Nov. 11, 2024

Behind the Mic: Exploring Shark Conservation with Mark Packer

Behind the Mic: Exploring Shark Conservation with Mark Packer

In this bonus episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast, co-hosts Andrew Lewin and Dr. David Ebert interview Mark Packer, the host of the newly launched Shark Trust podcast. The episode highlights Mark's journey into marine conservation and his role at the...

In this bonus episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast, co-hosts Andrew Lewin and Dr. David Ebert interview Mark Packer, the host of the newly launched Shark Trust podcast. The episode highlights Mark's journey into marine conservation and his role at the Shark Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to shark and ray conservation.

Mark shares that his interest in marine conservation began in childhood, inspired by nature shows and his sister's explorations in the garden. Although he initially pursued a career in nursing, he eventually transitioned to marine conservation after completing his MSc in marine conservation from the University of Plymouth in 2021. His connection with the Shark Trust began when he met Paul Cox, the organization's CEO, during a half marathon, which led to his employment at the Trust.

The Shark Trust podcast, launched in May 2023, aims to delve into the complexities of shark conservation and engage listeners with in-depth discussions about the organization's work. Mark emphasizes the importance of using podcasts as a medium to educate the public about shark conservation, as they allow for longer, more detailed conversations compared to traditional press releases or emails.

In the first series of the podcast, Mark interviews various team members from the Shark Trust, discussing their roles and the challenges sharks face globally. The episodes cover topics such as international fisheries, conservation policies, and the intricacies of shark management. Mark expresses his desire to expand the podcast in future series to include discussions on successful shark conservation efforts and the potential challenges that may arise.

Overall, the episode showcases Mark's passion for marine conservation and the Shark Trust's commitment to educating the public about the importance of protecting sharks and rays. The podcast serves as a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning more about the complexities of shark conservation and how they can get involved.

Shark Trust Podcast: https://youtu.be/WzoPWfa3aBM?si=y-iyMpF9lJ4DB6On

Connect with us:

Website: https://bit.ly/37TMqeK
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3eorwXZ
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondjawspodcast7591

Dave: 
Website: https://www.lostsharkguy.com/
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3q1J9Q5

Andrew:
Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/
Instagram: https://bit.ly/37g5WkG

 

Transcript
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This is a bonus episode here on the Beyond Jaws podcast as we bring

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you every once in a while when we see some pretty cool people

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doing some pretty cool things, we like to have them on and talk to them. And although we may

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not be able to get them for an entire hour like we normally do

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and dive into their career just yet,

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we wanna highlight some of the things that they've been able to accomplish so

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quickly in their career and a particular project or a report. In

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this case, This is a podcast on podcasting. We're gonna be

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talking to Mark Packer from the Shark Trust, who they just

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launched a podcast. They just finished up their first series of the Shark Trust

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podcast, talking about everything that Shark Trust

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does, and it's an amazing podcast, and we wanted to have him on to be able

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to talk about why it started, why they're doing it, how they're doing

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it, how it's going, and when their next series starts. So

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we're gonna talk about that on this episode of the Beyond Us podcast. Let's

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start the show. Hey, everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of

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the Beyond Jaws podcast. This is a bonus episode, and we're going to

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be talking to Mark Packer of the Shark Trust,

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talking about their podcast, the Shark Trust podcast. And I'm here, I'm

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your co-host, Andrew Lewin, and I'm here with my co-host, Dr. David Ebert.

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Absolutely. I love, I love when these podcasts come out like

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this. And of course, you know, people, Paul Cox, Allie Hood,

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and Kat Gordon are all, you know, good friends of the show here. And,

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uh, I saw this podcast popped up. I thought we got to have, we got to have Mark

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on here to talk about, talk about podcasting. Cause it's like our

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favorite topic to talk about. And, uh, it's another, it's another

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wonderful show they have out another, another terrific podcast. And,

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uh, uh, it was, uh, it was a terrific interview and,

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uh, uh, Mark had a lot to say. And so we're hoping everybody

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will enjoy this, uh, this bonus episode, getting it, doing a bit of dive into

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Absolutely. This is going to be a lovely one. I hope that you guys are

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going to enjoy it. So here's the interview with Mark Packer from the

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Shark Trust talking about the Shark Truck podcast, Shark Trust podcast. Sorry.

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Enjoy the interview and we'll talk to you after. Hey, Mark. Welcome to the Beyond

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Jaws podcast. Are you ready to talk about sharks and podcasting?

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Right on. Well, welcome. Welcome, everyone, to a special bonus

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episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast. Today we have Mark Packer,

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who's the host of the Shark Trust podcast. It's a new podcast that was recently

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launched in May of this year, and it delves behind the scenes of shark

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and ray conservation. Mark is a marine conservation and

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a qualified nurse specializing in mental health, which those of

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us in the field could use a lot of mental health help here. But

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he has a huge passion for the natural world with a focus on the marine environment and

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sharks in particular. Mark received his MSc in marine conservation

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from the University of Plymouth in 2021. And he started with

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the Shark Trust in 2022, covering a number of different roles

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from fundraising to engagement and science communication. And

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most recently now, the new Shark Trust podcast. And

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Mark has an aim to drive positive change at the intersection of environmental and

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mental well-being, benefiting both people and the sharks. And

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So how, I have to ask you though, how did you get interested in,

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in marine conservation and sharks in particular? How'd

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Um, I think probably quite, um, similar

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to a lot of people who, who work in natural

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sciences. Um, my kind of passion came from childhood.

