July 15, 2024

Shark Research in the Midst of Conflict: The Story of Igbal Elhassan

Shark Research in the Midst of Conflict: The Story of Igbal Elhassan

On this episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast, we dive into the remarkable journey of Igbal Elhassan, who pursued a PhD in shark science amidst a civil war. Despite facing immense challenges, she persevered and earned her degree. Join hosts Andrew Lewin...

On this episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast, we dive into the remarkable journey of Igbal Elhassan, who pursued a PhD in shark science amidst a civil war. Despite facing immense challenges, she persevered and earned her degree. Join hosts Andrew Lewin and Dr. David Ebert as they explore Iqbal's inspiring story and her contributions to the field of shark science.

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Igbal Elhassan's journey to complete her PhD during a civil war exemplifies her remarkable determination and resilience. Despite the turmoil and challenges of living in a war-torn country, she persevered in her pursuit of higher education and shark science. She faced the daunting task of fleeing her home country due to the civil war, yet she continued her research and studies in different locations, showcasing her unwavering commitment to her passion for shark conservation.

Throughout the episode, it becomes evident that Igbal's dedication to shark science goes beyond the ordinary challenges faced by most researchers. She not only had to navigate the complexities of conducting research in a region with limited resources and infrastructure but also had to deal with personal losses and the constant threat of danger due to the civil unrest in her country. Despite these adversities, she remained focused on her goals and continued to work towards completing her PhD and contributing to the field of shark science.

Igbal's story serves as an inspiration to aspiring researchers and conservationists, highlighting the importance of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity. Her ability to overcome obstacles and continue her work in shark conservation under such challenging circumstances is a testament to her strength and dedication. By sharing her experiences, Igbal not only sheds light on the realities of conducting research in conflict zones but also underscores the significance of conservation efforts in regions affected by war and instability.

Igbal's work in shark science in Sudan and other regions highlights the importance of conservation efforts in areas with limited resources and ongoing conflicts. Throughout the episode, Igbal shared her incredible journey of pursuing a PhD in shark science while facing the challenges of civil war in her country. Despite the difficult circumstances, she continued her research and conservation efforts, demonstrating a strong commitment to protecting shark species in regions where resources are scarce and conflicts are prevalent.

Igbal's dedication to studying sharks in Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea, and other areas around the Red Sea showcases the critical need for conservation initiatives in these regions. She conducted research on shark identification, breeding seasons, food habits, and geographical distribution, providing valuable insights into the shark populations in these areas. Her work not only contributes to the scientific understanding of shark species but also raises awareness about the importance of conservation in regions facing political instability and resource limitations.

Furthermore, Igbal's efforts to engage with local communities, fishermen, and government authorities to raise awareness about shark conservation highlight the importance of community involvement in conservation efforts. By conducting training workshops, educating fishermen, and advocating for sustainable fishing practices, Iqbal is actively working towards the conservation of shark species in these challenging environments.

Overall, Igbal's work exemplifies the resilience and determination required to conduct conservation efforts in regions affected by conflict and limited resources. Her story serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of protecting marine biodiversity in all corners of the world, especially in areas where conservation efforts are often overlooked due to ongoing conflicts and resource constraints.

The Sacrifices and Dedication of Pursuing a Passion for Shark Research and Conservation

The story of Igbal Elhassan, as shared in the podcast episode, serves as a poignant reminder of the immense sacrifices and unwavering dedication required to pursue a passion for shark research and conservation. Iqbal's journey is a testament to the resilience and determination of individuals who are committed to studying and protecting these magnificent creatures, even in the face of adversity.

  1. Civil War Challenges: Igbal pursued her PhD in shark science during a civil war in her country, Sudan. Despite the turmoil and dangers surrounding her, she continued her research, highlighting the extraordinary lengths she went to in order to follow her passion.

  2. Relocation and Loss: Igbal had to relocate multiple times due to the civil war and the separation of South Sudan. This resulted in personal losses and challenges, including the loss of relatives. Her ability to persevere through such hardships showcases the sacrifices made in the pursuit of shark research.

  3. Field Work Challenges: Igbal's fieldwork experiences, such as accompanying fishing boats and facing risks at sea, demonstrate the physical and emotional challenges involved in conducting research in remote and sometimes dangerous locations. Her determination to collect data and study sharks under difficult circumstances underscores the dedication required in this field.

  4. Gender Barriers: As a woman working in a male-dominated society and field, Igbal faced additional obstacles and cultural norms that made her work even more challenging. Her ability to navigate these barriers and continue her research showcases her resilience and commitment to her passion.

  5. Awareness and Conservation Efforts: Despite the challenges, Igbal engaged in awareness campaigns and worked towards shark conservation, even without external funding. Her efforts to educate fishermen and communities about the importance of shark conservation highlight her dedication to making a positive impact in the field.

In conclusion, Igbal Elhassan's story exemplifies the sacrifices, challenges, and unwavering dedication required to pursue a passion for shark research and conservation. Her resilience in the face of adversity serves as an inspiration to all aspiring shark scientists and conservationists, emphasizing the importance of perseverance and commitment in the pursuit of protecting these vital marine species.

Transcript
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Have you ever thought about doing a PhD in shark science and

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even doing a PhD while your country is in

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the thrust of a civil war? Just imagine how

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challenging that can be. Iqbal Alassan has

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done that. She's received her PhD but she did it

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during a civil war and the challenges she talks

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about on this episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast. So

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I want you guys to hear this. This is going to be a very,

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very interesting interview and show. So let's start the

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show. In the early to mid 1900s,

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the only thing people knew about sharks was that they bit people from time to time.

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Some scientists started to get to know more about the larger sharks, studying their

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life histories and their fisheries. As the field grew, so did

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the diversity of fields within shark science. Public interest

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in sharks grew exponentially as a series of movies called Jaws peaked

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the people's fear and curiosity for these sharks. More

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information was revealed about these mysterious animals as the shark science field

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grew. From exploration to discovery to genetics and ecology, the

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Beyond Jaws podcast will introduce you to shark scientists of the American Alasma

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Brain Society and their work to help you better understand these

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wonderful species and take your knowledge Beyond Jaws.

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Hey, everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast.

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I am your co-host, Andrew Lewin, with my co-host,

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I am really ready for this interview, Andrew. This is

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one I'm really looking forward to. I was really happy she

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was willing to come on. I've known Iqbal for a number of years, and

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she has a story of challenges of her journey that

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pales pretty much anybody else we've ever done, I believe. um,

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having to flee because of the civil, literally a civil war where she

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would either could have, would have had to leave or die basically. And,

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um, she's lost a lot of relatives along the way. It's just things

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people, most of us will never experience, thankfully in

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our life. And it's a, it's a really compelling story. And,

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Absolutely. It's very special to us to have, for her to be able to share this

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with us. Uh, so here is the interview with Igbal Elhassan

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talking about doing shark science as well as her

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PhD in Sudan from Cairo, Egypt.

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Enjoy the interview and we'll talk to you after. Hey Iqbal, welcome to

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the Beyond Jaws podcast. Are you ready to talk about sharks?

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Yeah, of course. Hello. Thank you for having me.

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You bet, you bet. Today on the Beyond Jaws podcast, we

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have a very special guest. We have Iqbal El-Hassan from

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the Sudan. Iqbal is a lecturer at the Department of Fisheries at

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the University of Bahri in Khartoum, which is the capital of Sudan.

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Before that, she was a lecturer at the University of Juba, where

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she became the head of the Fisheries Department at that university. However,

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as a result of the Second Sudanese Civil War, the university

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was temporarily relocated to Khartoum before it eventually moved

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back to Juba after South Sudan gained independence

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in 2011. After the separation from South Sudan, she

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became a lecturer at the Fisheries Department in the newly established University

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of Bahri. She also works as a local consultant for

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shark identification and runs training workshops for Marine

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Fisheries Administration and for regional identification workshops

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around the Red Sea. She's been a member of the IUCN Shark

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Specialist Group since 2005, and she's conducted research

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in areas little known to most Western researchers. This

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includes areas like northern Yemen, Eteria, and

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around the Arabian Sea. Her PhD has been a journey that

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we'll discuss today, and it has been quite a journey. Her

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education, she did a bachelor's of science degree at the University of

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Juba in fishery science with honors, a master's degree

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also at the University of Juba in fishery science. And as I said,

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she's currently working on her PhD at the University of Khartoum. And

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Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm happy to be

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Thank you. We're very happy to have you. Can you tell us, we always ask

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our guests, how did you first get interested in the ocean and

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You know, I grew up in Bursudan, where

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is the Red Sea. Yeah. My dad was

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working at a company in Khartoum and then before I

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pour, He moved to Bursudan to work at

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the branch of the company there. And me

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and the rest of the family, I mean,

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my brothers and sister, we grew up in Bursudan. And

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we become attached, me personally, I become attached to

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sea. Yeah. And then, yeah,

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yeah. For that reason, I joined Fisheries Science. I

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wanted to, yeah, of course, there is University of the

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Red Sea, and there is a Faculty of Marine Science.

