the
bridge and that's a very iconic moment in the movie.
And the most chilling moment for me in the movie
is when a little boy is attacked and it's such
a sad scene, but we went to add that beach
as well. We did a couple of things there, very cool.
I'll be blogging about that at Gulfgreat Whites dot com.
(33:40):
But what I thought was really interesting about this whole
experience was looking at how much Jaws impacted me and
impacted doctor Skullmahl and other people I've spoken with that
like to work with sharks. And you know, I'm not
defending and saying like, you know, nothing negative happened to sharks,
but a lot of people were inspired by it, and
(34:03):
certainly Peter Benchley, the author of the novel, he's also
a reporter in the movie. He had a great foundation
later on became one of the greatest shark conservationists of
all time. And I just wanted to just share this
moment and talk a little bit about Jaws for coming
into the fiftieth anniversary next year, but not really just
about Jaws, about what I got to do. You know,
(34:26):
we have really challenging times upon us right now. Financially,
a lot of us are struggling a lot of crazy
stuff going on in the world, a lot of unrest.
But a dream of mine got to come true. I
got to go to a jaw site and an even
bigger dream of mine come true. I got to go
see a great white shark and work with some scientists
for a story in the Atlantic Ocean. And I'm no
(34:49):
one special. I'm just a regular guy, but I get
to do some special things because I work hard, I believe,
I have faith, and to see that happen in this
point in my life was just really a fantastic thing.
And I just want to inspire a lot of you.
I talk to a lot of shark fans. I mean,
my friend Fortune Ford and are always trading messages. I
(35:11):
have probably twenty people on my social media who regularly
message me about sharks, and I'm talking about ranging from
you know, teenagers to people in their seventies. There's a
universal love of sharks out there. I mean, maybe not
a universal love, a universal appreciation for sharks. And then
there's just a wide spread love of sharks out there.
(35:33):
And you can do great things for sharks. You know.
You can get involved with a group like the Atlantic
White Shark Conservancy, support their actions, their fundraisers and things
they do, and you can find ways to use your
social media presence to raise awareness to sharks. Even right
here in the Gulf of Mexico. Through our Wild Wishes program,
(35:53):
we got to take some young people into the shark
Cage at the Texas State Aquarium. This year we had
our Summer of the Sharks sponsored by and it was
a lot of fun. We kicked it off by bringing
my buddies Marina and Skyler into the Shark Cage of
the Texas State Aquarium. Got to do this two other
years with Olivia in twenty twenty one, Eric Kasha in
(36:15):
twenty twenty three, and now Skyler and Marina. And Marina
is going to school right now, she graduated. She's going
to school to work in marine conservation. It couldn't be
prouder of her. And Skyler's a big, fun, awesome advocate
of sharks, and so is Erica Sha so awesome young
people motivated by sharks right and motivated by that. And
(36:38):
Miss Wigram was telling me about, you know, people who
have cancer saying that they kind of use that the
shark keeps on swimming as like, you know, a place
to inspire themselves to keep on fighting and keep on living.
So if you have a love of sharks, you can
help sharks and help the ocean by being an advocate
via social media, getting involved in the groups like the
(36:59):
Atlanta White Shark Conservancy, or you know, other groups are
doing great things for the ocean. Groups like CCA are
just doing great advocacy for the Gulf Coast and helping
with habitat issues that impact sharks and things like that.
So if you would like to find a way that
you can use maybe social media to help sharks, or
you know, maybe you have an article you've written about
(37:20):
sharks you would like to publish somewhere, or you know
your love of sharks, some cool videos. I can publish
some of this stuff at my blog at Golf Great
Whites dot com. I would love to help you realize
your dream of being a shark advocate here on the
Gulf Coast and lots of ways do that, And you
can email me at Chester at Chestermore dot com, Chester
(37:42):
at chestermore dot com. And more importantly, if you know
of a young person struggling, someone eighteen and under struggling
that's maybe lost a parent, have an illness, they got
some kind of major life challenge and depression, something going
on in their life, and they are big shark lovers,
(38:02):
please reach out to me. We would love to do
something special for them related to sharks. We would love
to give them a shark gift package and I can
mail that out real quickly if you contact me at
Chester at chestermore dot com with some info. But maybe
they want to get involved somehow, or maybe they want
to go see a cool aquarium or something like that
(38:22):
or whatever. We can make some cool things happen through
our Wild Wishes program. You know, Wild Wishes grants wildlife
encounters basically for hurting children and kids going through stuff,
And we just granted yesterday from recording this our two
hundred and fifty first Wild Wish in this program that's
been going on for ten years now. So maybe we
(38:43):
can do a shark Wish for a kid out there
that's struggling right now, let them know that life can
get better and use their love of sharks to inspire
them and maybe help them get some skin in the
game and getting involved in conservation. Because what I've seen
people going through struggles, when they get in the skin
in the game and know they can help something else
that's been through some persecution, they do amazing at it.