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So when I was a kid, um, I was watching Steve Irwin, Steve

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Baxall on TV and I kind of loved

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the natural world. I always had a sister who would like take us out in the garden, looking

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for like newts and frogs and slow worms. So I

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kind of always had it in my mind as something I was really interested in.

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Um, but then when it came to studying

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and at school, it wasn't necessarily something that was on my radar cause I was like.

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I'm probably not smart enough to do that. There's

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no, I grew up in a little village in the countryside, like there's

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no sharks or sea near me. So I was like, I'm

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not gonna be doing that. So instead I

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went into nursing. um worked in

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that for a number of years um and i did absolutely

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love it um and then i was running

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a half marathon and i saw a

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guy who was also running it he ran for the shark trust he's

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now my boss we know him

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a bit yeah so i

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kind of learned a bit more about sharks i started following the shark trust

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um Learn more and more about it and I was like they are

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so cool. Like I always liked shots when I was a kid I had

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a book that I'd read Weekly, so I was kind of obsessed. I

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just didn't really know that they were in the trouble that they are in

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So kind of learning about that. I then became a bit more passionate about

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it and then I Yeah. In 2021, I

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think it's just after like working as a nurse during COVID and

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I was like, I just want to do something that I enjoy and

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something that I'm really passionate about. Uh, and

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yeah, I went back to university, studied marine conservation and, uh,

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And so, and this all came from like, you were out doing a half marathon. You, you

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yeah yeah yeah and then um i went to fundraise for the shark trust a

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couple years later uh and i'm quite competitive like

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young guy i was like oh i'm gonna do really well at here and

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i still remember at mile 10 when paul and his wife overtook me

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and i was just like like no like i'm not saying

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paul's old but he's older than me i was like i

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was like trying to catch up with him trying to talk to him to

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So did you guys like did you guys hatch the plan right there? It's like I'm gonna go back to

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school and when I come out Yeah, you got a job at the shark just how

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We kind of kept in touch a little bit like we've followed him on social media I'd

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message every now and again and then I The

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shark, so the marine conservation course at the University of

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Plymouth, they have like a, like almost like

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a dragon's den bit at the end. So people from different organizations

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will come in. You have to create like a fake NGO basically,

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like with other people in your cohort and

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then people who lead actual NGOs come in like and assess it.

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So the course has kind of helped partly designed by

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people who are already in the industry so you're being taught what is

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needed. Paul came and gave a couple of talks during

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that. And the moment I saw him come in, I was like, hey,

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Paul, do you remember me? It's Mark. I want a job at the end of this. And

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then, funnily enough, so I was still

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nursing during the master's. I was still working full

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time as a nurse, just because you

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got to work to kind of- Yeah, for sure. Yeah, you got to work, yeah. But

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the course is like full-time during the week, so I was working night shifts and

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then in Paul's workshops and I've just been like, I want a job here at the end of it.

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I fell asleep in both of his. Oh no! But

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luckily, the bits where I was awake, I showed enough passion

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and dedication that he was like, yeah, I still want you on my team.

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You know joining a joining a team like the shark trust,

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you know, it's a it's a great nonprofit organization You

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know you coming out with this this masters in in

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marine conservation Did

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you just be like was there jobs available or did you kind of

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go in and be like hey I want to work with you and and you know Paul

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had the idea or you know people at the shark trust had an idea of a

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position that they were thinking about had that had it all work out and

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My kind of end goal was going to be the shark trust like that's always kind of

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where When I came onto the course, that's where I wanted to be. So I

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kind of thought If I get there in like five years ten years

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time, yeah Long-term plan i'm quite happy with that. Um,

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and when we come to the end of the course, you know You start looking at jobs because you're like, oh i'm gonna

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need a job in three six months time i'll start looking around

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yeah i was looking around all these various ones uh and

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a job actually came up as a fundraising assistant at the chart trust and

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i was like it might not be my ideal end

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goal i was like but i'm already working there i'll

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be learning stuff and then that might set me up in the future to apply

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for another job within the chart trust uh that can't be

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more suited to what i wanted in the future And that's

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basically what happened. I joined and then my job is

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slowly kind of adapted. So I still kind of have that fundraising element, which

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kind of gives me a lot of skills for the future anyway. I've kind of, I

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never realized how important fundraising and all the financial planning

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that, I mean, Paul's doing a CEO, how important that is for a

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charity and conservation work. So kind of seeing how

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that works, learning those skills, I think it's been really helpful. And

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then I've kind of gone into this more kind of outreach engagement

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and science communication added into that. I

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For sure. Well, now, and obviously, too, like when you do communication, there

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is fundraising involved. It's part of the fundraising aspect.

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I've seen a lot of jobs that come up and it's like, you know, fundraising and

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communications coordinator or managers, things like that. I mean, it's

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pretty related, especially when you look at a nonprofit organization, right?

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yeah yeah and i think when so

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i'd only known paul and i knew of ali from i'd seen

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her on twitter um at the shark trust so

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when i applied like i thought the shark trust was like 200 odd

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people i thought it was this like huge Big organization, like

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I'm always seen on Twitter. I'm always Seeing like all the things that

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I do and I thought there were loads of them and then when I joined I was like there's

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only ten of you like and then you look at everyone's job

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roles and everyone's doing so much work bits of everything like Yes, I

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mean it was amazing really but it kind of benefits me a

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bit So it means I can do a bit of everything and learn all these new skills from everyone, right?

