How sharks affect us all | Ocean Ramsey | TEDxKlagenfurt

Sharks on a worldwide scale suffer under their reputation as brutal killers. They are close to extinction due to human prosecution. Ocean Ramsey explains why they are a valuable and fundamental part of the oceans' ecosystems and encourages everyone of us to help in saving them ... for our own good.

Ocean Ramsey´s passion sounds rather scary to many of us. She dives with white sharks and is passionate about showing the beauty of them. White sharks are nowadays close to extinction as they are misunderstood beings, suffering under their wrongly interpreted nature. Even though sharks are very intelligent and highly helpful in keeping the oceans in a healthy balance by eating sick organisms, they are seen as a danger. It is her goal to generate a better understanding between humans and sharks in order to save them.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

What if we were to redefine
the relationship we have with sharks,

to one based on scientific fact,
reality, and logic,

rather than the current one, based off of
limited and biased information?

I want to talk about how changing the way
we perceive sharks and interact with them

could change our environment, economies,
and lives for the better.

But first, I want
to introduce you to someone

who has positively influenced and inspired
my life's work, passion, and focus.

She's intelligent, she's graceful,
beautiful, efficient,

but what I admire her most for
is her very important work and role.

What most people don't know
is that without her work and influence,

none of our lives would be the same.

And I wanted to describe her to you first,
before I showed you her photo,

because I've come to find that,
oftentimes, we make snap judgments,

prejudice, based off of
very little factual information.

I've personally found this
because oftentimes I'm judged solely

off of my appearance
or work as a professional model,

rather than my primary work
in science, conservation, and business.

So, please keep in mind the truth

that often there's more
than meets the eye,

and when you take time
to get to know someone

and better understand them,

maybe you can better value them.

And sometimes it's a little more
interesting than you think too.

So, without further ado,
my beautiful role model, Bella,

which means beautiful,

and yes, she's a great white shark,
or more accurately termed, a white shark,

Carcharodon carcharias.

Now, I know you might just be
noticing her nice teeth

and thinking something along
the lines of "monster,"

but tonight, put your prior beliefs
about sharks on hold,

while I explain why Bella
is an ideal role model,

why we should seriously take action

to redefine the relationship
we have with these animals,

to one based on scientific fact,

to that or reality,

rather than appearances, snap judgments,
and fictitious Hollywood movies.

Bella and her kind
are extremely intelligent.

I've observed her, and her kind,

outsmarting even humans
within a matter of moments

by adapting her behavior
even in novel situations.

This ability to quickly adapt

has likely led to sharks'
resilience over time.

They evolved before dinosaurs,

before trees.

They evolved two more known
sensory systems than we even have

to aid them a high level of efficiency

in their very important role
in the ecosystems,

shaping, influencing them,
and making them stronger, and better.

Now, even though they are
highly cognitive, cautious,

and take in multiple factors
before they take action,

it is true that on rare, rare, rare,
much more rare, occasions

than we make mistakes,

sharks do make mistakes, and,
unfortunately, someone does get bit.

Still, considering the millions of people

that enter the water,
the oceans, every single day,

and the average number
of fatalities is five to seven ...

Now, I feel extremely lucky.

I get to spend almost every single day
diving with sharks,

over 30 different species around the world

on a diversity of research programs
and conservation campaigns.

My work in marine biology
focuses on ethology,

which is animal behavior and psychology,
and cognitive ecology,

where I study the way the animals interact
with one another and their environment.

I've come to observe and learn
some of the most fascinating things

I wish I had more time
to share with you tonight.

But in my limited time with you,

what I've come to appreciate,

what I feel is most important and urgent,

and if I could speak up for sharks,
what I'd want to share with you,

is their very important role and work,
and how it affects all of our lives.

Essentially, imagine sharks
as the ocean's immune system,

the white blood cells.

They pick up the dead, dying,
weak, sick, injured animals,

leaving only the healthiest to reproduce,

keeping lower trophic levels
and populations in balance.

We all rely on our immune systems,

and the scientific evidence
for the importance of sharks is mounting.

There are so many studies

that show one after the other

that the removal of sharks

has environmental and economic
negative impacts -

Ransom A Myers, Bascompete -

effects all the way down
to coral reef systems.

The removal of sharks has been
attributed with starvation.

Throughout the respected
scientific community,

there's no denying
the importance of sharks,

their effects on our environments,

our economies,

even the air that we breathe.

70-80% of the air
we rely on to continue living

comes from our oceans.

Either directly or indirectly,
we all rely on the oceans.