(39:06):
So we believe in the young people, We believe in
shark conservation, and we love to tie kids into our
Wild Wishes program into things like conservation. So you can
email me at Chester at Chestermore dot com. Maybe we
can help a wild wish shark wish come true for
a hurting kid out there. And this doesn't matter where
(39:26):
you're from. You might be listening, you know in Oregon.
Just send a package of stuff to some kids that
love sharks and Oregon. So email me chesterat Chestermore dot
com and thank you so much for listening to the program.
It's always an honor and privilege to have people at
Cynthia Wiggan from the Atlanta White Shark Conservancy on the program.
I believe we have the best guests in All Outdoors Radio.
(39:47):
Follow me at the Chestermore on Instagram, Higher Calling Wildlife
on Facebook, Higher Calling dot Net, my blog and my
newer blog Golf Great Whites at Golf Great Whites dot com.
God bless have a great outdoors weekend.
Welcome to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty k LVII.
This is Chestermore. For my entire life, my favorite creature
in the ocean has been the great white shark, and
I recently had the incredible opportunity to visit the Atlantic
White Shark Conservancy doing some media work up that direction
in Massachusetts, out on beautiful Cape Cod and I'm so
(00:24):
excited to have on the line. Cynthia Wigran. She is
the co founder, along with her husband, of the Atlantic
White Shark Conservancy. In twenty ten, she had a life
change when she got in a shark cage in South Africa.
And that's where our story begins twenty ten. If I
got it correctly in South Africa, yes, that is so.
(00:44):
I'm assuming you're like the rest of us. She just
wanted to go do a cool great white experience again.
And you went into a shark cage in South Africa,
And so what were your expectations before getting in the water,
and what if anything changed while you're in the water.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's a great question. So leading up to the trip,
I was definitely anxious about it. I wanted to do it,
but I was nervous, and I watched a number of
YouTube videos where white sharks were chomping on cages and
it just looked fairly scary, so that I think going
(01:27):
into it, I went in with you know, a lot
of nerves, thinking that it was going to be a
somewhat terrifying experience, even though I still wanted to do it.
But when we were on our way out, we were
on our way out to Seal Island and one of
the Planet Earth that documentary, that was something that really
(01:50):
inspired me, I think, to want to go to Seal
Island see the sharks because there were the famous you know,
breaching sharks in that area. So it was really surreal
to be on a boat heading out to Seal Island
and our naturalist on the boat was incredible talk to
us about what the experience was going to be like
(02:10):
and really calmed I think my nerves. Also learn a
lot about responsible eco tourism through that in finding out
what cage dive operators might be doing to lower the
sharks to the cages and grab the bait around out
last minute so that they are hitting the cage inviting it,
(02:33):
which responsible operators are not doing. So that was in
so it was very educational as well. But once we
got out to the area and it was my turn
to get into the water in the cage and see
a shark. It was just the most spectacular experience. It was,
(02:54):
you know, the first shark that I saw. It was
just so majestic and incredible, and I had absolutely no
fear at all, and I was just mesmerized. It was
really really amazing. And I think because I did go
into it feeling like it would be a kind of
(03:16):
a terrifying experience, and I had that absolute opposite experience
with the sharks, that is what really drew me to
the species and wanting to learn more about it. Because
I realized someone like me, who did, you know, go
into something like that with a love of wildlife but
(03:37):
still had that fear, realized how little I knew about
great white sharks, and just really wanted to learn more
about them. So it was ultimately a life changing experience
for me.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
So this was really an on ramp for you to
think about getting involved deeper in sharks, particularly with great
white What is the transition from there to uh getting
inspired to start the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
So at the time I had interest in learning more
about great white sharks, and the first sharks off of
the off the coast of Cape Cod that had been tagged.
