September 13, 2022 • 9 mins
Marine biologist Melissa Cristina Marquez's enthusiasm and passion around sharks is infectious and has rightfully earned her some recognition. We look into her efforts in fostering understanding around sharks, and also talk about crocodile bites.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I don't kind of
Stephmane never told your production of I Heart Radio. And
we're back with our activists around the world, and Hispanic
Heritage Month is just around the corner. We wanted to
(00:26):
start a celebration off a little early. Uh. And you know,
we actually let Shark Week pass before we can actually
discuss all the wonderful things. I know you love sharks.
I do what I do. I must ask, what's your
favorite shark movie? I mean, my favorite shark movie is,
in fact, Jaws. I'd like Jaws too. Okay, a lot
(00:49):
of people don't. I like Jaws, four Jaws, three, Jaws Horse,
but I want everybody to know I really I realized
it's a really bad movie. But a lot of shark
movies are really bad. I think we need to confront
this fact. So a lot of times I watch the
Shark movie. I enjoyed it, but I'm like, I will
never watch the kid probably. I actually have not ever
(01:13):
seen Sharknado. I have seen Sharks, and really I haven't.
I feel like it's a failure on my part. I
should I should. I know I've seen the one of
the Sharknadoes has the Pope in it, and he's played
by Fabio. So I'm like, how can I not watch that?
I don't know, how are you doing with your life?
I'm a true shark movie fan. I mean, for someone
(01:34):
who has said I want to have a podcast that's
just about shark movies, you're right, I gotta clean up
my acts, right. Well, you know that's who we're going
to talk about. We're actually going to talk about a
person who actually does have a podcast about sharks and
all things science. Also apparently does movie reviews for shark movies,
and it's actually qualified not that you are not because
(01:54):
you are a connoisseur of movies, so please don't think
I'm I'm implying such, but is actually a marine biologists
who studies sharks. So today we are actually talking about
Melissa Christina Marquez, who we've actually mentioned before on our
Shark episode we did, which we re ran recently after
(02:15):
we missed Shark Week. Yes, and I did talk about
for the Revenge in there, so check that one out, um.
And also I think, yes, I think that Marcus should
come on the show and we can talk about something
that'd be beautiful. I think it would be. Marquez is
an advocate and an educator in the marine science world.
(02:35):
The Puerto Rican scientist was raised in Mexico and has
been all over the world raising awareness and educating people
about ocean conservation and marine sciences. Marcus received her Bachelors
of Science from New College of America, masters in Marine
biology from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, and
went on for her doctorate in philosophy at the Curtain
University in Australia. That is probably not how you pronounce it.
(02:57):
I am so sorry, but please write in and let
me know. Her thesis focused on conservation of Elasmo branx
um ecology, public perception and legal protection. Marquees elaborated about
her current studies, saying, I'm using drones and cameras to
figure out how sharks use their space and what kind
of oceano graphic processes influence a sharks habitat use. Is
(03:17):
it pH is it the structure of habitat? Is it
the type of prey available? What is going on that
makes an animal choose one area over another even though
it looks the same to us. Yeah, as you can
go and look at her specific studies and what she's
very interested in on her own site, Melissa Christina Marquez
dot com, and you should because she's got some fascinating
things on there. But the twenty nine year old has
(03:39):
been busy with her work and not only researching, but
writing and advocating and speaking and traveling all around the world.
Her history, much like many when it comes to sharks,
can be dated back when she was seven, much like many,
because I think people are so fascinated watching the Discovery
Channel Shark Week. I still have yet to watch the
whole episode because I'm terrified. I'm hearty scared of the ocean.
(04:00):
I have a lot of fears. Yes, she stated in
an interview with the BBC. I remember seeing a great
white shark reaching so flying through the air essentially, and
I was hooked. By the end of the show, I
was like, that's what I want to do. I want
to study these animals. Um And not only has she
done that, she herself has appeared on the iconic show
as well. Her story was a bit different and very dramatic.
(04:22):
While filming in Cuba for Shark Week in eighteen, Marquez
was bitten by a ten ft long crocodile as she
was diving to find a hammerhead shark. She told jess
Abel about the incident, saying, while diving in the shallows,
we suddenly saw this big figure and we moved our lights.
We realized it was an American crocodile. We knew that
there were crocodiles around, we just didn't know they were
(04:43):
that close. Towards the end of our dive, when they
were taking out the lights and whatnot, my cons mask
started acting up. I was having a really hard time communicating.