Billions rely on it for seafood,

over 200 million rely on it
for direct employments.

Our lives, our futures,
are interconnected.

In the words of one
of my human role models,

the wonderful Dr Sylvia Earle,

"With every drop of water that you drink,
every breath that you take,

you're connected to the sea.

No matter where on the planet you live."

But sharks are still scary, right?

So that's kind of the problem.

Most peoples don't know
many factual things about sharks,

except they have teeth,

and many more people don't know

that sharks are actually being
decimated, globally,

at a rate of over 11,000
every single hour.

That's more than three sharks
every single second.

That translates to 70-100 million
sharks killed every year.

That's like killing everyone in Spain,
Austria and France every single year.

Now, according to fishing records,
over 90% of sharks have been depleted.

According to the International Union
for Conservation of Nature,

over a third of all large sharks
have been wiped out,

or are facing extinction,
or are vulnerable to extinction.

So, why such a mass slaughter
of such an important and keystone species?

Well, some of it is due to silly things
like souvenirs and pharmaceuticals.

Some of it is due to men
and their inferiority complexes ...

I'm guessing.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

80% of long-lining is bycatch,
and most of it is sharks.

Culling, which is probably this least
intelligent reaction a country can have

to an adverse shark-human interaction;

basically, like shooting
yourself in the foot,

from a behavioral standpoint,

also a waste and indiscriminate killer.

But the number one killer
of sharks, globally:

a bowl of soup.

Yes, we are trading
the health and productivity

of our oceans-reliant environment
and economies for a bowl of soup.

What's worse, it's not even nutritious;
it's actually toxic.

It's merely for the Chinese culture belief

that when they serve that soup,

it means that they're
prestigious or important.

But what is classy about catching a shark,

hacking off its fins,
oftentimes while it's still alive,

wasting 95% of the animal

just to make yourself feel better
about your social status.

Consider: sharks have been evolving
for over 400 million years;

humans, 200,000,
and their culturals, far less.

We can live without culture,
but not without our oceans,

and our oceans cannot live
without their immune systems.

Like rhinos killed just for their horns,
and elephants killed just for their tusks,

sharks are being killed, slaughtered,
globally, just for their fins.

Now, I love traveling the world

and experiencing
the diversity of cultures,

but there has to be a point

when we re-evaluate the relationship

that we have with sharks and animals,

and look at how our cultures
can adapt and evolve honorably.

An ancient Chinese proverb says

when you do not change your direction,
you may end up where you are heading.

So what if we were to adopt this idea

and change the way
we interact with sharks?

What would that look like?

Well, the great news is
we already have concrete examples,

places like Palau, Bahamas,
areas like Cabo Pulmo, and Palmyra.

In those areas,

reef and fish stocks are thriving.

Ecotourism is bringing in
over US $314 million to local economies,

directly employing over 10,000 jobs.

This study by Dr Michele Barnes
and the University of British Columbia

is actually showing that that number
will increase, more than double,

in less than 20 years.

So $780 million,

far outweighing the global fin trade.

So put at the most basic terms,
even on just the monetary level,

which is usually
what politicians care about,

a live shark is worth more
than a dead shark.

And what's great is,
these shark ecotourism programs,

they can support research.

I was working out with Dr Mauricio Hoyos,

we were tagging, taking biopsies,

and I was wondering:

Is any of this conservation-based research

going to make a difference

before these guys are
just wiped out off the planet?

Then one day, 20 meters underwater,

doing a population count
surrounded by these beautiful sharks,

I was realizing by the time I gather,
process and publish my studies,

another 3-6 million sharks will be killed.

So why study something that's being
eradicated the rate the sharks are

and not do anything about it.

So I opened my research to the public.

I developed a program,

where people could come to learn about
sharks from a scientific perspective.

I collaborated with @juansharks,

who is a well-known
shark and marine photographer

and shark specialist.

We developed this program
that's research- and conservation-based,

and opened it to the public

so they could learn about
their biology, physiology, behavior,

how to interact with them safely,

answers all those questions
people don't know about sharks.

The cool thing is people actually
get to get in the water with us

and see for themselves, eye to eye,
what sharks are really like.

It's such a successful program

as people can speak up for sharks
from a first-hand perspective

and also influence their networks,
and change people's minds.

We are also able to fund
educational outreach through this,

reef and beach cleanups,
local conservation campaigns,

and international conservation campaigns,

like stopping the cull
in Western Australia,

a story for another time

I'm honestly rather glad I don't have time
to share tonight as I'd end up crying.