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Yeah. And of course, Paul, he was on the show

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a while, about a year and a half or so ago, when they had the Sharks International. And

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he comes from a banking background, actually. And

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now he's running the Shark Trust. So that had

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to have been, I think that may have, do you think that may have helped at all? The fact that

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he didn't go through certainly a traditional trajectory

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from, to marine conservation, to science,

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you know, he came from a very different background. Similar to

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you, but he basically got into following his passion And when

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I Think so, I think Maybe having that like

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pool has the outlook. It's not Do you know

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everything in the world about shots? It's what are your skills? What would

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that bring to the team right and how can we kind of use it as

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a whole team? So I think kind of him understanding that

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I mean, my skills, although I've got a self-taught knowledge

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of sharks, like I don't have a background in marine biology. or

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marine sciences, but my skills in mental health nursing is,

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is how to talk to people. Um, like that was, that was

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my job for eight years. That's kind of what I

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specialize in. And he was like, well, if you want to end up in science communication, those

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are the skills we're going to use. And then he would help develop, help

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me develop that into science communication, opposed to like

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therapy and stuff like that. So yeah, I think having those

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pool, having that different background helped as well. Cause it's kind of like a, figurehead

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like kind of to look up to and you're like if he can do it so can other people

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and that's actually kind of gone through the shark trust because

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there's quite a few of us who have now got different backgrounds like whether

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it's languages or journalism and stuff like that.

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Yeah, I've said that for years, though. It really helps when you have people

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from different professional backgrounds come together, especially

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with a non-profit organization. I mean, having someone as the CEO of

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a non-profit organization that used to be in banking obviously understands money and understands

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how to run a business. And I think that's

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really important. So it'll be important when

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other people come from different backgrounds and share the same passion when

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it comes to the Shark Trust and sharks. So I think that's

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really great to see. So that's definitely an

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I think something you said too, Mark, and I know we stress a lot of times when

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we interview guests on here, particularly younger people

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listening that are getting started in that, learn skills.

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Because the more skills you have, like I have graduate students

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come into the program, like at Moss Landing, And I'm like,

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I can teach you all about sharks. Don't worry about that. I don't care if

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you don't know anything about sharks when you come in here. What I'm more focused on, and

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most people will tell you, is what skills do you have? Are

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you a diver? Can you run a boat? What kind of analytical skills

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do you have? And even things that you may not think about in

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the field that just other

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things that may not seem not

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relevant to what you're doing, but they actually could have some potential, they

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could be applicable to the field. So what

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you said about having skill, I think is really an important point.

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And people listen to this, something to hope they pick up

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on, like just whatever skills you can learn would

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be really helpful. And then they can teach about

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sharks. Speaking of which, have you picked up a

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lot about sharks since you've been there? More than, I assume you

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so much so much what i thought the shark world

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and shark conservation world was was like it was

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literally like a tip of an iceberg and then there's

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i mean i still think i'm still on the tip if i'm honest i don't

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There's a lot to learn. There's definitely a lot to learn. I was the same way. I

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was not a shark person. I love sharks, but obviously I wasn't

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specialized in sharks like a lot of the people we've had on this podcast, and of course Dave.

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But you start to learn. You start to pick up a lot, and you

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learn a lot about different sharks as you go along, even just the amount of

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different sharks. I mean, talking to this guy who's like the lost shark guy and

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hearing all the different species that he discovered and knows

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So you got into your role there with the Shark Trust. How'd

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How'd that all come about? So,

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I mean, I've always absolutely loved podcasts. I listen to

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them constantly, whether

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it's educational or I could just listen to fictional ones. So I'm

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like a quite a big podcast kind of lover anyway. When

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I joined the Shark Trust, I kind of had this view of

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what marine conservation or shark conservation was. And

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I thought I knew quite a lot about it, because I thought I was quite informed

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like on anything like a charity or an

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organization's releasing, like I'll read their press release, I'll then go and

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read some like backing papers and stuff they've done. I'm like, I've

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got the hang of this, like I'm very informed and then when I joined

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here and just kind of talking to

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Ali Hood who's been working here like 20 odd years,

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this huge background and she'll start explaining

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stuff to me and I'm just like, oh my god, like the

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depth and complexities of how shark conservation actually works.

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It's ridiculous. And she'll talk to me for hours, she'll

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be like drawing me diagraphs of how it works, trying to help me understand it. And

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I was like, if I thought I knew how it

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worked, and I very clearly didn't, there's probably loads

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of other people that do as well. And I was like, if we

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want people to kind of support campaigns, support us in protecting sharks,

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We can give them more information through the

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use of podcasts because podcasts can be a lot longer. You

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can go into a lot more depth and people, if they've had enough, they

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could click pause and stuff like that. Um, so I was like, this is kind of.

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More kind of focus for people who want to know more about shark conservation and

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then they can look at how it actually works behind the scenes and

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then how they can get more involved. Um, so kind

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of using. the Shark Trust and the work that they've done to

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kind of explain how international fisheries work,

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how you get like a

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catch limit on a shark, and then how the governments process

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that, how they agree that, what an exception ends

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up for another country, how they all work, and

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how different programs get set up, how we all work together. So

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the podcast is kind of a way to kind of go into all

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And so when you have when you have so when you have people what kind of topics do

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When you have people on like yeah, is it kind of vary or I keep talking about

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some of the different topics You've had so far in some of your episodes So

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so kind of the first series we kind of did this Kind

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of focus on the sharp trust so I kind of spoke to each person here

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about their roles maybe the program that they're focusing on how

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it works just so they can kind of give us that a that top layer

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of it and then in the later series we can go kind

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of more and more in deep detail giving kind of live updates

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of things that are happening. So like the first episode

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we're meeting with Paul Cox the CEO who was

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on here before and he kind of gives this kind of massive overview of

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the world of shark conservation, how the shark trust works, and

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kind of the threats that sharks are facing. And then

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the next episode we kind of go for like this deep dive into international

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fisheries and policy with Ali Hood, our Director of