I couldn't hear what was going on, and I was
getting sprayed in the face with salt water every now
and then. It was just really uncomfortable. So when my
dive buddies signaled, hey, going up, I'm like perfect. As
he was going up, and as I was about to
(05:04):
go up, I was kneeling on my knees on the
sandy bottom. It wasn't that deep at all, like a stand.
Suddenly I felt really hard pressure on my left calf
and I was like, that's weird. I thought that's my fin.
And suddenly I started getting dragged backwards and was like, nope,
that's not a fin. Yikes. Her ability to remain calm
during the situation is a credit to her survival. So
(05:26):
the crocodile did try to drag her further, it finally
released her and she was able to go back to
the surface. She got treatment for her leg, but did
have a rough night as infection could occur, so I
had to be put on some strong antibiotics. But she
was able to finish another day of recording UM and
go on to get the full treatment she needed. And
her overall attitudes are one who understands predators and wildlife.
(05:47):
That it was a crocodile, being a crocodile, a predator
living its life. That's always presses me in these things.
I'll go back in the water it was just them
and then like wow, yeah, And actually you can go
and find this interview on Jezebel. There's a clip from
that episode where you see this crocodile and it looks
massive and scary as hell. On here the recording when
(06:09):
they're talking about they did actually release that footage UM
and she showed in her I think on Instagram the
bite marks. It's pretty incredible. And yeah, this this is
what we're talking about is something She is fierce and
talking about as well um conserving and preserving the species
out there, especially sharks. She said in her an interview
about her studies, I'm really interested in seeing what kind
(06:31):
of factors sway our perception of sharks. Why do some
people love sharks while other people hate them? How can
we better foster the sense of coexisting with sharks Because
we're always going to have positive and negative interactions with predators,
It's important that we find the most effective and sustainable
management of these animals that also allows us to thrive
beside them. Uh. And she talks about what she sees
as her role, quote, I'm an ocean ambassador. I think
(06:54):
we need people to combat misinformation about wildlife, nature, usable energies,
and the whole green move May we need science communicators
to take the science and digest it in an easy
manner for the general public to be able to understand it.
And she goes on, what I'm scared of is having
an ocean without sharks because they are so important economically, ecologically,
and culturally. That not having them in this giant ecosystem.
(07:17):
And we were already starting to see some effects that
can have, but on a widespread scale, it's terrifying. To
think of right um and she has done so much
in making sure to bring awareness. She started Finn's Uniting Initiative,
which is quote a shark, skate, ray and camera education
and conservation program aiming to unite finn lovers worldwide. They
(07:38):
go on to say, on their side, our mission is
to provide easy to access information on all sharks and
their relatives worldwide through partnerships with educational institutions and other programs.
And if you actually go to their site, they have
a lot of links for resources and it shows that
she started this in tw to bring about education and
that's not the only way she's been educating. She has
a podcast called Conscientia a zool focuses on quote Native
(08:01):
Latin X scientists discussing their studies and challenges within the
fields and by way, it is an all Spanish speaking podcast,
which is very very cool. They want to make sure
they are highlighting and really bringing out the voices of
the Latino community. Love it. She's also written for Scholastic
publishing Wild Survival and has her own story about surviving
(08:23):
the crocodile attack as well as Swimming with Sharks. Very
cool children's book to learn and educate, uh, the young
young UN's about these awesome creatures. Of course, that's not
her only accolade. She's been named Forbes thirty Under thirty
Science and also named in Styles one of the fifty
Badass Women lists as well. Um, she has been on
(08:45):
many other lists as well as being seen in different
types of articles. She has published plenty of scientific articles
as well as bringing awareness of what's happening today in
the difference seas and oceans and about her studies and
why it's important that we pay attention to what's going
around around the world. Yeah, her enthusiasm is very, very contagious. Yeah,
she's She's great and I definitely want to check out
(09:07):
this movie review Shark movie Review podcast. Yes, yes, and
I love how much stuff she's doing and how passionate
she is. It's great. And as always, if there's somebody
we should be highlighting or something we should be highlighting
in this segment, please let us know. You can emails
at stuff your mom stuff at I hurt mea dot com.