Happened about seven months before I had that experience in
South Africa, so the timing of it was really interesting.
And so I came back from my trip and recognized
(04:33):
that there were great white sharks right in our backyard,
that it was relatively a new occurrence that was happening,
that great white sharks were, you know, that we had
the presence of them off the coast, and that scientist,
one scientist and in particular, doctor Greg Schomel, had the
(04:54):
opportunity to tag great white shark sharks off the coast
of Massachusetts. So I just started to follow the work
that he was doing. And about two years after I
had that experience in South Africa, I had a conversation
with Greg to learn more about the work that he
(05:16):
was doing, and in that conversation I found out that
he relied on outside funding for his research. So he
works for the state of Massachusetts and the Fisheries department
that he's working for, they covered his salary, but he
had to raise the funds to do conduct great white
(05:36):
shark research. And it just seemed like we, you know,
people were traveling all over the world to these remote
places to see great white sharks, and here we have
them right off of the coast of Cape Cod And
what an incredible opportunity to be able to learn about
the species and to find out that funding was needed
(05:59):
to you to provide sustainable research here off the coast.
It was something that I felt it needed kind of
an advocate to help those funds and get that going.
So there was no nonprofit at the time locally that
(06:20):
was supporting great white shark research, and I thought, how
hard can it be to start a nonprofit? So I
just went online and I googled how to start a
nonprofit in Massachusetts and that was it. My career at
the time was very different. I worked for an online
(06:43):
trading platform in the energy energy industry, and I asked
my boss for a six month hiatus when I decided
this thing that I was going to do, and it
would take an initial effort to kind of get it
up and running. And within three months I knew that
(07:04):
six months was not going to be enough and if
I really wanted this to be successful and to really
support the work, then I needed to commit full time
to it. So so that was it. It was a
There wasn't a huge amount of thought that went into
it in advance. I'm I'm definitely a just do it
(07:26):
kind of person.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And me too, our nonprofit for children. We decided to
do it in the next morning, we file paperwork and boom,
you know, we're working on it, kind of figuring out
as we go.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah. Yeah, and you know what, I think, that's that's what.
It takes a lot and you do figure it out.
I was fortunate to have the you know, the passion
for the wildlife and then the business background, so that
I think the combination of those two were helpful in
the startup world. Nonprofit is you know, is a business
(08:00):
in all the different aspects that's got its own unique
characteristics as well. But that part of it I think
was helpful in getting it initially up and running. But
it was certainly and you can completely relate to this
and starting your own you know, just jumping into the
deep end and just getting it done. So, you know,
(08:21):
initially we really wanted to support the research because we
knew that that was critical here to learn about the species.
We are living in a tourist economy here, so there
are a lot of millions of people that are visiting
the beaches here every year and recognizing that connection between
(08:43):
the research and public safety and education to really inspire
the long term conservation of the species, that those things
were all tied together. So the mission of our nonprofit
hasn't changed since we launched in twenty twelve, but we've
(09:06):
just really grown in all of the different areas and
there's a tremendous amount of interest in the species here
and that's been really incredible, I think, you know, just
to see what we've been able to learn over the years.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy does incredible work that impacts
what we know about great white sharks to out not
only the Atlantic but also in the Gulf of Mexico.
We might remember Leebeth, the great white shark that showed
up at South Padre, scooted down the coast or up
the coast over towards Sabine. That shark is now in
Canadian waters. Amazing stuff we're learning because of research from
(09:45):
the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. You can get more information
from them at Atlantic White Shark dot org. And when
we come back on More Outdoors here on News Talk
five sixty KLVA, we're talking more with Cynthia Wigran about
her vision for shark conservation. Welcome back to More out
Doors on News Talk five sixty klv. I follow me
at the Chester, more on Instagram, Higher Calling Wildlife on
(10:09):
Facebook and Higherclung dot net, my blog and also my
Great White Shark blog at Gulf Great Whites dot com.
Continue our conversation with Cynthia Wigran of the Atlantic White
Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
We started to talk about jaws and that's how a
lot of people were educated about the species with not
necessarily the correct information. So so it's it's very cool
to see people learning as we learn because all of
the information that we're gathering, the data through the research,
(10:43):
is shared with the public, and so we're all we're
all learning about these animals together.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah. I think it's it's such a great marriage of education,
awareness and research. You know, having been able to be
up there twice now and see what you guys are doing,
and you mentioned the public safety element of this, I
think that is so important to what you're doing because,
let's face it, sometimes sharks attack people and kill them.