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But at that time, the enrollment is

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just for boys. So, They

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don't have, yes, yes. So I joined. Just for boys. Yes. It

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changed. The first batch of girls was in

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2004. So. Really? Yeah. I studied

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fisheries science and yeah, after graduation, I appointed

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a teaching assistant

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in the department. that in 1999, yeah. And

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I was lucky that before

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I complete the year as

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a teaching assistant, I got, me and

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other teaching assistants at the college, we

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got an inauguration to do the master. And

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so, my master was on shark, but not

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directly. I mean, first,

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the head of the department at that time said

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to me, because there is shortage in the stuff for fish

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pathology, I suggested you

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do your study on fish pathology. And

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he said to me, go and talk to a part-timer who

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teaches here, and talk to Dr. Abdel-Jabbar, who

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teaches this subject. And

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in fact, my heart was in the Red Sea. So

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I said, he said, no, so go and talk to Abdul-Jabbar. And

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Abdul-Jabbar, I was lucky. I think that Abdul-Jabbar, I

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told him, I like very much your, I mean,

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the course. And I got A's. But

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actually, I want to do my master on marine science

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in Bursudan. And he said, no problem, Iqbal,

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because I got an offer from Saudi Arabia and

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I accepted it and I'm going to, yeah,

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so do what you want to do. Yeah.

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So I just, yeah.

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And I wrote a proposal on roofing

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color rubber, because there is a problem on

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that. Yeah, in Saudi Arabia and in Sudan also.

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They claimed it is overfished and there is no management measures.

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In Saudi Arabia they do, they have, they said they

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have a measurement, management measures

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for it, but in Sudan no. So I wrote a proposal for that and

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at that time I applied to Bangor and Liverpool.

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Yeah, because I want to study outside, I

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can gain experience or even

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good laboratory. So I got

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an acceptance from Liverpool and was a nice

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letter, as they say. You can do this

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in fishes in England, but when

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you come back, you can do it in the species you wrote in the proposal.

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And sadly, my mom broke her thigh.

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And I decided to be with her because

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I was the youngest girl for her. So I

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decided to be with my sister, married outside,

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and decided to be with her. And I told her, I

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will come to Liverpool and I will do the Red

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Sea to take care of you. Unfortunately, I

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mean, sadly, she passed away 10 days after after

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the operation. So I applied

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for... Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. Yeah.

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So I registered internally, I

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accepted the nomination

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of the university. And I registered with Dr. Sayed

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Mohamed Ali from the Faculty of Science, Red Sea. And

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my co-supervisor was Samir Yanni from Juba University. And

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then Dr. Sayed, the main supervisor, read

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the proposal and said, this is a very good proposal, but show

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it to Professor Abujetary at the University of

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Khartoum. he passed away, it was

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like we consider him in Sudan, like a father of

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fisheries in Sudan. And I went to his, yeah,

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in marina and freshwater, by the way, he guide, he have guide for freshwater and

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guide for basic form of sawaki, fishes of

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sawaki. And I met him in his office in the University of

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Khartoum, and he said, he read, he said, this is

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a very good proposal, but why value... I... Why

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you don't do it on shark instead?" Yeah.

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And I said, ... he said,

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consider this. And I went out ... of

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his office, like confused, how

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I can get the shark. At that time you know, by the

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way, because in Sudan, not like in Egypt here, no

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shark attacks. And we never hear

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about that in the media. And even when as kids

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or young, when we go to beach, we

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just afraid of torpedo fish. We never think

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Torpedoes, yes. Because electricity. Yeah,

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yeah. So, yeah. Yeah,

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both my supervisor asked me to write

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a proposal. They say he agrees with the idea of Prof.

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Samir, of Youssef Abu Jaderi. And they

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asked me to write a proposal. I wrote the

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proposal. And then, Yeah,

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it was just because Rauf Abu Jidari was also

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a member at Persica, you know Persica of course, Persica. That

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countries, some countries that lie on Red

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Sea and Gulf of Aden, Sudan, Saudi Arabia,

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Yemen, Jordan, except Eritrea. He

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was a member and he knows at that time there is

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a problem with the shark. in the whole region.

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No information, no even identifying the

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species, no scientific study, and

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also even they don't know the status for

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even any information about the fisheries. But most

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of the country claims that there is overfishing. So

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that is why Prof. Bugidere suggested this study to

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me. And I got excited with it, actually. Though

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I was sad with the passing away, just a few days of

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my mother, but I think going

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to see the challenge I found, I faced

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during the study, yeah, was a cure for

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me, for my, for the pain of the loss. So,

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the... The objective, I

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remember, was just identification of species on

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the Red Sea, of shark, the Red Sea, and

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breeding season, breeding season. And Professor

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Semirani just suggested that I

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made a hostility on the gonads, he said, to confirm the

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breeding season. And

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I choose, I choose the Gray Reef shark, because

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also there is a problem ... with the tourist ... agencies,

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the tourist ... department. There

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is, they claim there is ... because it is important for the

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00:13:33,324 --> 00:13:36,785
tourist ... divers come for

202
00:13:37,506 --> 00:13:42,427
... to watch Gray Reef and Hammerhead. So, my

203
00:13:42,468 --> 00:13:45,690
study was, original one,

204
00:13:46,430 --> 00:13:50,093
the first ones in the Red Sea, and I think the

205
00:13:50,153 --> 00:13:53,376
whole, all the Red Sea, except after that the

206
00:13:53,416 --> 00:13:57,159
consultancy of Ramon Bonfils. Yeah,

207
00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:02,063
because he was a consultant after Persica. But

208
00:14:04,345 --> 00:14:08,108
I think my study was, I mean, for

209
00:14:08,429 --> 00:14:12,235
fisheries and biology was original one. And

210
00:14:12,275 --> 00:14:16,038
then, the problem was,

211
00:14:16,058 --> 00:14:19,280
at that time, there is

212
00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:23,483
claim, there is for fishing. And

213
00:14:23,503 --> 00:14:28,947
there is also, always, I

214
00:14:28,967 --> 00:14:32,572
mean, But there

215
00:14:32,632 --> 00:14:36,694
is no, I mean no, no information

216
00:14:37,395 --> 00:14:40,716
on the species or the status or anything. And there

217
00:14:40,776 --> 00:14:44,698
is also Marine Fisheries Administration

218
00:14:44,838 --> 00:14:48,400
always receive ... request

219
00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:52,322
for, for investors to,

220
00:14:53,502 --> 00:14:57,784
to conduct an, I mean, shark, commercial

221
00:14:57,824 --> 00:15:01,214
shark for free. and even from

222
00:15:01,474 --> 00:15:07,796
Yemen. Before

223
00:15:07,836 --> 00:15:12,237
I start the study there is a local order

224
00:15:13,337 --> 00:15:16,618
from the authority to ban fishing. That was in

225
00:15:16,658 --> 00:15:24,608
1998, even when I was a student. Yeah,

226
00:15:25,288 --> 00:15:28,951
but still it was on paper. Still

227
00:15:28,991 --> 00:15:33,293
there is poaching from foreign ports

228
00:15:33,973 --> 00:15:37,856
and illegal fishing from Sudan, also

229
00:15:37,916 --> 00:15:41,698
local fishermen. And so there is a lot of

230
00:15:41,758 --> 00:15:45,540
shark in the market, but finned, just

231
00:15:45,660 --> 00:15:49,102
shrunk. Yeah, just shrunk.

232
00:15:50,683 --> 00:15:54,212
Are you the first person really from Sudan to actually

233
00:15:54,553 --> 00:15:58,334
study sharks. I mean, I don't know anyone else. Are you the first person from

234
00:16:01,295 --> 00:16:04,596
You know, it is, it is, I

235
00:16:04,636 --> 00:16:07,990
mean, it is so that is still I'm the only one. I

236
00:16:08,030 --> 00:16:11,931
encourage a student. You're still the only one. I encourage students

237
00:16:11,991 --> 00:16:15,992
from our department, from the Marine Fisheries Science. Some

238
00:16:16,012 --> 00:16:19,953
start, but then quickly. One

239
00:16:19,973 --> 00:16:25,935
student told me, we need a quick career. Shark,

240
00:16:26,075 --> 00:16:30,196
yeah. Even in Sudan, you know. Even

241
00:16:30,256 --> 00:16:33,596
in Sudan, I think it's not easy. It's not easy.

