Past the JAWS: The story behind MarineCreatures.com — The Every day Jaws

There might be no higher means of explaining my relationship with sharks than to say that, like so many individuals of my technology, Jaws was someplace within the background of my childhood. But there was a distinction. I did not develop up wanting to remain on the seashore due to the shark. I wished to get within the water.

That curiosity finally grew to become a profession, and greater than three many years later I’ve spent a lot of my life exploring, finding out, photographing and dealing with marine life in oceans and coastal environments around the globe. That journey is what MarineCreatures.com is admittedly about.

It will not be merely an internet site about sharks. And it is not meant to be one other assortment of lovely underwater images and not using a story behind them. It is my private subject archive — a spot the place I can carry collectively greater than 30 years of marine biology, marine ecology, conservation, analysis, fieldwork, images and among the extraordinary encounters which have formed my life beneath the floor. And sure, there are fairly a couple of sharks.

It began with a fascination with the ocean I’ve at all times been fascinated by what lies beneath the floor. The extra time I spent underwater, the extra I realised how little most of us ever see of the marine world. We see the ocean from the shoreline, maybe from a ship or on vacation, however beneath is a wholly completely different planet.

That fascination led me into marine biology and, finally, right into a profession that has taken me throughout greater than 22 nations and thru a unprecedented number of marine environments. I’ve labored on marine conservation tasks, ecological surveys, environmental impression evaluation, marine mammals, endangered species, marine plastics, offshore renewable power, biodiversity and marine analysis.

I’ve labored with governments, ports, conservation organisations, environmental regulators and builders. But alongside that skilled profession, I’ve at all times carried a digital camera.

The images and tales on MarineCreatures.com are subsequently not merely photographs I’ve collected from around the globe. They are data of locations I’ve been, species I’ve encountered, individuals I’ve labored with and experiences that, in lots of circumstances, occurred many years in the past.

And then there are the sharks… Sharks have at all times held a specific fascination for me. Perhaps that is partly Jaws. Steven Spielberg’s movie undoubtedly modified the best way a complete technology considered sharks. It additionally created a mythology round these animals that has proved remarkably troublesome to shake.

But spending time round actual sharks has a means of adjusting your perspective. The nice white that seems terrifying on a cinema display screen turns into one thing slightly completely different if you find yourself observing it in its pure surroundings. I’ve been lucky sufficient to come across nice whites in South Africa and nurse sharks in Belize, amongst many different shark encounters through the years.

One of probably the most memorable was my 2008 trip to Gansbaai, South Africa, the place a lifelong ambition lastly grew to become actuality: getting near nice white sharks at Seal Island.

At one level, a big nice white surged in the direction of the cage, its head and jaws coming proper up in opposition to the bars. It was a unprecedented second. And sure — standing inside a cage whereas an important white investigates you does make you consider Jaws. But the expertise additionally reinforces one thing vital: these are wild animals, not film villains. The extra you perceive sharks, the extra fascinating they change into.

That is among the issues I hope MarineCreatures.com can do — substitute among the mythology with curiosity, information and respect. An internet site constructed from a lifetime of expertise MarineCreatures.com has developed significantly.

What started as a means of bringing collectively images and recollections has developed into one thing a lot broader: a residing archive of my profession in marine science. The website now brings collectively species data, subject tales, images, analysis, conservation work, skilled expertise, expeditions, video and academic materials.

There are tales from Dominica, the Caribbean, the Philippines, Mexico, South Africa, Belize, Egypt, Ireland and plenty of different locations. There are sea turtles, dolphins, whales, rays, dugongs, jellyfish, coral reefs and numerous fish. And, naturally, sharks. But the widespread thread is at all times the identical:

Explore. Understand. Protect.

That is the philosophy behind the positioning. The tales behind the {photograph}. One of the components of MarineCreatures.com meaning probably the most to me is the rising assortment of private tales. {A photograph} can present you what one thing regarded like. A narrative can let you know why it mattered.

I’ve been fortunate sufficient to expertise some extraordinary issues throughout my profession. In Dominica, I labored with the Rosalie Sea Turtle Initiative and spent years concerned with leatherback turtle conservation. I’ve encountered manta rays within the Gulf of California, labored round marine mammals, explored coral reefs and witnessed the realities of marine air pollution. Some experiences have been thrilling. Some have been troublesome. Some have been merely humorous. And some stayed with me for many years.

I’m now placing these experiences down correctly — together with the locations, dates, individuals, species, images and circumstances surrounding them. It’s vital to me that these aren’t polished journey tales pretending that every little thing was excellent. They’re subject tales. They’re private recollections from a life spent working across the ocean. From conservation to marine plastics

The ocean is not nearly wildlife encounters. Much of my skilled profession has concerned understanding the pressures that human exercise locations on marine ecosystems. I’ve labored in marine ecology, environmental evaluation, conservation, marine plastics, biodiversity and offshore renewable power. That is mirrored all through MarineCreatures.com.