It happens not often, but you know, don't tell that
(11:11):
to the person who got hit. The family member lost
you know, there's that human part, but you guys are
able to educate people and give people information that ten
or fifteen years ago wouldn't have been possible to get people.
I mean I literally, I like right before we got
on there was a stark at the Coastguard Beach. You know,
(11:33):
I got the update there. And so tell us about
that app, because if someone online listens, probably the first
way they're going to connect with you is via your app, Sharktivity.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah. So the Sharktivity app is something that we launched
in twenty sixteen and it was a collaborative effort with US,
the Division and Marine Fisheries in Massachusetts, the Cape Cod
National Seashore, and talents across Cape Cod who really wanted
to raise awareness about the presence of sharks, offer of
(12:05):
our post and to be able to provide the public
with information. And you know, everyone has their phone on
them all the time, and so it's really a wonderful
way to be able to share the data that we have,
our sightings that we have uh with the public in
a in a really quick and efficient way. So Sharctivity
(12:28):
has a number of different data points on it. People
can go and look at shark sightings. There is also
information about tag sharks. I'm sure your your listeners are
familiar with Lee Beth and heard.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Your adopted text or adopted text in Great White yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Uh, so you know, Lee Beth can be tracked on Sharktivity.
And there's also a citizen science component to the app,
so if people have see their own have their own
sightings of great white sharks, they can add that to
the app. They do get vetted and credible sightings are
(13:09):
added to the the app as well. So it's a
really it's a great tool and resource for the public.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's incredible. I actually my blog up. I have to
send it to you. It's called Experiencing Sharktivity, and so
I talk about being on the water last week and
uh watching Sharktivity happen, and then watching the update on
my phone which I screenshot that it came up and
put it on there and it was in a real time,
you know, and it was in a real time. And
then there was a guy on the beach from the
(13:40):
local beach community with the purple flag you know, in
the truck and making letting people make informed decisions. And
then that is so important you're dealing with carnivores, you know,
and you're dealing with something that you know that could
be potentially dangerous or even ungulates like you know, a
moose in an area or something like that. But wildlife,
you know, human wildlife conflict. And you guys have found
(14:00):
a way to use this but also to allow the
public to tribute to it, which I think is really
get some skin in the game.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Mm hmm. And I think you make a great point
to say, you know, making informed decisions because from a
public safety perspective, you can't guarantee someone's safety. They're going
out in the ocean is a wild environment and that's
something that people, you know, need to remember. But people
can have the information and decide what their own risk
(14:31):
tolerance is. And that's really important because without it, you're
you're a little bit you know, blindfolded in certain ways
in that kind of environment. So it's it's great to
be able to give get that information out in a
in a really efficient way.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Incredible, So you've you've been out there and the tagging
and watching this thing, the genesis of this thing, and
literally you were connected to warning to learn about it
right when the first ones were pretty close to being tagged,
and then early year or so of that, What is
what have you learned about great white sharks? What is
the thing that just blows you away that you didn't
(15:11):
know before this journey.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think one of the big things is that they're
they're just all in, you know, their own individuals, So
we're seeing different personality types. I don't know if personalities
were to ease necessarily, but that they behave different ways
that I think it was kind of an AHA moment
(15:36):
for me being out on the water and seeing different sharks.
It makes the science a little bit more challenging too,
when you recognize that their their behavior is not all
the same where they're coming to this area at different times.
Some are here for a full season, some just passed through.
(15:58):
Some have their kind of favorites. My favorite shark, his
name was James, and he would just set himself up
each year in this particular area and he was just
this steady, this big fourteen foot great white shark who
would spend a lot of time at the surface and
(16:18):
he was just super chill around the boat and it
was amazing to watch him and so cool to see
the shark come back and spend time in the same
area each year, so that I think is one of
the biggest kind of surprises for me for being fortunate
enough to see so many great white sharks on the water.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And of course a lot of this data has to
do with the tagging being able to not only put
these satellite tags now camera tags on certain ones it
lasts for like twenty four hours or so. Acoustic ones,
which actually the ones that interests me the most because
of there are a lot of acoustic setups, like in
places like the Flower Gardens Marine National Sanctuary, which I
(17:03):
being a journalist, pesky journalist, asking all these biolots, I'm like,
have you heard any great white signals anywhere? And they're
like great white showing up? Nobody knows about out there,
you know, except scientists. So there's a lot of ways
that data is collected here and it's fed into this app,
but also fed out to the different agencies that are
managing these species and these waterways and things like that.