242
00:16:33,837 --> 00:16:37,164
It's not easy. Right. I'm sure it must

243
00:16:37,184 --> 00:16:40,585
be difficult just so people, people. I

244
00:16:40,626 --> 00:16:43,947
didn't mention this earlier, but people listening at Igbo

245
00:16:43,987 --> 00:16:47,208
is we're doing this podcast. She's in Cairo, Egypt right

246
00:16:47,248 --> 00:16:51,409
now because she had to flee her home country, Sudan,

247
00:16:51,449 --> 00:16:54,990
because of the civil war. She ordinarily would be in in

248
00:16:55,050 --> 00:16:59,832
Khartoum, but she's had to leave the country. I assume

249
00:17:00,052 --> 00:17:03,441
that's had a lot of impact on. I'm

250
00:17:03,561 --> 00:17:06,924
sure just shark, shark, just fisheries in general, just

251
00:17:06,944 --> 00:17:10,207
the whole life and life in Sudan. The fact

252
00:17:10,227 --> 00:17:13,350
you you're having to do your courses from, from

253
00:17:15,612 --> 00:17:19,396
I'm not working here in Egypt because it's not easy. They

254
00:17:19,416 --> 00:17:23,059
don't, they don't allow for the Egyptian don't allow for

255
00:17:23,319 --> 00:17:27,142
foreigner to work even in any job. Yeah.

256
00:17:27,162 --> 00:17:30,281
Gotcha. So it's hard to get

257
00:17:32,642 --> 00:17:36,123
I have to stay here. I got to stay, but this

258
00:17:36,183 --> 00:17:39,585
is not my final destination. I'm going to Port Sudan

259
00:17:39,645 --> 00:17:43,406
in September. I have a project to continue. Port

260
00:17:44,547 --> 00:17:48,186
I have a project. Now, is it safe? Is

261
00:17:49,967 --> 00:17:55,490
It's very busy now after the war. Yes, it's an operational city

262
00:17:55,510 --> 00:17:59,512
that is now affected also by

263
00:17:59,532 --> 00:18:03,074
the war because many, many now leave Hortoum

264
00:18:03,154 --> 00:18:06,376
and central towns to go to Port

265
00:18:06,396 --> 00:18:09,517
Sudan because it's safe to work there. And now it

266
00:18:09,578 --> 00:18:12,839
is crowded. But life is going on,

267
00:18:18,419 --> 00:18:21,900
Can you talk a little, because Sudan is so far removed

268
00:18:21,940 --> 00:18:24,981
from most people, can you tell us

269
00:18:25,021 --> 00:18:28,462
just a little about your country, a little bit kind of before

270
00:18:28,503 --> 00:18:31,844
the war, and how it is, a little bit about your

271
00:18:32,519 --> 00:18:36,986
Yeah, before 2011, before

272
00:18:37,026 --> 00:18:40,411
the separation of the South from Sudan, yeah,

273
00:18:40,431 --> 00:18:44,497
it was the largest country in Africa, Sudan.

274
00:18:45,338 --> 00:18:50,536
And Sudan have fast fresh water. the

275
00:18:50,556 --> 00:18:54,918
Nile, and other rivers. The

276
00:18:55,018 --> 00:18:58,800
only sea is the Red

277
00:18:59,060 --> 00:19:02,461
Sea. But then have, I

278
00:19:02,501 --> 00:19:06,683
mean, wealth of animals also, wildlife,

279
00:19:07,063 --> 00:19:10,661
agriculture. very rich country in

280
00:19:11,221 --> 00:19:14,563
terms of resources, yeah. And we will have

281
00:19:14,623 --> 00:19:18,145
well-education from the past when the colonists,

282
00:19:19,406 --> 00:19:23,028
British colonists, yeah. And good universities, yeah,

283
00:19:23,088 --> 00:19:27,010
good universities. But then, but

284
00:19:27,050 --> 00:19:30,693
we, it was hard time because we saw I

285
00:19:30,733 --> 00:19:34,276
mean, last year

286
00:19:34,456 --> 00:19:37,879
before this war, because of some

287
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,684
economic crisis, or economic

288
00:19:42,784 --> 00:19:47,248
sanction also, and it's affected people very much. And

289
00:19:48,449 --> 00:19:51,692
suddenly, I think I

290
00:19:51,732 --> 00:19:55,916
will avoid talking on politics. Yeah.

291
00:19:56,532 --> 00:20:00,178
Yeah, no, that's fine. That's fine. But of course, the war affected the

292
00:20:00,198 --> 00:20:05,675
whole country. Very

293
00:20:05,755 --> 00:20:09,678
sad, yeah. Even the education, even the primary schools, many

294
00:20:10,099 --> 00:20:14,102
kids couldn't continue their education. Because

295
00:20:14,142 --> 00:20:17,604
the school is closed, except

296
00:20:17,645 --> 00:20:21,427
in Bursudan. And university, even our students, for

297
00:20:21,868 --> 00:20:25,370
one year, no classes. And now they are discussing

298
00:20:25,491 --> 00:20:29,792
to teach online. And expenses, everything

299
00:20:29,993 --> 00:20:33,793
is expensive, very expensive. Anyway,

300
00:20:34,533 --> 00:20:38,114
most of us can go to the Emirates or

301
00:20:38,274 --> 00:20:43,055
Egypt. Many,

302
00:20:43,115 --> 00:20:47,416
many. We thank the Egyptians.

303
00:20:47,436 --> 00:20:51,637
They are very welcoming. But we hope, the

304
00:20:51,677 --> 00:20:55,318
people here, we hope to go back to our country, of course. Yeah. Yeah.

305
00:20:55,998 --> 00:20:59,098
Yeah. Of course, of

306
00:20:59,438 --> 00:21:02,819
course. People complain about different

307
00:21:02,859 --> 00:21:06,821
things, but you're literally trying to do your shark research in

308
00:21:06,861 --> 00:21:10,122
a war zone. And the fact that you're

309
00:21:10,302 --> 00:21:13,922
continuing to do your research going to Port Sudan and And

310
00:21:14,182 --> 00:21:17,724
you're concerned about illegal thinning that's going

311
00:21:17,944 --> 00:21:21,406
on and just the shark research. Yeah.

312
00:21:21,487 --> 00:21:24,948
Even here in Egypt, I wrote a

313
00:21:25,049 --> 00:21:28,731
proposal for Manta

314
00:21:28,811 --> 00:21:33,313
and Donga Bay. And still, I hope we

315
00:21:33,333 --> 00:21:37,776
can find funding. Because in September,

316
00:21:37,816 --> 00:21:42,841
if I got the fund, yeah. It's

317
00:21:42,881 --> 00:21:47,164
good, yeah. Then you'll go back. Even I got... I'm

318
00:21:47,224 --> 00:21:50,847
going to continue my project with Marine

319
00:21:50,867 --> 00:21:55,033
Fisheries Administration on green sawfish. Yeah,

320
00:21:55,573 --> 00:21:58,775
I'm going, yeah, yeah, yeah. And while in

321
00:21:58,875 --> 00:22:02,136
Egypt here, I participated with the shark and ray

322
00:22:03,017 --> 00:22:06,158
And I proposed important shark and

323
00:22:15,102 --> 00:22:18,824
Yeah. And I proposed for... Oh,

324
00:22:19,124 --> 00:22:22,605
yes. Important. Yeah. And I wrote with

325
00:22:23,205 --> 00:22:26,947
Rhianne Charlies and

326
00:22:27,127 --> 00:22:31,148
it's accepted because I have a lot of data of

327
00:22:31,569 --> 00:22:35,050
all these years of working on shark and rays. Recently,

328
00:22:35,090 --> 00:22:38,451
I'm focusing on rays and I have a collaboration with...

329
00:22:39,712 --> 00:22:46,753
I did, yeah, with Nylar Gavin. Anyway,

330
00:22:47,014 --> 00:22:54,560
I'm working on R.A.S.E. now. Working

331
00:22:54,580 --> 00:22:59,023
on R.A.S.E.? Yeah. Now I'm focusing on R.A.S.E.

332
00:22:59,223 --> 00:23:03,266
Because even before the war in

333
00:23:03,407 --> 00:23:06,849
April, I was in Pursutan collecting data. And

334
00:23:06,909 --> 00:23:10,850
I'm eager to go back, longing to go back, to continue even

335
00:23:10,930 --> 00:23:14,491
this, yeah. So, for my journey

336
00:23:14,551 --> 00:23:18,012
for the Master, it wasn't easy at

337
00:23:18,232 --> 00:23:21,673
all. Because at that time, a lot

338
00:23:21,713 --> 00:23:25,274
of sharks, and even I have to mention Christina Maria,

339
00:23:26,134 --> 00:23:31,195
the Italian who have an

340
00:23:31,295 --> 00:23:35,548
agency, tourism agency in Bursudan. Her

341
00:23:35,588 --> 00:23:39,070
husband and she, she always, I met

342
00:23:39,110 --> 00:23:42,432
her, now she back to Italy. She spent

343
00:23:42,532 --> 00:23:45,894
many years in Sudan. She make a lot of,

344
00:23:46,194 --> 00:23:50,677
I mean, defense for shark. Yeah,

345
00:23:51,037 --> 00:23:55,480
I always see her in the fish market when I was gone there.