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Conservation. as she's she's

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got the kind of brain that you want to like plug a usb into and just kind of download

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it all i just hope that you can get it because when she talks to you you

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know you're only getting like two percent of of what's in

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there or probably not even that um and

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like her episode we actually had to We had to stop it

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because the cameras were going to run out of battery. You

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don't want it to stop because she's saying so much stuff and you're just like, give me more,

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give me more. So we're going to do

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a couple more episodes and that's still just skimming the surface. so

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many amazing things she talks about in international fisheries

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and how working with companies to get different protections in

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kind of works and that's all stuff that you don't necessarily see

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from the kind of public facing side of shark conservation. And

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then in episode 3 I talked to Jack

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Rennick He's kind of our fisheries officer and that kind of goes straight into

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UK fisheries Kind of like more localized. So

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Ali's kind of more the international level and the Jets kind of comes on

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to this kind of regional Level

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with the UK and then also the EU and

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looking at the other complexities and organizations in that because I

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think Ali's focus kind of like on like

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the countries yeah and then when you go to jack's one suddenly you're looking

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at uh different organizations yep because obviously it's

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just the uk but yeah for sure you're looking at you

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know the government ones whether it's the marine management organization defra

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then you're looking at other stakeholders like anglers and it's

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just this kind of whole host and it shows that like It looks really

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complex from the start and then when you get in, you're like, oh, this is even more,

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Yeah. We also don't hear a lot about the

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UK fisheries internationally, right? I'm sure that it's talked about

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within the UK, but, you know, for someone living in Canada or for Dave living in

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the US, you know, you don't hear a lot being spoken about,

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about the UK fisheries. I discovered a little bit more just during, during

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my other podcast, how to protect the ocean, but. It's

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nice to hear people from within just kind of talk about it frankly

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and just be like, this is where we're at. This is the basics

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and how it's kind of divided up and here are the NGOs that work

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within it and some of the government departments. It's nice to have that

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ability to be able to talk about that and get the basics in it right

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yeah and i think i think being able to talk about it and

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then like in the future i'd love to be able to go and talk to people in

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other countries organizations that organizations in other countries

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that manage it there like we've got um partners all

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around the world that work in shark conservation i'll be like well how does it work

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there how's that different from the uk um what

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can we do to kind of work together to to

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make them all kind of Come together and kind

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of sing sing from the same hymn sheet so that we can get

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Yeah, that would be that would be great Yeah now with that said

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No, go ahead with that said, you know, you're looking at expanding it.

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This is a you just finished up the first series um You

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know and and I think it's it's a great first series um

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what's the plan in the future? And then I guess with this first series, as

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an organization, you're trying to say, put out this podcast, let's

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see how it does, let's see if it's a benefit. I've

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done it from an independent point of view, on my own, as

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a passion, Dave and I, we do this, we have

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00:22:05,519 --> 00:22:08,960
certain goals that we want to be able to accomplish, but we're

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also not affiliated necessarily with any organization. And then the podcast, this

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00:22:12,602 --> 00:22:16,423
podcast, is not affiliated necessarily with any organization. For,

347
00:22:16,584 --> 00:22:20,107
for the shark dress podcast, how is it like

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Um, I think, I think there's like different aspects

349
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to kind of look at it. Cause there's kind of like the, you can look at it like

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from the metric side, you know, how many downloads that had, how much engagement.

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but I think Kind of our vision of the

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podcast is to to talk about how our

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work works And that's not necessarily just for the

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benefit of us. Of course, you know, we've got uh supporters

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who who donate to us every month we've got um We

356
00:22:53,087 --> 00:22:56,427
might have major donors who will come and come and talk to us to to

357
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help support our work And the podcast is just one kind

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of way that we can talk about what we work we can we

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can tell them what the money that they've donated and

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00:23:07,016 --> 00:23:10,400
they've given us is supporting in kind of that that

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kind of detail opposed to us sending them a an

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00:23:14,264 --> 00:23:17,848
email which might be 400 words or like an infographic being

363
00:23:17,868 --> 00:23:21,231
like this is what we've done this year we could be like This is

364
00:23:21,991 --> 00:23:26,593
the detailed work of what we've done this year in a digestible Way

365
00:23:26,653 --> 00:23:29,913
discussing kind of complexities so that you know what you've

366
00:23:29,953 --> 00:23:33,094
helped achieve. Yeah, and I

367
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Think the the beauty of podcasts is that you can use

368
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them for more than more than one thing Like it's not just a podcast. It's

369
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multi-purposed first in use episodes of

370
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the podcast and As presentations we can

371
00:23:46,978 --> 00:23:51,139
use it for our social media. We can use it to help with getting

372
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grants helping apply for other things So

373
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it's having this kind of multi-purposed Kind of tool almost

374
00:23:59,402 --> 00:24:02,583
the benefits not only us but everyone who wants to support us

375
00:24:02,783 --> 00:24:06,284
or learn about shark conservation And

376
00:24:07,023 --> 00:24:10,166
Yeah, no, I love that. I think that's the way to do it. You know,

377
00:24:10,226 --> 00:24:13,529
you get to know, you know, as a listener, I get to know the people who work

378
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within the Shark Trust, which is a lot of fun for me. But to

379
00:24:17,252 --> 00:24:20,355
hear the in detail, and sort

380
00:24:20,395 --> 00:24:23,898
of like a raw fashion too, right? Like it's not a

381
00:24:23,938 --> 00:24:27,541
BBC podcast. It's not, it's like these are two people having

382
00:24:27,561 --> 00:24:30,763
a frank conversation, like a fun conversation about the work that they do

383
00:24:30,843 --> 00:24:33,986
and I love that because you can hear the passion in

384
00:24:34,306 --> 00:24:37,528
Paul's, you know, in Paul's voice. You

385
00:24:37,568 --> 00:24:40,710
hear the passion in Ali's voice. You hear that just, I think you just had

386
00:24:40,790 --> 00:24:44,153
Rachel on and I think you mentioned, sorry, who was it? Jack.