(17:24):
And the first thing I noticed about you mentioned the
fact that they all have different personalities. Go back to libeth.
I mean, I mean this shark was surfacing like it
was going like she was going crazy. I mean this
thing because you know, if you don't, if you're listening,
if they have the satellite tag, if I have this correct,
they have to affect their fin out of the water
(17:44):
for that to pick up. So this girl is like
bam bam, bam bam everywhere, and I thought that was
so that really was for for us in Texas. Was
such an interesting journey to watch happen.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So I see someone and I hadn't heard of AWSC
at this point, I see someone on an instant, someone
on a shark group and pose at South Padre Island
Great White and I'm like, boom, you know, went made
a bunch of phone calls, harassed a bunch of people.
So I eventually got Chip, Michael Love and Megan went
in on the line. But this journey, this shark took
(18:25):
and it got people excited about that the Great White's
coming back to the golf and it was it was
in a thing. So with that said, what has been
your favorite part of the public's reaction to all of this.
Has there been something that's really just made you go, man,
we're doing a pretty good job here. Is there something
that in the public that you've seen that's a real
(18:46):
positive that's come out of this app and this tagging information.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I think, for me, the most impactful thing that I've
seen publicly as the connection to particular sharks, sharks that
people name. So one of the most significant is we
have a shark that was named after a soldier that
(19:14):
was killed in Afghanistan. He was killed on September fourth,
twenty fourteen, and on the same day that he was killed,
there was a shark that was tagged. So we beame
that shark after this soldier and we have remained very
(19:35):
close with his family, and it's just a really incredible thing.
You know, it's a shark, and to see how moved
people can be, and especially someone who's you know, lost
a loved one when they have a shark the name
(19:57):
of this individual and they're able to follow that shark,
you know, on our app. It's it's really powerful and
really incredible and not something when I still think for
the nonprofit that I would have thought about. And you know,
there are people that we met who are battling cancer
and they use sharks, you know, just keep swimming as
(20:19):
their motto, kind of pushed through what they're dealing with
challenges in life, so I think there are those surprises.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You can connect with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy at
Atlantic White Shark dot org. Also download their Shark Activity
app lots of great information to learn more about these
amazing species and the cutting edge research done on great
white sharks. You can follow my Great White Shark blog
Golf Great Whites dot com. If you subscribe, send me
(20:49):
an email at Chester at Chestermore dot com with your
mailing address and I'll get you Golf Great Whites decal.
When we come back, we'll continue our conversation about the
Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Welcome back to More Outdoors on
News Talk five sixty KLVI. This is Chester More continuing
our conversation with Cynthia Wigman of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
We're just seeing things like that, you know, over the years,
these incredible connections. So I think from a public perspective,
having that ability to tag sharks and track sharks and
provide information, how that touches people's lives in really unique
and special ways is really incredible.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Absolutely, And I said, our nonprofit, my listeners will know this.
We grant wildlife encounters for children who are going through
hell on Earth, the loss of a parent or a
sibling terminal illness. We work with the group that brings
sex trafficking victim kids to us. We have one coming
today actually this afternoon. We do wildlife encounters. And you know,
I found out this summer how many shark couple of
(21:58):
years ago, actually how many sharks we had in our
in our midst you know. So I was able to
go out there with you guys, and I'm in the
center and I'm shooting videos on the phone in front
of your you know, your shark replicas for my kids,
you know, to send to their parents, you know, just
saying hey, these people are awesome, and you know, and
Meghan has been really kind to one of our kiddo's
and sending them a video and some merch. And so
(22:21):
I think, Cynthia, what I've seen on this, and I
think you and I have maybe seen this in a
different way, because nature can be so inspirational to people,
you know. And I think when something bad happens, it's
almost like all of us life will never get better
than the day before that happened. And then the idea
(22:43):
that there's something epic and awesome and untamed and wild
and beautiful out there that you're connected to. Maybe maybe
that's something that can give people hope that better things
can still happen, you know. And so I scuse guys
things that people's I know that makes a gigantic difference
in lives. And who to funk, a great white shark
(23:06):
is going to be inspiring people, you know, fifty years ago,
forty you know, fifty one years whatever it was when
Jaws gill, when Jaws came out, you know. But here
we are and people are happy and smiling and wanting
to learn more about these incredible creatures. But there's something
you do that I find so amazing. It's your Gills Club.