346
00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:00,042
Always angry when she see all this, I

347
00:24:00,082 --> 00:24:03,587
mean, many, many shark. Sometimes she call police

348
00:24:04,688 --> 00:24:08,072
and then just next day there is

349
00:24:08,212 --> 00:24:12,697
shark. And for me to collect the data, there

350
00:24:12,757 --> 00:24:16,921
is just trunk, trunk with only second

351
00:24:16,941 --> 00:24:20,713
dorsal fin and anal fin. And

352
00:24:21,554 --> 00:24:25,398
sometimes there is a bycatch for

353
00:24:25,719 --> 00:24:29,783
small, for a small shark, like a slit-eye shark. Now,

354
00:24:30,343 --> 00:24:33,546
no slit-eye shark at the market. I don't see it. It's

355
00:24:34,087 --> 00:24:37,250
not coming now. No. No, no. There's a lot of

356
00:24:37,310 --> 00:24:40,553
milk shark still. So, or spot tail

357
00:24:40,593 --> 00:24:44,657
shark, white tip reef shark. they

358
00:24:45,598 --> 00:24:49,021
brought as a whole, and I know this is by catch, not

359
00:24:49,061 --> 00:24:53,245
professional. But for professional fishermen, a

360
00:24:53,365 --> 00:24:57,589
lot of large, and also juveniles, sometimes

361
00:24:57,629 --> 00:25:01,132
juveniles brought as a whole. So my problem,

362
00:25:01,793 --> 00:25:06,997
I haven't attend, I mean, identification,

363
00:25:07,538 --> 00:25:11,142
shark identification training, And

364
00:25:11,182 --> 00:25:15,786
there is no literature, there is no literature also in

365
00:25:15,846 --> 00:25:18,948
the Library of the Red Sea or even in

366
00:25:19,068 --> 00:25:23,151
FAO Library in Khortoum. So,

367
00:25:23,492 --> 00:25:27,895
I reached out, yeah, I reached out to Ross Chaton at

368
00:25:27,935 --> 00:25:31,097
that time. I don't know him, but I read the

369
00:25:31,138 --> 00:25:34,240
name in FAO website and I

370
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,903
wrote to him, I'm a student doing this, but

371
00:25:37,983 --> 00:25:41,653
I don't have a literature. Kindly

372
00:25:41,693 --> 00:25:45,478
he sent, he sent literature like a

373
00:25:45,498 --> 00:25:49,102
publication, I mean like a case study of fisheries management,

374
00:25:49,122 --> 00:25:52,586
shark management, to big volume, yeah,

375
00:25:53,066 --> 00:25:56,230
to the library of the Red Sea and to

376
00:25:56,250 --> 00:26:01,408
the library of FAO. Yeah, and

377
00:26:01,428 --> 00:26:04,590
some publications, like a review of a

378
00:26:04,630 --> 00:26:07,952
word, the famous one by

379
00:26:08,012 --> 00:26:11,614
Ramón, in 1994. Ramón, yeah,

380
00:26:11,974 --> 00:26:15,837
he sent this also. And for

381
00:26:15,857 --> 00:26:19,339
the identification I found one guide,

382
00:26:19,619 --> 00:26:27,399
first edition of Leonardo You

383
00:26:27,419 --> 00:26:30,780
know him? Sorry. Who is

384
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,482
it? From South-West Africa. It's one of the guidebooks,

385
00:26:39,124 --> 00:26:42,806
Yes, Leonard Capanio. Okay. Yeah. First edition,

386
00:26:42,866 --> 00:26:46,908
I think. I found it in the library of Pau. But

387
00:26:47,008 --> 00:26:50,289
it was good, of course, but not

388
00:26:52,522 --> 00:26:55,887
I just want to let people know, FAO is

389
00:26:55,947 --> 00:27:00,093
another way of pronouncing it, FAO, which is a food and agriculture organization.

390
00:27:03,178 --> 00:27:09,176
No, no, most people call it, outside like the U.S. Everybody

391
00:27:09,216 --> 00:27:12,499
calls it FAO, but in the U.S. we call it FAO, so I just wanted to make sure people

392
00:27:15,181 --> 00:27:18,984
Thank you, because in Sudan we say FAO. Thank

393
00:27:19,845 --> 00:27:23,488
Yeah, no, I know. I

394
00:27:24,889 --> 00:27:28,652
And I, in the Library of the University of the

395
00:27:28,692 --> 00:27:33,876
College of Marine Science, I found identification

396
00:27:34,436 --> 00:27:38,662
guide for Arabian shark. by

397
00:27:43,948 --> 00:27:47,552
Randall. It was, it was very useful for me. Yeah.

398
00:27:48,834 --> 00:27:53,155
Very useful. Okay. Because it have image. image,

399
00:27:53,516 --> 00:27:56,738
I think image is ... yeah, is

400
00:27:56,778 --> 00:28:00,501
good than drawing. Drawing is good, yeah, but for the beginner or

401
00:28:00,961 --> 00:28:04,123
one who train himself, I think image is, could be,

402
00:28:04,143 --> 00:28:07,586
I mean, when comparisons, compares

403
00:28:07,626 --> 00:28:11,288
this with ... a life, I mean, life shark or ... and

404
00:28:11,388 --> 00:28:14,891
even in the guides also say teeth, the teeth ... for

405
00:28:14,911 --> 00:28:18,133
the shark. The

406
00:28:18,173 --> 00:28:21,436
teeth, yeah. the teeth. Yeah. And for

407
00:28:21,536 --> 00:28:24,940
two, for two months, I work on this, train

408
00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:29,046
myself to identify shark. And

409
00:28:29,186 --> 00:28:32,620
I, I think There is something I

410
00:28:32,700 --> 00:28:36,081
enjoyed very much. And I think now I

411
00:28:36,121 --> 00:28:39,442
have experience on it. And I can do training for

412
00:28:39,502 --> 00:28:42,703
this, particularly for shark in

413
00:28:42,783 --> 00:28:47,604
Sudan and Eritrea. Because even in Eritrea, same

414
00:28:47,744 --> 00:28:50,885
like in Sudan, they brought the shark as

415
00:28:50,945 --> 00:28:54,846
a trunk without fins. And there

416
00:28:54,906 --> 00:28:58,367
is illegal fishing also. There is a pond, but illegal fishing

417
00:28:58,387 --> 00:29:03,069
like in Sudan. So, I just start

418
00:29:03,089 --> 00:29:07,191
to study the position of the dorsal, second

419
00:29:07,211 --> 00:29:11,033
dorsal fin, to the anal fin, and as a

420
00:29:11,073 --> 00:29:14,754
remark on the, on the body, like ... brown, brown

421
00:29:15,395 --> 00:29:18,736
lines, like in the sunburst shark, or the notch

422
00:29:18,976 --> 00:29:22,638
of the anal fin, like in the big eye shark, or

423
00:29:23,198 --> 00:29:26,740
inter-dorsal, inter-dorsal reach,

424
00:29:27,420 --> 00:29:31,001
some have and some, that was very useful, yeah.

425
00:29:31,381 --> 00:29:35,143
And took, I took video, videos and I took video,

426
00:29:35,283 --> 00:29:38,925
I mean, photos of, of,

427
00:29:39,405 --> 00:29:42,766
of the second dorsal fin and anal fin,

428
00:29:43,546 --> 00:29:47,348
yeah. ... That was very

429
00:29:47,408 --> 00:29:51,930
useful, yeah. And then, and even ... later,

430
00:29:54,496 --> 00:29:59,478
I tested myself when the sample

431
00:30:00,679 --> 00:30:04,160
I brought to the safe overseas, it

432
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,702
just shrunk. And I wrote, this is big eye shark,

433
00:30:08,162 --> 00:30:11,283
big eye shark. And they turned to

434
00:30:11,303 --> 00:30:15,385
be, after the genetic work, yeah, this is hammer,

435
00:30:15,925 --> 00:30:19,587
great hammerhead or smooth,

436
00:30:19,767 --> 00:30:23,653
I mean, great hammer or scalloped. In

437
00:30:23,673 --> 00:30:26,916
the lab, they work

438
00:30:27,036 --> 00:30:31,439
on 78 sharks,

439
00:30:31,659 --> 00:30:34,801
hammerhead, that I identified from the trunk as

440
00:30:35,182 --> 00:30:39,525
great hammerhead, and turned to be great hammerhead. I

441
00:30:39,565 --> 00:30:43,108
was... I love... I found it... Pardon?