I need the positioning to be a spot the place somebody can arrive as a result of they’re fascinated by an important white shark and depart having found one thing about marine ecology, plastic air pollution, sea turtle conservation, offshore wind or the significance of wholesome marine habitats.

Because finally, these topics are related. You can not correctly perceive a shark with out understanding the ecosystem it lives in. And you can not defend that ecosystem with out understanding the pressures performing upon it.

Why construct it now?

After greater than 30 years working in marine science, I realised I had amassed one thing slightly uncommon. Thousands of images. Field notes. Research. Published work. Stories. Video. Professional expertise.

Memories of locations which have modified enormously since I first visited them. And encounters with species that I by no means wished to easily disappear into an previous laborious drive or a field of images. So MarineCreatures.com grew to become a means of bringing all of it collectively. It is an element archive, half academic useful resource, half photographic assortment and half private historical past. Most importantly, it’s nonetheless rising. There are many years of fabric to work by means of.

It’s private

There are loads of wonderful marine-life web sites on the web. MarineCreatures.com is not making an attempt to compete with all of them. What makes it completely different is that it’s basically first-hand. When I write a few explicit encounter, expedition or conservation challenge, I’m not merely repeating one thing I’ve learn elsewhere. I used to be there. I noticed it. I photographed it. I labored on it.

Or, the place one thing comes from printed analysis or one other authoritative supply, I need that distinction to be clear too. That issues to me. After a lifetime in science and environmental consultancy, credibility is vital. So is honesty.

The website brings collectively my skilled background as a marine biologist and marine ecologist with the rather more private facet of my life — the fascination, the images, the diving, the exploration and the sheer enjoyment of being underwater. The ocean is the true story

Ultimately, MarineCreatures.com is not actually about me. I’m merely the particular person telling the tales. The actual topic is the ocean. It’s the good white transferring silently by means of blue water. The leatherback rising from the Caribbean surf. The manta ray gliding overhead. The dolphin travelling by means of open ocean. The coral reef supporting lots of of species. The tiny plastic fragment that should not be there. The subject researcher sitting on a seashore at two within the morning ready for a turtle to emerge.

Those are the tales I wish to inform. Some are scientific. Some are historic. Some are conservation tales. Some are merely moments that I used to be fortunate sufficient to witness. And some contain sharks. Quite a variety of sharks.

So, do you have to be afraid?

Well, after every little thing Jaws taught us, maybe the higher query is whether or not we needs to be afraid of the issues we do not perceive. My reply isn’t any. We ought to perceive them. Sharks have survived for lots of of hundreds of thousands of years. They occupy massively vital positions inside marine ecosystems and are much more advanced and interesting than the caricature created by fashionable tradition.

The irony is that Jaws helped make sharks well-known, however maybe the subsequent chapter needs to be about attending to know them correctly. That’s what I’m hoping MarineCreatures.com can contribute. Not worry. Not sensationalism. Just higher understanding.

Because as soon as you’ve got spent sufficient time beneath the floor, you realise one thing slightly great: We’re not probably the most fascinating creatures within the ocean. Not even shut. And fortunately, we’re not the one ones.

Explore MarineCreatures.com

MarineCreatures.com is Rowan Byrne’s private archive of greater than 30 years of marine biology, marine ecology, conservation, fieldwork, analysis and underwater images throughout greater than 22 nations.

You can discover the positioning by means of the next beginning factors:

MarineCreatures.com — the principle archive

Explore the total assortment of marine species, tales, analysis, images and fieldwork.

About Rowan Byrne

The story behind the particular person, profession and expertise that sit behind MarineCreatures.com.

Professional Experience

More than three many years of marine biology, ecology, conservation, environmental consultancy and scientific work.

Sharks

Explore the biology, behaviour and conservation of among the ocean’s most extraordinary predators.

Stories from the Field

Personal first-hand accounts from a lifetime working around the globe’s oceans.

Global Expeditions

Explore the nations, tasks and marine environments which have formed my profession.

Photography

A rising archive of authentic underwater and marine wildlife images.

Research & Publications

Explore my printed analysis and scientific work. MarineCreatures.com is a piece in progress — intentionally so. There are nonetheless images to scan, tales to jot down, recollections to reconstruct and experiences to place into context. After greater than 30 years, I do not assume I’m completed exploring. And if Jaws taught me something, it is in all probability this: Never underestimate what is perhaps ready beneath the floor. But nowadays, I’m rather more keen on discovering out what it truly is.