(23:27):
So tell us about the Gills Club.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So our Gills Club is an education initiative that we
launched in twenty fourteen, actually very soon after starting the nonprofit,
and I was really inspired by these young girls. When
we would do presentations about the work, I'd have young
girls come up to me at the end of the
(23:52):
presentation and they would tell me how much they loved sharks,
and it was really really cool to meet these kids.
But then I recognize that, you know, as much as
people love Shark Week and the shows that are out there,
about sharks. They're really kind of dominated by male scientists
(24:18):
and people that are maybe not scientists but just talking.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
About big personalities.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
On team thank you. That's but for these young girls,
you know, where else would they actually be able to
see an example of what they could do when they
grow up for a career with sharks. Weren't seeing that
(24:48):
on television, which is you know where a lot of
kids are getting their information. So anyway, it inspired me
because after starting the nonprofit, I was also meeting the
female scientists in the industry and just wondered if there
was a way that we could connect the two and
(25:08):
so we created the Gills Club that was focused on
connecting young girls to female scientists in the field of
shark research so that they could share information and essentially
also jumpstart girls interest in STEM subjects and inspire them,
(25:31):
providing them with role models in the fields to be
inspired about what they could potentially do in the future.
And so we have over one hundred scientists from around
the world that are part of the Gills Club program,
and we do hands on workshops with local kids. So
(25:53):
we utilize the research that's taking place and ovation team
creates workshops. These hands on learning opportunities where where these
kids can learn about what is research kind of in
real time in these workshop environments. And we also have
(26:17):
a gils Club podcast so people can listen to what
the background is and research of a number of our
science team members for the girls club. So it's really
been Yeah, I mean we I think it's interesting. Our
conversation today is using the word inspire quite a bit
(26:41):
and people being inspired by sharks, and I think people
inspiring each other in really ways. So the Shark Network
is is pretty amazing and I'm incredibly grateful for all
of the connections that I made through running this nonprofit
(27:04):
and then seeing these young kids and being able to
engage them, and it's been pretty remarkable. So yeah, we
love What are the ages for that? So the ages
are it's kind of a younger probably eight to eleven
(27:28):
for the workshops, and then the podcasts are geared towards
older girls to listen to, you know, the career paths
of scientists in the field. And then kind of that
the middle age group we look to recruit for volunteer
work for participating these workshops and also able to learn
(27:51):
as they as they go, but participating in educating young
girls who are who are joining the workshops.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has many educational resources. You
can find them an Atlantic White Shark dot org. That
is Atlantic White Shark dot Org. Now, most of the
people listening, if you've heard of this organization here from
the Gulf Coast reads, you've probably heard about Leibeth, the
(28:21):
great white that showed up at South Padre Island, made
her way all along the coast, popped up out of
Sabine Pass, and by the way, that shark is now
in Nova Scotia. At the last time she sent a
transmission to the satellite up there. And this is why
this research is important. It's unveiling the mysteries of great
(28:42):
white sharks and getting people an upclose look at the
most famous iconic creature in the entire ocean. Wales get larger,
much larger, but there is nothing as iconic and popular
as the great white shark. And I want have Cynthia
Wigren on to talk about this and to talk about
(29:03):
her outreach and the outreach that AWSC does and things
like the Gills Club and other aspects of it, and
get the heart for this great organization because trust me,
if they have one thing other than just great science
and scientists. They have heart, and they have miles and
miles of it. Like I said last week, I got
to go up there and have the privilege of being
(29:25):
on the water with a couple other scientists and it
was a really amazing thing to see a great white
shark swimming under the boat and watch them as they're
doing a study utilizing drone to observe great white sharks
and truly amazing seeing the drone, seeing the sharktivity app
updated in person and seeing that happen was a really
(29:45):
incredible thing as a journalist to see. If you would
like to connect with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, go
to Atlantic White Shark dot org. It's Atlantic White Shark
dot organ. Check out my blog about the sharktivity experience
seeing it in real life happening at Gulfgreat Whites dot com.
Welcome back to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty
(30:06):
klv This is Chester Moore. What a great interview was
Cynthia Wigan of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. You need
to go back if you If you miss part of that,
go listen to the whole interview. Go to KLVI dot com.