442
00:30:44,148 --> 00:30:48,191
I enjoyed it very much, to identify shark

443
00:30:50,814 --> 00:30:53,976
Have you thought about trying to produce a guide, to try

444
00:30:56,378 --> 00:31:00,241
Yes, yes. Thank you for this question very much because

445
00:31:00,261 --> 00:31:04,424
I was thinking of

446
00:31:04,464 --> 00:31:09,423
this and I found it very useful. a

447
00:31:09,463 --> 00:31:13,866
whole in northern Yemen or southern Yemen, they

448
00:31:14,346 --> 00:31:18,329
brought the shark as a whole. But in Eritrea, I

449
00:31:18,369 --> 00:31:21,972
have contact with the research on

450
00:31:22,012 --> 00:31:26,394
shark, research from Eritrea, from marine faculty

451
00:31:26,515 --> 00:31:31,938
and from fisheries department. When you talk about this,

452
00:31:32,439 --> 00:31:35,801
they need this here. And in Sudan, because it

453
00:31:36,581 --> 00:31:40,261
is not It's not practical

454
00:31:41,202 --> 00:31:44,504
just to take a tissue, I mean as

455
00:31:44,524 --> 00:31:49,647
a record for the Marine Fisheries Administration. It's

456
00:31:49,667 --> 00:31:53,089
not practical to take a tissue and send it to a genetic

457
00:31:53,169 --> 00:31:56,196
lab. And to say this is a

458
00:31:56,316 --> 00:31:59,980
sand bar or a

459
00:32:00,260 --> 00:32:03,664
big eye shark, nose shark, this is

460
00:32:03,784 --> 00:32:07,367
good for research, but for record for fisheries

461
00:32:07,447 --> 00:32:11,972
administration, the practical things is

462
00:32:12,232 --> 00:32:15,705
from traditional I

463
00:32:15,745 --> 00:32:19,726
think that, yeah. Training on the traditional procedure

464
00:32:19,826 --> 00:32:23,107
to identify shark. Yeah. So, I

465
00:32:23,127 --> 00:32:27,748
wrote to Persica about this. Yeah.

466
00:32:34,650 --> 00:32:38,651
Persica is regional countries

467
00:32:38,831 --> 00:32:43,133
of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden organization.

468
00:32:43,473 --> 00:32:47,251
Okay. So, at that time, yeah,

469
00:32:48,192 --> 00:32:53,078
in 9... in 2... in 2012, I

470
00:32:53,318 --> 00:32:57,302
taught ... training ... course, workshop

471
00:32:57,643 --> 00:33:03,020
for the officers from Marine Fisheries Administration. And

472
00:33:04,161 --> 00:33:07,463
yeah, I trained them on, theoretically, on the

473
00:33:07,503 --> 00:33:11,265
whole shark, yeah. Because we don't find, normally,

474
00:33:11,965 --> 00:33:15,187
whole shark. But I focus on this, what I

475
00:33:15,748 --> 00:33:18,929
did. Yeah, on

476
00:33:18,969 --> 00:33:22,211
this feature, yes. Yeah, and most

477
00:33:22,271 --> 00:33:26,574
of them were so excited. And they have exams, also

478
00:33:26,754 --> 00:33:31,276
senior, junior and senior officers, from

479
00:33:31,336 --> 00:33:36,702
the administration. It

480
00:33:36,742 --> 00:33:40,183
was very useful. At that time, because I prepared, I

481
00:33:40,443 --> 00:33:44,044
did hard for preparation for the workshop, and

482
00:33:44,084 --> 00:33:47,905
I found, even they asked me to do in Arabic. And

483
00:33:47,945 --> 00:33:51,086
I found it, I have a material, so I wrote to

484
00:33:51,146 --> 00:33:54,208
Persica. I

485
00:33:54,248 --> 00:33:57,850
have material for this, and there is need for

486
00:33:58,230 --> 00:34:01,492
shark record, and because of the problem of

487
00:34:02,032 --> 00:34:06,755
you couldn't find a shark

488
00:34:06,855 --> 00:34:10,317
as a whole to identify. So, they say good, they

489
00:34:10,337 --> 00:34:15,159
say no. I didn't hear. But

490
00:34:19,601 --> 00:34:23,560
Okay, yeah. So, are you still... Do

491
00:34:23,580 --> 00:34:26,682
you still try, so you're going, you're doing, you're surveying Port Sudan, do you

492
00:34:26,702 --> 00:34:30,445
still survey some of the other countries there, like Eritrea

493
00:34:30,485 --> 00:34:33,667
and some of the other places, do you still go, go to those locations to

494
00:34:37,709 --> 00:34:41,692
Yeah, but you know, if you let

495
00:34:41,732 --> 00:34:45,555
me just continue on,

496
00:34:46,975 --> 00:34:50,778
how I collect data for the... can I... can I do? For

497
00:34:50,798 --> 00:34:54,601
the Master? Yeah. Yes, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Thank

498
00:34:54,621 --> 00:34:57,923
you, thank you. At that time, for

499
00:34:58,003 --> 00:35:01,466
two months I couldn't find... find data,

500
00:35:01,526 --> 00:35:05,649
just for bycatch. And then, and this

501
00:35:05,749 --> 00:35:09,292
is from that I mean... Okay,

502
00:35:10,172 --> 00:35:14,830
I... I could say, this is... gray

503
00:35:14,850 --> 00:35:18,792
reef sharks, but I need to confirmation, yeah,

504
00:35:19,692 --> 00:35:23,794
to say there is a shark like this in the Red Sea. At

505
00:35:23,854 --> 00:35:27,976
that time, with this situation, I

506
00:35:27,996 --> 00:35:32,277
knew, I heard there is three, three, three

507
00:35:32,437 --> 00:35:36,519
vessels are coming, have

508
00:35:36,559 --> 00:35:40,120
come, that had come from South Africa to

509
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,849
invest in Sudan. one person for sardine

510
00:35:43,929 --> 00:35:47,712
and one long line for to

511
00:35:47,732 --> 00:35:51,654
invest in tuna. And the other one,

512
00:35:51,814 --> 00:35:55,817
I don't remember which, anyway, and

513
00:35:55,857 --> 00:35:59,059
they stay in a resort and there

514
00:35:59,119 --> 00:36:02,541
is inlet. The boats were there

515
00:36:02,761 --> 00:36:06,523
till they got the final permission

516
00:36:06,563 --> 00:36:10,146
to work, to go to Burslan to resume the

517
00:36:10,166 --> 00:36:16,178
work. The long-line vessels went

518
00:36:16,398 --> 00:36:19,681
to sea and illegally fished for

519
00:36:19,721 --> 00:36:23,804
shark. They fished from offshore

520
00:36:23,904 --> 00:36:27,788
water that fishermen couldn't

521
00:36:28,108 --> 00:36:32,112
reach it because of the

522
00:36:32,572 --> 00:36:36,115
pot. This is a long vessel, I mean big vessels with

523
00:36:36,175 --> 00:36:39,877
long lines. big

524
00:36:40,377 --> 00:36:43,999
hoax. So the marine security,

525
00:36:44,159 --> 00:36:47,580
quite same. There is lots of

526
00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:52,362
fins. And then there is

527
00:36:52,862 --> 00:36:56,404
a committee from the research center, faculty of science, and

528
00:36:56,584 --> 00:37:00,545
marine administration. And then they say, no, our

529
00:37:00,665 --> 00:37:03,747
aim is to invest in tuna. This is

530
00:37:03,807 --> 00:37:08,543
just we do it. And because they I

531
00:37:08,603 --> 00:37:11,966
mean, the license for the investment was from

532
00:37:12,166 --> 00:37:15,949
higher, not from the administration, from

533
00:37:15,989 --> 00:37:19,631
the Ministry of Investment. So they just pass

534
00:37:19,691 --> 00:37:23,734
it and start

535
00:37:23,754 --> 00:37:27,377
the work. And I talked to my supervisor, I

536
00:37:27,397 --> 00:37:31,803
said, It is better to get

537
00:37:31,863 --> 00:37:35,664
a permission to accompany the boat. They

538
00:37:35,684 --> 00:37:39,885
say they are going for tuna, but

539
00:37:40,285 --> 00:37:45,907
even though I expect with long line, there

540
00:37:46,487 --> 00:37:49,970
must be shark. And

541
00:37:50,050 --> 00:37:53,412
shark, not that shark normally found in

542
00:37:53,552 --> 00:37:57,233
the sea, in the fish market. I expect migratory shark.

543
00:37:58,033 --> 00:38:01,695
I expect. And even from the things I saw when

544
00:38:02,475 --> 00:38:06,897
the police caught it, there is,

545
00:38:07,597 --> 00:38:11,919
I mean, migratory shark. Mako, white tip, great

546
00:38:12,419 --> 00:38:15,893
oceanic white tip shark. Yeah, so

547
00:38:16,073 --> 00:38:19,875
to get the permission, yeah, I got the permission. The

548
00:38:19,955 --> 00:38:23,696
Sudanese, the Sudanese manager, the

549
00:38:23,736 --> 00:38:27,618
Sudanese and the translator who came from Spain.