You can bet us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
(09:27):
or Instagram and stuff I Never told you. Thanks as
always to our super producer Chris. Do you know I
would call it one of the fifty most badass women. Christina,
absolutely no question and thanks to you for listening stuff
I never told me. His protection of iHeart Radio. For
more podcast from My Heart Radio, check out the I
Heard You app Apple podcast wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I don't kind of
Stephmane never told your production of I Heart Radio. And
we're back with our activists around the world, and Hispanic
Heritage Month is just around the corner. We wanted to
(00:26):
start a celebration off a little early. Uh. And you know,
we actually let Shark Week pass before we can actually
discuss all the wonderful things. I know you love sharks.
I do what I do. I must ask, what's your
favorite shark movie? I mean, my favorite shark movie is,
in fact, Jaws. I'd like Jaws too. Okay, a lot
(00:49):
of people don't. I like Jaws, four Jaws, three, Jaws Horse,
but I want everybody to know I really I realized
it's a really bad movie. But a lot of shark
movies are really bad. I think we need to confront
this fact. So a lot of times I watch the
Shark movie. I enjoyed it, but I'm like, I will
never watch the kid probably. I actually have not ever
(01:13):
seen Sharknado. I have seen Sharks, and really I haven't.
I feel like it's a failure on my part. I
should I should. I know I've seen the one of
the Sharknadoes has the Pope in it, and he's played
by Fabio. So I'm like, how can I not watch that?
I don't know, how are you doing with your life?
I'm a true shark movie fan. I mean, for someone
(01:34):
who has said I want to have a podcast that's
just about shark movies, you're right, I gotta clean up
my acts, right. Well, you know that's who we're going
to talk about. We're actually going to talk about a
person who actually does have a podcast about sharks and
all things science. Also apparently does movie reviews for shark movies,
and it's actually qualified not that you are not because
(01:54):
you are a connoisseur of movies, so please don't think
I'm I'm implying such, but is actually a marine biologists
who studies sharks. So today we are actually talking about
Melissa Christina Marquez, who we've actually mentioned before on our
Shark episode we did, which we re ran recently after
(02:15):
we missed Shark Week. Yes, and I did talk about
for the Revenge in there, so check that one out, um.
And also I think, yes, I think that Marcus should
come on the show and we can talk about something
that'd be beautiful. I think it would be. Marquez is
an advocate and an educator in the marine science world.
(02:35):
The Puerto Rican scientist was raised in Mexico and has
been all over the world raising awareness and educating people
about ocean conservation and marine sciences. Marcus received her Bachelors
of Science from New College of America, masters in Marine
biology from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, and
went on for her doctorate in philosophy at the Curtain
University in Australia. That is probably not how you pronounce it.
(02:57):
I am so sorry, but please write in and let
me know. Her thesis focused on conservation of Elasmo branx
um ecology, public perception and legal protection. Marquees elaborated about
her current studies, saying, I'm using drones and cameras to
figure out how sharks use their space and what kind
of oceano graphic processes influence a sharks habitat use. Is
(03:17):
it pH is it the structure of habitat? Is it
the type of prey available? What is going on that
makes an animal choose one area over another even though
it looks the same to us. Yeah, as you can
go and look at her specific studies and what she's
very interested in on her own site, Melissa Christina Marquez
dot com, and you should because she's got some fascinating
things on there. But the twenty nine year old has
(03:39):
been busy with her work and not only researching, but
writing and advocating and speaking and traveling all around the world.
Her history, much like many when it comes to sharks,
can be dated back when she was seven, much like many,
because I think people are so fascinated watching the Discovery
Channel Shark Week. I still have yet to watch the
whole episode because I'm terrified. I'm hearty scared of the ocean.
(04:00):
I have a lot of fears. Yes, she stated in
an interview with the BBC. I remember seeing a great
white shark reaching so flying through the air essentially, and
I was hooked. By the end of the show, I
was like, that's what I want to do. I want
to study these animals. Um And not only has she
done that, she herself has appeared on the iconic show
as well. Her story was a bit different and very dramatic.
(04:22):
While filming in Cuba for Shark Week in eighteen, Marquez
was bitten by a ten ft long crocodile as she
was diving to find a hammerhead shark. She told jess
Abel about the incident, saying, while diving in the shallows,
we suddenly saw this big figure and we moved our lights.
We realized it was an American crocodile. We knew that
there were crocodiles around, we just didn't know they were
(04:43):
that close. Towards the end of our dive, when they
were taking out the lights and whatnot, my cons mask
started acting up. I was having a really hard time communicating.