And click on the podcast link at the top of
the page and can go back and see archives and
more outdoors, including that program which is up right now.
(30:26):
Really proud to have her. She is a conservation visionary
and it's really cool to see the work they're doing
at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, and I had a
chance to go up there with my friend Paul Pazinski.
Were working on a special project involving great white sharks
and a really amazing aspect of the great white shark.
(30:47):
I wouldn't have an interest in great white sharks if
it weren't for the movie Jaws. Now, there's a such
thing as the Jaws effect, where you know, there were
a lot of people interested in, you know, catching a
big great white hand in the Jaws in the wall,
that kind of stuff, and there was certainly negative impacts
for a while. But in my opinion, the net value
(31:09):
of what Jaws did to sharks globally is probably a
net positive, because I don't think as many people would
be interested. As a matter of fact, I know not
as many people being interested in sharks that weren't for Jaws.
I had the chance to interviewed doctor Greg schollmol and
he's just an incredible shark researcher that you know, is
(31:29):
a big part of the origin story when he was
doing his initial shark tagging in Massachusetts for the state
government there. That's a big part of why miss Wigran
founded the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. And I said, what
was your shark story? How did you want to become
a shark scientist? He said, A, My initial inspiration was
a fictional character called Matt Hooper. You might not know
(31:50):
the name Matt Hooper right off, but if you're a
big Jaws fan, you probably do, because Matt Hooper in
the movie was portrayed by Richard Dreyfus, one of the
icon actors of America. I mean, what a great cast.
You had Roy Scheider, you had Robert Shaw, you had
Richard Dreyfus. I mean, just really an incredible directed movie
(32:11):
by Steven Spielberg, a score by John Williams, who also
did Star Wars et Raiders of the Lost Ark. Iconic movie,
literally the first summer blockbuster movie back in nineteen seventy five.
And so I'm up in the Cape Cod area and
there was no way I was going up that direction
without seeing some of the sites where Jaws was filmed.
(32:34):
Jaws was filmed in Martha's Vineyard. It's the island just
across from Cape Cod, and so me and Paul went
over there and rode the forty five minute ferry and
it was really surreal because as we're lieving, we look
back and I see the Oceanographic Institute, and in Jaws,
Matt Hooper played by Richard Dreyfus, says he was from
the Oceanographic Institute on the mainland. So literally, I'm leaving
(32:58):
the mainland of Cape Cod looking at the Oceanographic Institute,
headed toward Cape Cod, which is Amity in the Jaws movie.
It was just one of those cool connecting moments, you know.
So that was a lot of fun. And you know,
I'll go over to the island. I get see the
Jaws Bridge, and that was really surreal because that's one
of my favorite scenes where the kids are out in
(33:18):
what they call the pond little lagoon with their sailboats
and here comes the big the big fin under the
bridge and that's a very iconic moment in the movie.
And the most chilling moment for me in the movie
is when a little boy is attacked and it's such
a sad scene, but we went to add that beach
as well. We did a couple of things there, very cool.
I'll be blogging about that at Gulfgreat Whites dot com.
(33:40):
But what I thought was really interesting about this whole
experience was looking at how much Jaws impacted me and
impacted doctor Skullmahl and other people I've spoken with that
like to work with sharks. And you know, I'm not
defending and saying like, you know, nothing negative happened to sharks,
but a lot of people were inspired by it, and
(34:03):
certainly Peter Benchley, the author of the novel, he's also
a reporter in the movie. He had a great foundation
later on became one of the greatest shark conservationists of
all time. And I just wanted to just share this
moment and talk a little bit about Jaws for coming
into the fiftieth anniversary next year, but not really just
about Jaws, about what I got to do. You know,
(34:26):
we have really challenging times upon us right now. Financially,
a lot of us are struggling a lot of crazy
stuff going on in the world, a lot of unrest.
But a dream of mine got to come true. I
got to go to a jaw site and an even
bigger dream of mine come true. I got to go
see a great white shark and work with some scientists
for a story in the Atlantic Ocean. And I'm no
(34:49):
one special. I'm just a regular guy, but I get
to do some special things because I work hard, I believe,
I have faith, and to see that happen in this
point in my life was just really a fantastic thing.
And I just want to inspire a lot of you.