387
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You know, when you hear their voice, you hear the passion in their voices of

388
00:24:47,615 --> 00:24:51,098
how they're talking about how much they know. All of a sudden, if you

389
00:24:51,118 --> 00:24:54,280
decide to gonna donate to anywhere, if you're listening to that

390
00:24:54,340 --> 00:24:57,703
podcast on a regular basis, you'd be like, well, I'm hearing what they're

391
00:24:57,723 --> 00:25:01,606
saying. Like I'm hearing what the Shark Trust does each and every episode.

392
00:25:01,666 --> 00:25:04,988
So this is kind of giving my update. I don't need an email, which I probably won't

393
00:25:05,028 --> 00:25:08,311
read anyway. And you're not gonna give as much detail in. I'm

394
00:25:08,331 --> 00:25:11,433
gonna put in the podcast. Obviously, I'm a huge advocate of this way of doing it

395
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for an organization. And I think this

396
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is the way, I just think that this is the way to go forward, you

397
00:25:18,857 --> 00:25:22,418
know, and to get more information out there about

398
00:25:22,438 --> 00:25:25,559
the work that you do, because the Shark Trust does a lot of work, just not only on

399
00:25:25,859 --> 00:25:29,420
with the, was it 10 people you said that work with, that work just

400
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,662
directly for it, but then you have partners and collaborators that work as well that

401
00:25:32,682 --> 00:25:36,563
you can feature and be able to discuss that type of

402
00:25:36,623 --> 00:25:40,624
information. So I love that. Yeah, that's

403
00:25:40,644 --> 00:25:43,766
the way it should be done. That's the way it should be done. Sorry, Dave, I think

404
00:25:45,406 --> 00:25:48,467
No, no, I was just gonna say, yeah, I think these, I mean, I really got into the

405
00:25:48,507 --> 00:25:52,329
whole podcast thing. How I got into it is Andrew

406
00:25:52,349 --> 00:25:55,890
invited me on his podcast about, what was it, about seven years ago

407
00:25:55,910 --> 00:25:58,991
now or so? I'd never done a podcast. I

408
00:25:59,031 --> 00:26:03,213
came on and him and I just, we just hit it off like amazing.

409
00:26:03,233 --> 00:26:06,374
We ended up speaking longer off air than we did on air. And

410
00:26:06,434 --> 00:26:09,860
I was totally hooked after that. And then I just, He kept inviting

411
00:26:09,901 --> 00:26:13,563
me back on to where it's like, hey, why don't we actually start our own podcast?

412
00:26:14,123 --> 00:26:17,325
Is kind of how he got into doing the whole, doing our

413
00:26:17,365 --> 00:26:20,727
whole story. That's literally how it got. I never had any

414
00:26:20,807 --> 00:26:24,069
idea I'd ever done a podcast. I really didn't know much

415
00:26:24,109 --> 00:26:28,732
about him. And now I'm totally into it and I'm totally hooked on it. And

416
00:26:28,772 --> 00:26:32,635
I think, as Andrew was saying, the whole communication part of it is

417
00:26:32,675 --> 00:26:35,897
just, I think it's great. It's like now we can have a conversation to

418
00:26:35,917 --> 00:26:39,119
learn more about what you're doing about the shark trust and get

419
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:43,002
with our show. We like to get to know the people behind doing the program.

420
00:26:43,962 --> 00:26:47,144
You know, like yourself, like, like how do you obviously you said

421
00:26:47,164 --> 00:26:50,206
you're really into the podcast realm anyway. And so it

422
00:26:50,226 --> 00:26:53,909
was a nice opportunity for you to get in and actually be able to host a host

423
00:26:53,969 --> 00:26:57,371
or show on your individual shows.

424
00:26:57,411 --> 00:27:01,253
Mark, do you have like about how long do they go? Like they sort of like whatever,

425
00:27:06,328 --> 00:27:10,191
yeah yeah so i'd say like most episodes are going to be between 30 and

426
00:27:10,531 --> 00:27:13,813
40 minutes because we do video versions as well

427
00:27:14,614 --> 00:27:18,917
and so we're limited by battery as well of cameras so

428
00:27:18,937 --> 00:27:22,220
it means ours ours are usually between 30 and 45 and

429
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,742
then We, some

430
00:27:26,782 --> 00:27:30,584
colleagues of mine, so me, Louis, he does all of our content creation,

431
00:27:30,624 --> 00:27:34,406
so making our videos, doing a lot of our social media stuff. And

432
00:27:34,426 --> 00:27:37,687
then Caroline, who's our marketing manager. We went out to

433
00:27:37,888 --> 00:27:41,489
go diving, which is like a dive show in Coventry. We

434
00:27:42,090 --> 00:27:45,971
went out there and a lot of our patrons where they're giving talks and we're like We

435
00:27:46,011 --> 00:27:49,133
can we're about to start a podcast. I was like we

436
00:27:49,153 --> 00:27:52,274
can talk to them we can get get them on our podcast and

437
00:27:53,055 --> 00:27:56,596
they have like Limited time because they are giving talks

438
00:27:56,656 --> 00:28:00,338
on stage to those people and we're like if you can give us 10 minutes Come

439
00:28:00,478 --> 00:28:04,920
on, talk to us about your favorite diving experience because