I couldn't hear what was going on, and I was
getting sprayed in the face with salt water every now
and then. It was just really uncomfortable. So when my
dive buddies signaled, hey, going up, I'm like perfect. As
he was going up, and as I was about to
(05:04):
go up, I was kneeling on my knees on the
sandy bottom. It wasn't that deep at all, like a stand.
Suddenly I felt really hard pressure on my left calf
and I was like, that's weird. I thought that's my fin.
And suddenly I started getting dragged backwards and was like, nope,
that's not a fin. Yikes. Her ability to remain calm
during the situation is a credit to her survival. So
(05:26):
the crocodile did try to drag her further, it finally
released her and she was able to go back to
the surface. She got treatment for her leg, but did
have a rough night as infection could occur, so I
had to be put on some strong antibiotics. But she
was able to finish another day of recording UM and
go on to get the full treatment she needed. And
her overall attitudes are one who understands predators and wildlife.
(05:47):
That it was a crocodile, being a crocodile, a predator
living its life. That's always presses me in these things.
I'll go back in the water it was just them
and then like wow, yeah, And actually you can go
and find this interview on Jezebel. There's a clip from
that episode where you see this crocodile and it looks
massive and scary as hell. On here the recording when
(06:09):
they're talking about they did actually release that footage UM
and she showed in her I think on Instagram the
bite marks. It's pretty incredible. And yeah, this this is
what we're talking about is something She is fierce and
talking about as well um conserving and preserving the species
out there, especially sharks. She said in her an interview
about her studies, I'm really interested in seeing what kind
(06:31):
of factors sway our perception of sharks. Why do some
people love sharks while other people hate them? How can
we better foster the sense of coexisting with sharks Because
we're always going to have positive and negative interactions with predators,
It's important that we find the most effective and sustainable
management of these animals that also allows us to thrive
beside them. Uh. And she talks about what she sees
as her role, quote, I'm an ocean ambassador. I think
(06:54):
we need people to combat misinformation about wildlife, nature, usable energies,
and the whole green move May we need science communicators
to take the science and digest it in an easy
manner for the general public to be able to understand it.
And she goes on, what I'm scared of is having
an ocean without sharks because they are so important economically, ecologically,
and culturally. That not having them in this giant ecosystem.
(07:17):
And we were already starting to see some effects that
can have, but on a widespread scale, it's terrifying. To
think of right um and she has done so much
in making sure to bring awareness. She started Finn's Uniting Initiative,
which is quote a shark, skate, ray and camera education
and conservation program aiming to unite finn lovers worldwide. They
(07:38):
go on to say, on their side, our mission is
to provide easy to access information on all sharks and
their relatives worldwide through partnerships with educational institutions and other programs.
And if you actually go to their site, they have
a lot of links for resources and it shows that
she started this in tw to bring about education and
that's not the only way she's been educating. She has
a podcast called Conscientia a zool focuses on quote Native
(08:01):
Latin X scientists discussing their studies and challenges within the
fields and by way, it is an all Spanish speaking podcast,
which is very very cool. They want to make sure
they are highlighting and really bringing out the voices of
the Latino community. Love it. She's also written for Scholastic
publishing Wild Survival and has her own story about surviving
(08:23):
the crocodile attack as well as Swimming with Sharks. Very
cool children's book to learn and educate, uh, the young
young UN's about these awesome creatures. Of course, that's not
her only accolade. She's been named Forbes thirty Under thirty
Science and also named in Styles one of the fifty
Badass Women lists as well. Um, she has been on
(08:45):
many other lists as well as being seen in different
types of articles. She has published plenty of scientific articles
as well as bringing awareness of what's happening today in
the difference seas and oceans and about her studies and
why it's important that we pay attention to what's going
around around the world. Yeah, her enthusiasm is very, very contagious. Yeah,
she's She's great and I definitely want to check out
(09:07):
this movie review Shark movie Review podcast. Yes, yes, and
I love how much stuff she's doing and how passionate
she is. It's great. And as always, if there's somebody
we should be highlighting or something we should be highlighting
in this segment, please let us know. You can emails
at stuff your mom stuff at I hurt mea dot com.
You can bet us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
(09:27):
or Instagram and stuff I Never told you. Thanks as
always to our super producer Chris. Do you know I
would call it one of the fifty most badass women. Christina,
absolutely no question and thanks to you for listening stuff
I never told me. His protection of iHeart Radio. For
more podcast from My Heart Radio, check out the I
Heard You app Apple podcast wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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