I talk to a lot of shark fans. I mean,
my friend Fortune Ford and are always trading messages. I
(35:11):
have probably twenty people on my social media who regularly
message me about sharks, and I'm talking about ranging from
you know, teenagers to people in their seventies. There's a
universal love of sharks out there. I mean, maybe not
a universal love, a universal appreciation for sharks. And then
there's just a wide spread love of sharks out there.
(35:33):
And you can do great things for sharks. You know.
You can get involved with a group like the Atlantic
White Shark Conservancy, support their actions, their fundraisers and things
they do, and you can find ways to use your
social media presence to raise awareness to sharks. Even right
here in the Gulf of Mexico. Through our Wild Wishes program,
(35:53):
we got to take some young people into the shark
Cage at the Texas State Aquarium. This year we had
our Summer of the Sharks sponsored by and it was
a lot of fun. We kicked it off by bringing
my buddies Marina and Skyler into the Shark Cage of
the Texas State Aquarium. Got to do this two other
years with Olivia in twenty twenty one, Eric Kasha in
(36:15):
twenty twenty three, and now Skyler and Marina. And Marina
is going to school right now, she graduated. She's going
to school to work in marine conservation. It couldn't be
prouder of her. And Skyler's a big, fun, awesome advocate
of sharks, and so is Erica Sha so awesome young
people motivated by sharks right and motivated by that. And
(36:38):
Miss Wigram was telling me about, you know, people who
have cancer saying that they kind of use that the
shark keeps on swimming as like, you know, a place
to inspire themselves to keep on fighting and keep on living.
So if you have a love of sharks, you can
help sharks and help the ocean by being an advocate
via social media, getting involved in the groups like the
(36:59):
Atlanta White Shark Conservancy, or you know, other groups are
doing great things for the ocean. Groups like CCA are
just doing great advocacy for the Gulf Coast and helping
with habitat issues that impact sharks and things like that.
So if you would like to find a way that
you can use maybe social media to help sharks, or
you know, maybe you have an article you've written about
(37:20):
sharks you would like to publish somewhere, or you know
your love of sharks, some cool videos. I can publish
some of this stuff at my blog at Golf Great
Whites dot com. I would love to help you realize
your dream of being a shark advocate here on the
Gulf Coast and lots of ways do that, And you
can email me at Chester at Chestermore dot com, Chester
(37:42):
at chestermore dot com. And more importantly, if you know
of a young person struggling, someone eighteen and under struggling
that's maybe lost a parent, have an illness, they got
some kind of major life challenge and depression, something going
on in their life, and they are big shark lovers,
(38:02):
please reach out to me. We would love to do
something special for them related to sharks. We would love
to give them a shark gift package and I can
mail that out real quickly if you contact me at
Chester at chestermore dot com with some info. But maybe
they want to get involved somehow, or maybe they want
to go see a cool aquarium or something like that
(38:22):
or whatever. We can make some cool things happen through
our Wild Wishes program. You know, Wild Wishes grants wildlife
encounters basically for hurting children and kids going through stuff,
And we just granted yesterday from recording this our two
hundred and fifty first Wild Wish in this program that's
been going on for ten years now. So maybe we
(38:43):
can do a shark Wish for a kid out there
that's struggling right now, let them know that life can
get better and use their love of sharks to inspire
them and maybe help them get some skin in the
game and getting involved in conservation. Because what I've seen
people going through struggles, when they get in the skin
in the game and know they can help something else
that's been through some persecution, they do amazing at it.
(39:06):
So we believe in the young people, We believe in
shark conservation, and we love to tie kids into our
Wild Wishes program into things like conservation. So you can
email me at Chester at Chestermore dot com. Maybe we
can help a wild wish shark wish come true for
a hurting kid out there. And this doesn't matter where
(39:26):
you're from. You might be listening, you know in Oregon.
Just send a package of stuff to some kids that
love sharks and Oregon. So email me chesterat Chestermore dot
com and thank you so much for listening to the program.
It's always an honor and privilege to have people at
Cynthia Wiggan from the Atlanta White Shark Conservancy on the program.
I believe we have the best guests in All Outdoors Radio.
(39:47):
Follow me at the Chestermore on Instagram, Higher Calling Wildlife
on Facebook, Higher Calling dot Net, my blog and my
newer blog Golf Great Whites at Golf Great Whites dot com.
God bless have a great outdoors weekend.
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