440
00:28:04,940 --> 00:28:08,882
we're kind of looking at the different audiences that that

441
00:28:08,902 --> 00:28:12,463
there are in shark conservation different ones that you'd want to target and

442
00:28:12,483 --> 00:28:15,624
i'm always like i've always got paul's voice in the back of my head and

443
00:28:15,644 --> 00:28:19,066
they're like who is your target audience here yeah and then make

444
00:28:19,106 --> 00:28:22,247
sure you get it to them and i was like those little episodes are either for

445
00:28:22,267 --> 00:28:25,788
people who are really passionate about diving with sharks already

446
00:28:25,828 --> 00:28:29,089
that i've got hundreds and hundreds of dives in or

447
00:28:29,589 --> 00:28:32,790
people who have never dived before and they're contemplating it

448
00:28:33,211 --> 00:28:36,492
and i think once you have been in the water with

449
00:28:36,552 --> 00:28:40,059
a shark You're always gonna want to conserve

450
00:28:40,099 --> 00:28:43,482
them Like it's always something you're gonna want to do. Um

451
00:28:44,442 --> 00:28:47,844
so like I Kind of got into sharks and I uh, I

452
00:28:47,864 --> 00:28:51,046
couldn't actually swim. I was scared of the sea. Um Like this

453
00:28:51,066 --> 00:28:54,609
is like back in 2015 when I met paul I couldn't swim,

454
00:28:55,270 --> 00:28:58,994
terrified to go in the water in case I drown. And then I

455
00:28:59,955 --> 00:29:03,258
went in the water with sharks for the first time a couple of days ago. It's just

456
00:29:03,378 --> 00:29:06,842
on Friday. My girlfriend

457
00:29:06,882 --> 00:29:10,245
paid for her family and me to go

458
00:29:10,285 --> 00:29:13,693
on a blue shark snorkel trip. okay and it was the first time

459
00:29:13,713 --> 00:29:16,834
i've been like they've said blue sharks are inquisitive and i've said it

460
00:29:16,874 --> 00:29:19,995
in talks for the last two years yeah i did i did not

461
00:29:20,035 --> 00:29:23,397
know what that word meant like they are up

462
00:29:23,457 --> 00:29:26,678
in your face they're swimming around you and there's this

463
00:29:27,258 --> 00:29:31,020
um a code of conduct uh developed by marico um

464
00:29:31,380 --> 00:29:34,682
and cat uh who works here helps uh helped in developing it

465
00:29:34,762 --> 00:29:37,863
and Like they follow obviously this code of conduct and

466
00:29:38,363 --> 00:29:41,765
one of them is you cannot like do not touch the sharks,

467
00:29:41,805 --> 00:29:45,107
which yeah, it's obviously That's kind of I

468
00:29:45,147 --> 00:29:48,409
thought oh, that's obvious They get so close. You're like i'm

469
00:29:48,429 --> 00:29:54,432
not touching the shark, but it's touching me Yeah, yeah,

470
00:29:54,572 --> 00:29:59,214
it's amazing how close they can swim to you and not touch you Yeah,

471
00:29:59,615 --> 00:30:02,756
they yeah, it's just absolutely incredible experience and

472
00:30:02,776 --> 00:30:06,073
I was like if we can get people to talk about those,

473
00:30:06,313 --> 00:30:09,516
those experiences that they have had and that kind of passionate way that they can

474
00:30:09,556 --> 00:30:12,638
get it across. People are going to want to learn more and

475
00:30:12,678 --> 00:30:16,100
more about sharks and then hopefully they'll listen to the other episodes, start learning about

476
00:30:16,521 --> 00:30:20,263
how shark conservation works, how they can get involved. Um, so

477
00:30:20,324 --> 00:30:23,906
yeah, those bonus mini episodes are probably about 10 minutes maximum.

478
00:30:24,667 --> 00:30:28,470
Um, and we've got like Monty Halls, Miranda Kristofnikov, Simon

479
00:30:28,490 --> 00:30:32,392
Rogerson and, um, Donovan Lewis. So

480
00:30:33,333 --> 00:30:36,622
amazing, amazing people. Yeah, and then you just finished your first

481
00:30:36,662 --> 00:30:40,123
season now Uh, yeah,

482
00:30:40,163 --> 00:30:44,605
so our final episodes, uh went out today so Recording

483
00:30:44,625 --> 00:30:48,007
it on the 23rd of july. Um, yeah went out, uh, and

484
00:30:48,027 --> 00:30:51,789
that was an interview of rachel brooks who's again

485
00:30:51,809 --> 00:30:55,611
an amazing kind of background she's a studied zoology,

486
00:30:56,271 --> 00:30:59,613
went and I think learned to dive and stuff

487
00:30:59,633 --> 00:31:02,855
in Egypt, went to the Canary Islands and then she's

488
00:31:03,275 --> 00:31:07,058
ended up in Scotland. She's become this wildlife artist,

489
00:31:07,118 --> 00:31:10,560
scientific illustrator and she was doing Bats

490
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:15,162
and Sharks with Bats and Sharks Scotland and

491
00:31:15,403 --> 00:31:18,745
she's just got this huge amazing knowledge and then she's also

492
00:31:18,785 --> 00:31:22,278
got that creative background so talking to her about about

493
00:31:22,358 --> 00:31:26,739
basking sharks it kind of comes out in this like really creative kind

494
00:31:26,759 --> 00:31:30,080
of almost poetic way. So we've just done an episode of

495
00:31:30,100 --> 00:31:33,621
her to kind of finish the season because basking

496
00:31:33,641 --> 00:31:36,862
sharks are probably the UK's most iconic species or

