Stoked to have Sharkfluencer and marine ecologist, Michele Legernes - @MicheleLegernes! Michele is a USCG Captain, explorer, and proud mom currently in Norway with her family.
I currently own a non-profit, called Zing Ocean Conservancy, with my husband Jonas Legernes (@jonaslegernes). We were originally based out of the Caribbean but are now based up in Northern Norway. Most of our projects have been beach clean-ups but we are involved with many other types of education about the marine environment as well.
Q:) Imagine you woke up as a shark tomorrow- Which shark species would you
be and why?
If I woke up as a shark tomorrow, I would be a great white. Great whites are very
versatile and can travel long distances. They have been known to go into fresh water for
surprisingly long amounts of time and have their own internal heating system so they
can go into colder waters or warmer. There is also so much not known about great
whites and I would love to be able to find out all about their secrets.
Q:) What keeps you coming back diving and researching, and what is so
fulfilling about your field?
I love getting to answer my own questions and it makes the experience so much more
rewarding being a part of the whole process, from making an observation about
something, to analyzing the data and finding out the answers to your questions. Of
course my questions always come along with that, which makes it even more fun.
I come back to diving over and over again because of the feeling of adventure and
exploration. I’ve done the same dive sites hundreds of times and there is always
something different to see and experience. My love for all animals keeps bringing me
back as well. I’m addicted to the feeling I get when I’m around wild animals. You get a
connection with them, in the water, that humans have distanced themselves from for so
many years.
Q:) What’s an ultimate goal for your research- what do you (or other people) hope
get out of it? What should people understand about ocean ecology?
I think what people don’t understand, is the relevance of ocean ecology to our every day lives on land. That’s what I like about ecology so much, is having the ability to make connections between different organisms in a system and looking a little more at the big picture.
I think if that was made more clear to others who don’t spend much time around the ocean and nature, they would change their habits to help preserve it, not just for the environment, but for themselves as well, because they would understand that all things on Earth are connected.
Q:) We've seen some shark fishing/finning legislation come up recently in the UK,
do you have any insights or comments about shark finning in the UK or
Scandinavia? Have you noticed differing attitudes toward sharks along your
travels? What are some ways people from other places can help save sharks in
your area?
Scandinavians, as a whole, are very environmentally aware, because they spend a lot of time in nature, that is, on land. But, mainly because of the cold, most don’t know much about the marine environment and are very unaware of their shark populations.
Most think there are no sharks in waters this cold and therefore are very unaware of issues surrounding shark finning and fishing in this area. I think the general lack of knowledge here is a huge problem. More Scandinavians are going into the water on the coast now because of better wetsuit/drysuit technology so people are becoming more aware. I think it will be a while though until shark fisheries off the coast of Norway and other places this far north are properly addressed, like in the UK.
Q:) In your opinion, what makes a successful marine scientist? What would you
tell/what advice or tips would you say to your past self?
I think a successful marine scientist is one who is open to all possibilities and scenarios and is willing to test them out. On top of that, I think it’s important to be OK with not knowing all the answers and I feel that’s what so many people forget.
If I could go back and give my past-self tips, I would tell myself to be OK with not knowing the answers and not knowing as much as the people around me. Those are the scenarios where you learn more and are humbled and you should never look at that as a bad thing, that the people around you know more than you on a subject.
Q:) How are you impacting shark/ocean conservation in your community?
I obtained my masters in the Caribbean with a thesis on southern stingrays. Although these animals are not sharks, they are close relatives and I will be publishing my thesis soon. I also have done a lot of work in education in aquariums about sharks and research in South Africa with great whites and population analysis while being a
part of a program that was based on educating the public there.
Through our non-profit, I am in charge of education at an eco-tourism company (Brim Explorer) and that has given me a lot of freedom to continue to teach kids and adults more about the marine environment. I am very excited about this opportunity because I can go in any direction with it and have already been working with local (Lofoten Oslo and Tromsø, Norway) scientists, researchers and organizations on a number of topics, from marine litter, to cetacean to sharks conservation.
I feel like sharks (and even whales) are still pretty much viewed as JAWS / mindless
eating machines, by people who don’t know much about the marine environment.
A lot of fisherman along the Norwegian coast hate both sharks and whales because they eat a lot of their catch and many are still advocating for having permits to kill off humpbacks, orcas and the species of sharks that are up here.
Q:) What are the most important factors people should know before coming out
to shark dive or dive in general (to people that may have never done it before)?
People should always go out with a local or professional, whether they’re going on a
shark or general dive. These experiences are generally safe, although I have been in a lot of hairy situations where I was glad I had someone knowledgeable with me. Other than that, I think it’s all about just relaxing, enjoying and being able to read animals’ behavior and the environment around you.
Q:) Have you found success in handling people that don’t understand or agree
with conservation efforts?
This is always a little bit of a challenge. Usually, people who are already interested in
preserving the environment, sharks etc… are the ones who join our events, follow us on
FB and Instagram and make donations. The same thing goes for the Eco-tourism
company that I work for, although I think the crowd we get there is a lot more diverse.
The best thing I’ve found for handling people who don’t care about sharks and the
marine environment is to teach them about it, and teach them in a way that is relatable
and exciting. You wouldn’t teach a group of 5 th graders about sharks by reading a
scientific article, but you would bring them to the aquarium or do something hands-on.
Adults are the same way. At work (Brim Explorer), we have an underwater drone that
we put under the water to show people what’s below the surface.
Since most of our guests are not the type of guests that would throw on a wetsuit and jump into freezing cold water, in the arctic, showing them the marine environment, from this perspective, gives them comfort in knowing they’re safe and warm on a boat, but we can utilize the drone to show them a world they don’t get to see every day. We have not run into any sharks yet with the drone, but methods like this are great for that sort of thing.
Q:) What’s your proudest moment or greatest accomplishment thus far?
I have had many proud and exciting moments in my life. I was surprised when my proudest moment became finding out that I am going to be a mom to a little girl.
For most of my life I have not been a great advocator for women. I am a product of my environment, and growing up in the deep south of the US, I thought women were manipulative and hateful and avoided most female connections for the longest time.
By having a little girl, I have realized that this is a great chance to show this child that she can be anything she wants, whether a sailor, fisherwoman, singer, scientist, business woman, or whatever. I can teach her what I have learned on all of my adventures and watch her take some of her own as well.
It wasn’t until after college that I started realizing that other women weren't the problem, it was me, my mindset and the environment I have been growing up in, that was the problem. I began realizing that the reason why women are portrayed this way, is because of society and that other women are not sticking up for each other, and in fact, doing the opposite, putting each other down in hope that they can raise their own status by doing so.
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