Meet the Scientist: Making Space for Sharks in a Busy Ocean with Dr Isla Hodgson

Sharks are an incredibly resilient group of animals. They have existed on this planet for over 400 million years, surviving five mass extinctions and even outlasting the dinosaurs. Across all that time they have diversified to occupy almost every part of the ocean, evolving with weird and wonderful adaptations to secure their success.

But in today’s world, sharks and their relatives are facing the very real threat of extinction. The reason? Us. A rapid increase in fishing activity and a whole suite of other anthropogenic pressures is driving sharks to the brink of extinction faster than anything else in history. However, people rely on the ocean, and sharks, for many different reasons. A crucial question therefore is: how can we turn the tide for sharks while safeguarding livelihoods and food security?

In this FREE talk, Dr Isla Hodgson will be exploring our own relationship with sharks and the steps that are being taken to secure space for them in increasingly busy seas. And, of course, devoting some time to these perfectly adapted, wonderfully strange and ‘superpowered’ fishes.

About Isla

Dr Isla Hodgson is a NERC-funded marine social scientist specialising in human-wildlife conflict, ocean governance, fisheries and marine spatial planning. She also works for the Save Our Seas Foundation, an international organisation dedicated to supporting projects in shark and ray science, conservation and outreach (www.saveourseas.com). She lives on the West coast of Scotland with her dog Haggis and some of the UK’s best dive sites on her doorstep.

This event is FREE, but numbers are limited.

Please register to attend and please consider making a donation via our Just Giving page below or selecting a donation ticket to support our vital conservation and education work.

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All our education and conservation activities are designed to motivate people to make positive changes in their own lives to protect the marine environment now and in the future. Your support will help ensure we can continue to do that in the years to come. Thank you.

No former knowledge required.

This is a 1 hour online session.

A Zoom link, full joining instructions and information about the event will be shared via email the day before the event.

Header Image (c) Frogfish Photography, Thumbnail (c) Isla Hodgson