497
00:31:36,902 --> 00:31:40,183
most well known at least. So we were just

498
00:31:40,203 --> 00:31:43,844
like we'll end on a high of this one with Rachel and

499
00:31:44,024 --> 00:31:47,185
it's basking shark season right now so okay it's just

500
00:31:48,427 --> 00:31:51,630
Okay, good. And you said in your episodes you have episodes like

501
00:31:51,770 --> 00:31:54,833
one every other week and then you have your your mini episodes kind of

502
00:31:58,482 --> 00:32:02,425
Yeah, so we yeah, we put them out every other week. So yeah bi-weekly and

503
00:32:02,445 --> 00:32:05,648
then well if we have a bonus mini episode We'll chuck that

504
00:32:05,708 --> 00:32:08,870
in just it's like a nice little nugget of information that people can

505
00:32:08,930 --> 00:32:12,353
have in the middle And then we're gonna take a short break

506
00:32:13,374 --> 00:32:16,736
At the moment just because we've just finished series one and then

507
00:32:17,177 --> 00:32:20,679
go in series two where we're kind of looking More

508
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,902
at what successful shark conservation means and then what

509
00:32:23,942 --> 00:32:29,764
the impacts that can have so everyone

510
00:32:29,784 --> 00:32:32,888
likes to talk about shark conservation in this like really positive light but i want to

511
00:32:32,928 --> 00:32:35,971
look at the positives and the negatives of

512
00:32:36,011 --> 00:32:39,494
shark conservation because if we're able to identify those yep then

513
00:32:40,415 --> 00:32:43,839
we're not going to take a step back because we can prepare for those negative

514
00:32:43,879 --> 00:32:47,542
things we're talking about like depredation where know

515
00:32:47,582 --> 00:32:51,207
people who spend the most amount of time by the sea you know they're angling

516
00:32:51,247 --> 00:32:54,491
and stuff like that if their favorite hobby is getting ruined because the

517
00:32:54,531 --> 00:32:59,077
sharks are stealing their fish and they go and talk to you

518
00:32:59,097 --> 00:33:02,983
know here it'd be like an MP those

519
00:33:03,003 --> 00:33:07,906
are the people who make the decisions. So if we're able to look at these potential

520
00:33:07,946 --> 00:33:11,368
future issues and then make steps to mitigate them,

521
00:33:12,369 --> 00:33:15,511
then shark conservation can keep going forward instead of

522
00:33:17,652 --> 00:33:21,354
Absolutely. That's great. That's cool, Mark. Mark,

523
00:33:21,534 --> 00:33:25,277
I want to thank you for coming on today to talk a little bit about your new podcast. And

524
00:33:25,317 --> 00:33:28,518
we wish you all the best. And we're definitely going to have you

525
00:33:28,558 --> 00:33:31,752
come back on here. We'll do more of

526
00:33:31,772 --> 00:33:35,215
a focused episode on you, the Mark Packer story.

527
00:33:35,816 --> 00:33:39,119
And we look forward to that. And we wish you all the best of luck on

528
00:33:39,420 --> 00:33:42,703
the Shark Trust podcast. And hope he does

529
00:33:46,998 --> 00:33:50,260
Thank you so much for being on the show Thank you so much for having me.

530
00:33:52,122 --> 00:33:55,725
Thank you Thank you very much mark for joining us on this episode

531
00:33:55,805 --> 00:33:59,168
of the beyond jaws podcast a bonus episode Really love

532
00:33:59,188 --> 00:34:02,310
the fact that we talked about podcasting Dave I think this is

533
00:34:02,350 --> 00:34:05,713
something that we would want to talk more about when with other

534
00:34:05,753 --> 00:34:08,816
podcasts and I think it's you know Jumping into it

535
00:34:08,896 --> 00:34:12,238
as I love podcasts I think it's really great that

536
00:34:12,278 --> 00:34:15,800
we're able to see more of these platforms and

537
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,242
more podcasts on this platform be able to be published and

538
00:34:19,322 --> 00:34:22,524
so more people can listen to it. You know, a lot of people would think, oh,

539
00:34:22,544 --> 00:34:25,706
well, you guys already have a podcast. Don't you want anybody else to do? It's like,

540
00:34:25,907 --> 00:34:29,288
absolutely. Not everybody identifies with us. We have a very different mission

541
00:34:29,649 --> 00:34:33,050
than what the Shark Trust podcast has. And we like to support

542
00:34:33,070 --> 00:34:36,432
other podcasts as much as possible. So, Dave, you

543
00:34:36,472 --> 00:34:39,614
know, from an organizational perspective, you

544
00:34:39,654 --> 00:34:43,296
know, being able to launch a podcast like this, what

545
00:34:43,316 --> 00:34:46,397
do you think about this? Do you think this is a good idea for the

546
00:34:47,558 --> 00:34:50,740
Oh, yeah. No, to me, it seemed like a natural extension for those of us

547
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:54,281
in the field that attended the Sharks International a year and a

548
00:34:54,321 --> 00:34:57,543
half ago. Actually, it was in Valencia, Spain. But

549
00:34:57,583 --> 00:35:01,184
the week before that, they had an online version where they

550
00:35:01,204 --> 00:35:06,265
interviewed people. And Paul Cox, the CEO, and Allie Hood had

551
00:35:06,305 --> 00:35:10,406
people. Basically, it was run like an ongoing TV show

552
00:35:10,426 --> 00:35:13,787
where they'd come on, talk about the presentations that

553
00:35:13,827 --> 00:35:17,168
people had just seen because it was online at the time. And then the following week,

554
00:35:17,188 --> 00:35:20,489
when they had the in-person conference, it was the same thing. It