550
00:38:27,958 --> 00:38:31,920
This is Spanish, Spanish ports. work

551
00:38:32,041 --> 00:38:35,282
for many times in South Africa, but then they

552
00:38:35,322 --> 00:38:38,544
moved to Sudan. The translator Sudanese who live in

553
00:38:38,764 --> 00:38:42,426
Spanish were very supportive. They

554
00:38:42,446 --> 00:38:46,329
talked to the director of the Spanish company, and they said they

555
00:38:47,309 --> 00:38:50,811
will allow me to accompany the

556
00:38:50,851 --> 00:38:54,433
ship. And I got, they said, I mean,

557
00:38:54,593 --> 00:38:57,835
I got the final permission from the Ministry of Agriculture in Sudan.

558
00:38:59,554 --> 00:39:03,015
And my supervisor was so excited for the idea.

559
00:39:04,175 --> 00:39:07,616
Yes. And I did three trips. They said, we

560
00:39:07,696 --> 00:39:12,638
are going for tuna. But unfortunately,

561
00:39:12,918 --> 00:39:17,019
there is no tuna, even a commercial tuna in the Red Sea.

562
00:39:17,259 --> 00:39:21,100
I think, I think, yeah. So,

563
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:26,775
we did three trips. And the challenge was, No,

564
00:39:27,935 --> 00:39:31,536
no woman, no girl accompany, I

565
00:39:31,976 --> 00:39:35,677
mean, fishing, fishing boat at that time. And

566
00:39:35,817 --> 00:39:39,358
even one woman among men,

567
00:39:39,838 --> 00:39:43,119
no. This is even for a conservative city like

568
00:39:43,179 --> 00:39:46,700
Barcelona, particularly at that time. So,

569
00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:51,182
I remember ... one

570
00:39:51,262 --> 00:39:55,305
from a company that ... expect

571
00:39:55,325 --> 00:39:58,628
the safety of the fish, of the ship, say to

572
00:39:58,668 --> 00:40:01,850
me, it was just ... we

573
00:40:01,890 --> 00:40:06,214
were traveling, next day, he said to me, your

574
00:40:06,274 --> 00:40:09,456
family don't ... care about you, I

575
00:40:09,476 --> 00:40:12,779
said, why? He said, this is a very

576
00:40:12,899 --> 00:40:16,768
old, very old ship. There

577
00:40:16,808 --> 00:40:20,189
is risk because the skipper or the captain don't

578
00:40:20,229 --> 00:40:23,551
know the way, I mean, to

579
00:40:23,611 --> 00:40:27,092
avoid the Kuala Reef. Even just Sudanese can

580
00:40:27,292 --> 00:40:30,673
know this. There will be an accident. You don't see

581
00:40:30,713 --> 00:40:33,954
that boats that have an accident, the

582
00:40:33,994 --> 00:40:38,136
third one, and just because there is a hole. Now

583
00:40:38,176 --> 00:40:41,397
it's out of work. I

584
00:40:41,437 --> 00:40:45,166
think I talked to my sister,

585
00:40:45,447 --> 00:40:49,631
my late sister. I am going for

586
00:40:49,651 --> 00:40:52,954
this trip. And she said, no, no, no, no, please,

587
00:40:53,034 --> 00:40:57,279
no. She was in Dubai at that time. Don't go. Because

588
00:40:57,579 --> 00:41:00,942
it is fine to

589
00:41:01,002 --> 00:41:04,833
die on land, not in sea. eaten

590
00:41:04,853 --> 00:41:08,116
by a shark or don't find your

591
00:41:08,156 --> 00:41:11,498
body. My elder sister said, go, God is with you.

592
00:41:12,159 --> 00:41:16,042
So this encouraged me to go. I wasn't afraid, actually.

593
00:41:16,062 --> 00:41:19,545
I wasn't afraid. I was excited to do my research. So

594
00:41:19,805 --> 00:41:23,267
one thing I was worried about is a

595
00:41:23,368 --> 00:41:26,950
woman on a boat with

596
00:41:27,050 --> 00:41:30,873
men. For me, it's fine. I'm a researcher. But

597
00:41:30,933 --> 00:41:35,599
it's not normal for the community there. I

598
00:41:35,619 --> 00:41:39,141
remember when I let

599
00:41:39,161 --> 00:41:43,264
her go on the boat, and the Sudanese

600
00:41:43,304 --> 00:41:46,526
translator was with me, talked to

601
00:41:46,546 --> 00:41:49,908
the workers, the Sudanese workers. There is Spanish

602
00:41:49,948 --> 00:41:53,270
and Sudanese workers. They said, take care of her. And

603
00:41:53,490 --> 00:41:57,073
I know I could take care of myself, but

604
00:41:57,113 --> 00:42:01,655
thank you for him, for his caring. Yeah. So

605
00:42:02,796 --> 00:42:06,672
just one day, The ship hit

606
00:42:06,692 --> 00:42:10,934
the Kola Reef. And

607
00:42:10,974 --> 00:42:14,276
we come back to Bursudan. Next day, just

608
00:42:14,376 --> 00:42:17,558
two days, Jack on board and got again to

609
00:42:17,578 --> 00:42:21,280
the sea. And then there's a

610
00:42:21,580 --> 00:42:25,002
few many, I mean, oceanic white tip

611
00:42:25,062 --> 00:42:28,724
shark, meko shark, tiger shark,

612
00:42:29,504 --> 00:42:33,927
and large silky

613
00:42:33,947 --> 00:42:37,613
shark. Silky shards, yeah.

614
00:42:38,154 --> 00:42:42,775
Silky shards. Yeah, it is painful to see this very... I

615
00:42:42,975 --> 00:42:46,876
never saw this, I mean, I think maximum, maximum

616
00:42:46,916 --> 00:42:50,777
size. Yeah. And, I

617
00:42:50,797 --> 00:42:53,978
did, I mean ... feed, food and

618
00:42:53,998 --> 00:42:58,560
feeding habit. Because they, because they ... they

619
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:01,721
take ... they take the liver, they take the

620
00:43:01,741 --> 00:43:04,882
liver and just throw the meat, throw the meat, throw the

621
00:43:04,902 --> 00:43:08,253
meat, throw the meat, yeah. So this was

622
00:43:08,393 --> 00:43:11,595
an opportunity, though it is painful. No

623
00:43:11,655 --> 00:43:15,197
one wants a shark to die, but

624
00:43:15,237 --> 00:43:18,639
yeah. I did, yeah, I

625
00:43:18,659 --> 00:43:22,782
mean, food and feeding habits. I mean, food, I

626
00:43:22,822 --> 00:43:26,344
mean, stomach content, I mean. For tiger sharks.

627
00:43:26,364 --> 00:43:30,266
Stomach content, yeah. Yeah, mackerel shark and all. Just

628
00:43:30,347 --> 00:43:33,549
four, four species. And for

629
00:43:33,609 --> 00:43:36,697
me, it was, yeah, All

630
00:43:36,757 --> 00:43:39,900
of this, like, yeah. Just I

631
00:43:39,940 --> 00:43:43,323
was astonished to find garbage in

632
00:43:43,343 --> 00:43:47,747
the stomach of tiger shark. Cans. Found

633
00:43:47,787 --> 00:43:52,491
garbage. Old wallet. Passport, yeah.

634
00:43:52,931 --> 00:43:56,554
But also, yeah, turtle, sea turtle, yeah. Or

635
00:43:58,416 --> 00:44:01,739
Yeah, I don't know. You're quite a

636
00:44:01,819 --> 00:44:05,284
unique person being I say you're quite unique

637
00:44:05,304 --> 00:44:08,586
in that you were the first one to start doing, to

638
00:44:08,646 --> 00:44:12,248
research in a, especially with being a woman in

639
00:44:12,348 --> 00:44:16,011
a, in a very male oriented society to do, to do study

640
00:44:16,071 --> 00:44:19,633
sharks and then to be able to go out on, on boats to

641
00:44:19,693 --> 00:44:23,275
continue your studies out there. It must've been, and

642
00:44:23,295 --> 00:44:26,757
there's nobody that's done any work. It's gotta be like, you're really,

643
00:44:29,766 --> 00:44:33,230
Thank you. I remember, this is the second trip,

644
00:44:34,712 --> 00:44:37,975
just I was, I thank the

645
00:44:38,596 --> 00:44:42,180
Sudanese and the Spanish companies that because they gave

646
00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:45,624
me a room, separate room and even there is, yeah,

647
00:44:46,605 --> 00:44:50,280
and at night, one night, I

648
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:54,024
think that was the last day of the trip. At

649
00:44:54,104 --> 00:44:57,547
night I was just sitting at the deck and

650
00:44:57,767 --> 00:45:02,831
watching the waves. Suddenly there's darkness and

651
00:45:02,912 --> 00:45:08,117
people come from up there, my room is there. in

652
00:45:08,137 --> 00:45:11,239
the first floor, the port. They come with the

653
00:45:11,299 --> 00:45:15,021
Russians, the captain and the engineering.