555
00:35:20,509 --> 00:35:24,110
was all virtual. You could go online if you were subscribed

556
00:35:24,150 --> 00:35:27,581
to the area, attended the conference and watch

557
00:35:27,641 --> 00:35:31,342
the pod, and watch, well it wasn't a podcast, it was a video series. And

558
00:35:31,383 --> 00:35:34,604
so this seemed like the natural extension to me, that they would just go

559
00:35:34,804 --> 00:35:38,206
from there to doing a podcast. And

560
00:35:38,246 --> 00:35:41,827
they'd get in, they'd talk to the different people, different aspects, like Mark

561
00:35:41,847 --> 00:35:45,069
talked about today. I thought it was interesting, he's, you know, was

562
00:35:45,129 --> 00:35:48,510
very into podcasting himself, didn't see himself ever actually

563
00:35:48,970 --> 00:35:52,412
hosting one, and now he is, so it was kind of cool hearing that story.

564
00:35:52,432 --> 00:35:55,564
I have to say, I was kind of funny, I thought when

565
00:35:55,584 --> 00:35:58,706
he talked about how he met this to me, it was, I have to get into this

566
00:35:58,726 --> 00:36:02,008
when you have him back on here in the future about how

567
00:36:02,048 --> 00:36:05,471
he, we met literally, he was running a half marathon. He met Paul Cox

568
00:36:05,491 --> 00:36:08,693
while he was running. And, um, he commented how he was trying

569
00:36:08,733 --> 00:36:12,795
to beat Paul in the race and Paul ended up beating him, which is probably a good thing. Probably if

570
00:36:12,835 --> 00:36:16,258
he would have won, he may not be, he may not be sitting here to

571
00:36:16,298 --> 00:36:19,780
help him get a job. But, but I thought it was just a, it was one of the more interesting

572
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:23,013
ways somebody actually connected. with someone who

573
00:36:23,033 --> 00:36:26,296
eventually became their boss and with an organization that

574
00:36:26,316 --> 00:36:29,478
he's now with, who would have thought a couple years ago what that would

575
00:36:29,518 --> 00:36:32,761
lead to. So I thought that was a fascinating story

576
00:36:32,781 --> 00:36:36,004
in itself. You never know how you end up getting in

577
00:36:36,044 --> 00:36:39,727
some of these different positions in the shark world. And I

578
00:36:39,747 --> 00:36:43,250
thought that was such an interesting story. And I think the fact

579
00:36:43,270 --> 00:36:46,673
that Paul also came from a non-science background, and

580
00:36:46,713 --> 00:36:50,098
now he runs a shark trust, probably helped him a bit. As

581
00:36:50,138 --> 00:36:53,301
he said in the, in the interview about getting on there, just, but it was,

582
00:36:53,582 --> 00:36:56,965
it was, I think the key thing was skills, all the skills that he had that really

583
00:36:57,005 --> 00:37:00,128
helped him get into the position he's in. And I think that's something we do

584
00:37:00,169 --> 00:37:03,532
emphasize with a lot of people. When we talk with Andrew, we interview

585
00:37:03,592 --> 00:37:07,156
is about, they'll almost always come back. Some something about learning skills,

586
00:37:07,176 --> 00:37:10,419
because we can teach about sharks and stuff, but if you, if you have

587
00:37:10,439 --> 00:37:13,784
the skills, that's, what's going to help get you in the door. for graduate school or

588
00:37:16,786 --> 00:37:20,729
100%. 100%. I think that's something that needs

589
00:37:20,749 --> 00:37:23,851
to increase. We need to see more of these types of podcasts and need to

590
00:37:23,891 --> 00:37:27,033
see more of this type of education get around. A lot of people know a lot

591
00:37:27,053 --> 00:37:30,435
about sharks from different episodes like Shark

592
00:37:30,475 --> 00:37:34,178
Week and Shark Fest, but we know those are catered towards a specific audience

593
00:37:34,238 --> 00:37:37,480
and there's an audience that wants to know more about conservation and

594
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,662
wants to know about shark science and wants to know more about you know,

595
00:37:40,722 --> 00:37:44,224
things other than those iconic species and other sharks. And I think you'll

596
00:37:44,244 --> 00:37:48,166
get that with the Shark Trust, you know, and I think that's really important. So again,

597
00:37:48,226 --> 00:37:51,447
Mark, thank you so much. We'll put all the links to the podcast so that people

598
00:37:51,487 --> 00:37:54,729
can get access to it as well as the Shark Trust website. And Dave, if people

599
00:37:57,310 --> 00:38:00,612
Instagram, it's Lost Shark Guy, Lost Sharks on Facebook and

600
00:38:00,652 --> 00:38:04,013
Lost Shark Guy on X. And of course, I'm also on

601
00:38:04,053 --> 00:38:07,455
LinkedIn, Dave Ebert. And please go on our YouTube

602
00:38:07,495 --> 00:38:10,731
channel. of the Beyond Jaws podcast and

603
00:38:10,771 --> 00:38:15,475
subscribe and please leave comments. We'd love to hear from you and

604
00:38:15,495 --> 00:38:18,978
just see what we can do for the show. So thanks

605
00:38:20,119 --> 00:38:23,662
Absolutely. Yes. Thank you so much for joining us. And Dave, thank you. Mark,

606
00:38:23,702 --> 00:38:26,924
thank you very much for the podcast and for coming on ours to

607
00:38:27,004 --> 00:38:30,207
talk about your podcast. And we appreciate everybody for listening to

608
00:38:30,227 --> 00:38:33,790
this episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast. From Dave and I, we thank you so much. Have