654
00:45:15,742 --> 00:45:19,544
They say, there is a big problem, a big problem. Sudanese

655
00:45:19,584 --> 00:45:23,046
engineering was so frightened. He

656
00:45:23,086 --> 00:45:27,309
said, it is better to go out, because

657
00:45:27,569 --> 00:45:31,231
we, we, we may, there is a problem with the engine. We

658
00:45:31,271 --> 00:45:34,813
may, the port may sink. or

659
00:45:35,354 --> 00:45:38,576
hit by other boats, because we are

660
00:45:38,876 --> 00:45:42,758
in the main channel and there is no light. It

661
00:45:42,778 --> 00:45:45,960
was horrible times here. But then they

662
00:45:46,020 --> 00:45:49,663
fix the problems and we go in the

663
00:45:49,703 --> 00:45:53,065
morning back to the port of Sudan. I don't want to, yes, this

664
00:45:53,705 --> 00:45:57,128
is just the last trip was

665
00:45:59,790 --> 00:46:03,693
... as the last day also, there was, in the

666
00:46:03,733 --> 00:46:07,455
morning, when they set the line, ... the

667
00:46:07,475 --> 00:46:11,177
weather was so nice, breeze,

668
00:46:11,357 --> 00:46:14,739
fresh breeze, and people were happy, and

669
00:46:14,759 --> 00:46:18,161
the Spanish ... one of the Spanish crew, crew

670
00:46:18,721 --> 00:46:22,363
was sinking in Spanish, and, and then, just

671
00:46:22,563 --> 00:46:25,705
appeared all, you know, all, as I

672
00:46:25,745 --> 00:46:30,187
pronounce it correctly, Owl,

673
00:46:30,447 --> 00:46:34,049
owl, owl pet, owl pet, owl,

674
00:46:35,670 --> 00:46:39,452
owl pet. Some people ... treat

675
00:46:46,275 --> 00:46:50,277
Owl fish, yeah. When it come, suddenly show

676
00:46:50,397 --> 00:46:53,619
up, and stand on the ... on

677
00:46:53,639 --> 00:46:57,541
the boat, and some becoming like ... Oh,

678
00:46:57,561 --> 00:47:01,719
this is will bring bad luck for us. And

679
00:47:01,739 --> 00:47:05,041
there is... yeah. And

680
00:47:05,301 --> 00:47:09,883
some people say, no, this is just superstition.

681
00:47:10,103 --> 00:47:13,684
And suddenly the captain, he is from

682
00:47:14,685 --> 00:47:18,126
Chile, I remember, came and just, he hot tempered,

683
00:47:18,687 --> 00:47:22,088
he just made a fight, a harsh talk with

684
00:47:22,148 --> 00:47:27,711
two, two aircrafts, and suddenly the happiness turned

685
00:47:27,751 --> 00:47:31,132
to be on him, just silent and angry. And

686
00:47:31,152 --> 00:47:36,553
then, in the night, the captain

687
00:47:36,633 --> 00:47:40,114
received a call from the other port. The

688
00:47:40,134 --> 00:47:43,595
captain had a heart stroke. And

689
00:47:43,615 --> 00:47:47,096
we have to go and pull the... Yeah, and

690
00:47:47,116 --> 00:47:50,277
we have to go and pull the port. And there

691
00:47:50,317 --> 00:47:53,638
is a problem with the engine also. We go and...

692
00:47:54,585 --> 00:47:57,947
I remember, it was time to do this

693
00:47:58,027 --> 00:48:01,409
and to fix that. And ... I

694
00:48:01,429 --> 00:48:04,872
remember when they want to, I mean, trying to pull the port to

695
00:48:04,892 --> 00:48:08,194
the other port and the port is swing from side to

696
00:48:08,234 --> 00:48:12,537
side and, and I saw the water from the window ... very

697
00:48:12,597 --> 00:48:15,899
high. Next day we

698
00:48:15,939 --> 00:48:19,201
go back, that was the last one, the last, the

699
00:48:19,241 --> 00:48:23,105
third one was the last trip. You go back down, fortunately

700
00:48:23,225 --> 00:48:26,526
the captain was okay and he left to Spain.

701
00:48:28,267 --> 00:48:32,349
So, it didn't

702
00:48:32,549 --> 00:48:37,311
take a long time, I heard about illegal

703
00:48:37,351 --> 00:48:40,912
fishing from two boats. Fishing

704
00:48:40,992 --> 00:48:45,754
is a southern coast. ... yeah,

705
00:48:46,414 --> 00:48:50,356
the police cost ... quoted them, and there was 5 ton of

706
00:48:54,438 --> 00:48:57,620
Yeah. And ... one,

707
00:48:57,780 --> 00:49:01,542
one fisherman bought ... he bought ... the

708
00:49:01,602 --> 00:49:05,244
shark, and it was a chance also

709
00:49:05,264 --> 00:49:08,645
to work on these 5 tons, in a summer,

710
00:49:09,226 --> 00:49:13,293
to work on 5 tons in a summer, And

711
00:49:13,673 --> 00:49:17,078
... also a fasting, it was a fasting month I remember,

712
00:49:17,098 --> 00:49:26,530
and it was ... I

713
00:49:26,570 --> 00:49:31,296
mean, the health... The department of

714
00:49:31,356 --> 00:49:34,580
health at that time, they said for the fishermen, you have

715
00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:38,305
to take this in a neighboring fish, neighboring

716
00:49:38,405 --> 00:49:42,190
hood, fish as a piece, mainly

717
00:49:42,230 --> 00:49:45,650
for healthy reasons. and

718
00:49:46,151 --> 00:49:49,954
all the people from the neighborhood come out. Many never

719
00:49:50,154 --> 00:49:54,217
saw shark. Kids, women, men, yeah.

720
00:49:55,037 --> 00:49:58,200
I've gone to air consist and there is

721
00:49:58,420 --> 00:50:02,603
a student from secondary schools also among

722
00:50:03,324 --> 00:50:07,065
people and I asked them to

723
00:50:07,505 --> 00:50:11,106
record for me. Because I have to work fast,

724
00:50:11,266 --> 00:50:14,907
in hurry. Because there is a processor, fish processor from

725
00:50:14,927 --> 00:50:18,248
the fish market. They work on cut, on hurry,

726
00:50:18,548 --> 00:50:22,589
and ... anyway, I collect ... yes, data

727
00:50:22,770 --> 00:50:25,890
on ... statistic data, or

728
00:50:26,150 --> 00:50:29,331
even for ... life history, I

729
00:50:29,371 --> 00:50:32,932
mean ... characteristic ... very

730
00:50:32,952 --> 00:50:37,503
hard work, from morning to Lion.

731
00:50:41,230 --> 00:50:44,912
Yeah, and then, in, in

732
00:50:44,972 --> 00:50:48,273
December also, there is a, also, this was,

733
00:50:48,433 --> 00:50:52,055
that was in August, and in December, another two birds,

734
00:50:52,655 --> 00:50:56,097
were caught from the North Stream caught. This is another area.

735
00:50:56,677 --> 00:51:00,059
That is why I know, I add a chapter for

736
00:51:00,119 --> 00:51:04,280
my Master, for my thesis, Geographical Distribution.

737
00:51:04,981 --> 00:51:08,502
Because I know, with shark and ... from South

738
00:51:08,542 --> 00:51:12,211
and from the North. And same hard work,

739
00:51:12,512 --> 00:51:15,774
and yeah, yeah. But that is just a joke, a

740
00:51:15,834 --> 00:51:19,297
joke. Okay, thank you. Sorry,

741
00:51:21,318 --> 00:51:24,541
No, I was going to say... Yeah, continue. No, I was going to say...

742
00:51:24,641 --> 00:51:28,564
I was going to say when... So, all

743
00:51:28,604 --> 00:51:32,207
this stuff now, you're going to go back in September to see what's... to

744
00:51:32,287 --> 00:51:35,889
follow up on all this, with the finning and the sharks, now

745
00:51:40,562 --> 00:51:44,604
There is other, I mean, a new thing because

746
00:51:44,664 --> 00:51:48,046
of the law, yeah. At

747
00:51:48,086 --> 00:51:51,967
that time, it's still local order. And

748
00:51:52,047 --> 00:51:56,069
I, even when I, I mean, defend

749
00:51:56,109 --> 00:51:59,711
my thesis, I still continue working

750
00:52:00,451 --> 00:52:03,873
from my salary. Whenever I go to Wurzlan, I go to the course

751
00:52:04,013 --> 00:52:07,204
and I, Lot of research, just on the search of

752
00:52:07,244 --> 00:52:10,750
sharks, but I work hard for awareness campaign

753
00:52:11,451 --> 00:52:17,060
amongst the fishermen, by myself, without

754
00:52:17,601 --> 00:52:21,321
... I mean fund from any, any, any agency. I

755
00:52:21,341 --> 00:52:25,002
go to South African and the North, in the fish market, collecting

756
00:52:25,042 --> 00:52:29,584
data or talking with people. And there is positive, positive

757
00:52:29,604 --> 00:52:32,986
stories. I don't want a lot of bread for the, because of the time.

758
00:52:33,706 --> 00:52:37,187
Positive stories, there is a

759
00:52:37,567 --> 00:52:41,309
shark, one fisherman who

760
00:52:42,129 --> 00:52:45,570
fish for shark, he quit it. He's, he's,

761
00:52:45,870 --> 00:52:49,012
yeah. He told me, generally, I

762
00:52:50,923 --> 00:52:55,046
I was going to say, this has been fascinating, hearing

763
00:52:55,087 --> 00:52:58,369
your story and what you're doing and how all

764
00:52:58,409 --> 00:53:01,652
the research and your challenges that you've had to overcome being a

765
00:53:01,712 --> 00:53:05,074
woman working in this part of the world, not to mention the other stuff. And

766
00:53:05,094 --> 00:53:08,237
it's really fascinating. It's been a

767
00:53:08,277 --> 00:53:11,619
terrific interview to have with you. And we're looking forward to

768
00:53:12,240 --> 00:53:15,342
hearing more in the future after we do some of

769
00:53:15,742 --> 00:53:19,998
your next trip to Port Sudan in September and everything. Definitely

770
00:53:20,018 --> 00:53:23,640
at some point we'd like to have you come back on and follow up and talk some more about

771
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:27,502
your amazing journey that you have here. Thank

772
00:53:27,542 --> 00:53:30,944
you so much for coming on and sharing your

773
00:53:32,785 --> 00:53:35,947
Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it. Thank you

774
00:53:36,007 --> 00:53:39,249
Igbal for joining us on this episode of the beyond jaws

775
00:53:39,309 --> 00:53:42,950
podcast, Dave, what an incredible story. What

776
00:53:43,691 --> 00:53:47,432
Uh, it was, yeah, it was what I thought it would be. It was quite an amazing story.

777
00:53:47,492 --> 00:53:50,794
She has, I didn't realize when we started, I forgot that she'd actually had,

778
00:53:50,834 --> 00:53:54,155
she did had finished her PhD cause it was, it was a journey and a half

779
00:53:54,195 --> 00:53:57,657
literally having to flee the country. Of course, if you

780
00:53:57,677 --> 00:54:01,558
didn't pick up, she's in Cairo, Egypt right now doing, doing,

781
00:54:01,699 --> 00:54:05,845
uh, doing the interview cause she can't go back to a cartoon. anywhere

782
00:54:05,865 --> 00:54:09,028
there because they're literally there because of the civil war. She's been,

783
00:54:09,269 --> 00:54:13,052
and the amazing thing is she's still trying to carry on doing her shark research,

784
00:54:13,092 --> 00:54:16,715
like trying to get into port Sudan and wherever she can sneak

785
00:54:16,735 --> 00:54:20,058
in and see what's going on. And she's still monitoring like the shark fin

786
00:54:20,118 --> 00:54:23,522
trade. I mean, you talk about a, just a

787
00:54:23,582 --> 00:54:27,245
compelling story and she didn't even, you know, probably have

788
00:54:27,265 --> 00:54:31,253
to have her back on at a future date, uh, update. Cause she's, She

789
00:54:31,353 --> 00:54:34,634
still has a lot more that she could have gone into, uh, that

790
00:54:34,874 --> 00:54:38,736
just, it was just an amazing story, which she's, she's had to do and persistence.

791
00:54:39,416 --> 00:54:42,897
And she, and, you know, she's been to like places like Yemen and

792
00:54:43,377 --> 00:54:46,978
at Daria and all around that whole area and the Horn of Africa, which

793
00:54:47,058 --> 00:54:50,373
is just really. very dangerous to be

794
00:54:50,453 --> 00:54:53,795
just, you know, certainly for Westerners, but even for someone

795
00:54:53,835 --> 00:54:57,297
like her Sudanese who speaks the language is extremely dangerous for

796
00:54:57,337 --> 00:55:00,839
her to be in there. And she's still studying the sharks in that area. It's

797
00:55:01,660 --> 00:55:04,881
It really makes you think, you know, a lot of times over here in

798
00:55:05,182 --> 00:55:08,664
North America, we complain about doing, you know, graduate school, we

799
00:55:08,684 --> 00:55:12,466
complain about, you know, the challenges that we face here in

800
00:55:13,006 --> 00:55:16,373
North America. But a lot of times our life is not on the line. And

801
00:55:16,413 --> 00:55:19,615
it really puts things into perspective of what some people will go

802
00:55:19,695 --> 00:55:22,957
through to follow their dreams of being in shark

803
00:55:22,997 --> 00:55:26,239
science and being in shark conservation. And this was one of those stories with

804
00:55:26,619 --> 00:55:30,101
Iqbal being able to not only complete a PhD,

805
00:55:30,121 --> 00:55:33,763
but continue to find out more information on these

806
00:55:33,803 --> 00:55:37,766
sharks and these elasmobranchs. It's

807
00:55:37,826 --> 00:55:41,608
just absolutely amazing. Love the fact that she

808
00:55:41,648 --> 00:55:44,910
came on and shared that story with us. And it's

809
00:55:44,970 --> 00:55:48,173
not easy. Right. To talk about a civil war that

810
00:55:48,213 --> 00:55:51,354
has affected her family and friends and just her

811
00:55:53,234 --> 00:55:57,476
I was going to say, you know, she didn't even really get it. You know, she's lost a lot of relatives during

812
00:55:57,536 --> 00:56:00,677
out this throughout this process. She really didn't get it. She's we spoke with her

813
00:56:00,737 --> 00:56:04,178
off air. And of course, I've known her for a while, but she just I mean, it's

814
00:56:04,218 --> 00:56:07,659
just it's it's it's powerful and it's compelling. And

815
00:56:07,959 --> 00:56:11,320
and she just and she just soldiers on, just moves on.

816
00:56:11,380 --> 00:56:15,415
And just despite all of those challenges, And,

817
00:56:15,675 --> 00:56:19,176
um, you know, she was the head of a department there in the South Sudan before South

818
00:56:19,216 --> 00:56:22,697
Sudan became an independent country. And then she had to relocate up

819
00:56:22,737 --> 00:56:26,319
to back to Khartoum, start again, basically all

820
00:56:26,439 --> 00:56:29,720
over and then continue to try to continue on to get her PhD. And, and

821
00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:33,621
she did, she does have her PhD now, and she's just basically, you

822
00:56:34,421 --> 00:56:37,942
know, working her way back through the system. Now it's just, it's just, let's

823
00:56:37,962 --> 00:56:41,623
say it's just, it puts in perspective for those of us, North America

824
00:56:41,703 --> 00:56:44,983
and Australia, Western Europe, that just Yeah. Challenges she

825
00:56:45,023 --> 00:56:48,106
has to go through is just, is just amazing. And, uh,

826
00:56:48,547 --> 00:56:51,730
definitely, there's definitely an episode and I'm not gonna, I'll

827
00:56:54,573 --> 00:56:57,816
Absolutely. And, uh, so we'll put, uh, links to anything that she

828
00:56:57,836 --> 00:57:01,119
can, uh, provide to get in touch with her or staying connected with

829
00:57:01,160 --> 00:57:04,323
her. Uh, but we'll all have her definitely back on, uh,

830
00:57:07,124 --> 00:57:10,309
Best way go to Instagram a lost shark guy also on the other

831
00:57:10,349 --> 00:57:14,414
social media is lush lost sharks and lost shark guy on Facebook

832
00:57:14,434 --> 00:57:20,420
and Instagram and X Anyway,

833
00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:24,061
and please go subscribe to the podcast. Go

834
00:57:27,502 --> 00:57:30,763
Absolutely. All the links are in the show notes. You can go ahead and do that

835
00:57:30,903 --> 00:57:34,624
now. We want to thank you, Dave. And thank you, of course, Iqbal,

836
00:57:34,644 --> 00:57:38,145
for sharing that wonderful story with us. A hard story, but

837
00:57:38,525 --> 00:57:41,886
quite a provocative story. And we

838
00:57:41,926 --> 00:57:45,427
really appreciate it. So thank you so much. And thank you to everybody

839
00:57:45,507 --> 00:57:48,809
who is joining us again here on the Beyond Jaws podcast. We

840
00:57:48,849 --> 00:57:52,033
really thank you for listening each and every episode. And

841
00:57:52,253 --> 00:57:55,376
this has been an episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast from Dave and

842
00:57:55,436 --> 00:57:58,539
I. Thank you so much. Have a great day. Talk to you next time and