But we were able to save
one of the juvenile sharks.

She was under three meters,
and she would have just died,

even though she was
cattle tagged improperly,

and, you know, for 90 minutes,
I swam with her, looking her in the eye,

and trying to tell her
it was going to be okay

as blood was spilling out of her head,

and kind of trying to tell myself
it was going to be okay.

After 90 minutes, she swam off:
and it was that effort.

This is another conservation campaign,
a little better known.

It reached over 2 million people in 2 days

and featured none other
than the lovely role model, Bella,

who is so great for her species,
a great representative.

At the time when we released it,

it was because there was a study put out

showing there were less
than 350 great whites,

in the area from California to Alaska
to Hawaii to Mexico,

an area where juansharks and I
grew up diving with sharks,

with white sharks specifically.

We knew many of them,
had spent much time with them,

studying behavior, working with them.

So what do you do when you hear
someone you love, care about, understand,

is being eradicated?

Something.

So, we thought, with Water Inspired

we'd try and use inspiring photography
and videography to inspire people to care.

We needed people to give white sharks
a second look, a second chance.

They don't make the news very often.

When they do, I'm sure you guys all know,
it's not usually good press.

So we were successful.

We wanted to show
the natural beauty of sharks.

But most often, when people see
a beautiful image like this,

they just think it's just on its way
to eat the next person, right?

So, we want to do the anti-Jaws.

The little blond girl, she gets eaten
in the fictitious movie, right?

So what's it like in reality?

Well, I've been working with them
for a long time, right?

We dive to get receivers
and other things like that,

so I wanted to show a connection,

I wanted people to be able to connect,
see another side of these animals,

realize that we can coexist.

But in order to coexist,
they have to exist,

and there's so much more
to these animals than meets the eye.

When you take the time
to get to know somebody,

you know, you can understand
that maybe there's more to them.

And so I wanted
to share that with the world.

And I have to give the disclaimer -

I mean, there's just so many things that
I would love to share with you guys --

but I do have to give the disclaimer

that they deserve
a lot of respect ... not fear,

but they are apex predators,
they do have a role ...

and we need them for that role,

it's very important.

I mean, I could cite study
after study after study,

showing the importance of that.

You know, if I wanted to go out
into the African savanna and pat a lion,

you know what I would do?

I would call up the lion whisperer,
and I'd go hang out with him,

and I'd learn, and I'd study from him,

out of respect for the animal
because of its reputation.

So, while I understand that,

especially the way that they are
portrayed in the media,

that people are afraid of them,

you shouldn't be afraid of them;

you should just respect them.

they are beautiful animals,
there's so much more to them.

So if there's one thing
that Bella has taught me,

it's that, like Bella,

we can all positively change and influence
our environments for the better.

All we need to do is take action.

In the words of Jane Goodall:

Every day we make an impact.

It's up to us what kind of an impact
we want that to be.

Now, this was just one successful
collaborative program

that we collaborated with GoPro on.

They were very true to the message
and released a beautiful piece,

but there are so many other things,
other media pieces we could do,

even just writing to a restaurant,
asking them not to serve shark fin soup.

New campaigns, political policies,
the ideas are endless.

What it comes down to is:

Yeah, knowledge is powerful,
but it's nothing without action.

I love Nike.

I get up every morning and go running.

It's like, just do it.

You may not feel like it,
but any effort is better than no effort.

[We may feel like what we are doing
is just a drop in the ocean,

but the ocean would be less
without that drop.]

So I want to ask you guys tonight,

(Laughter)

to take action for your future.

Sharks and the oceans affect us all.

I'd like to see a raise of hands

for all those that are willing to take
a small, small action for a better future.

Raise your hands if you are
willing to take that action.

Oh, I so see all those hands.

Okay, I'm going to call you out on it.

I want you guys to use that hand
and grab your phones.

I'll do it with you.

Grab your phones.

I know it's usually rude to grab
your phones during a talk,

but you'll be helping me.

This is really good. This is good.
This is your call to action.

Let's do it!
(Laughter)

So I want you guys to grab your phone,

and we're going to spread
great ideas globally.

I want you guys to Tweet,
Facebook, Instagram, something.

Spread an idea,

share a fact about a shark.

I'm going to do it with you
because it's actually really fun.

Even though you guys are kind of dark -

Okay, ready? Smile!

Okay. So don't get distracted
with the missed call or text.

This'll only take a minute,
and I'm off the stage, so ...

All right, let's do this together.

We're going to make a difference,
a measurable impact for sharks.

So I'm going to Instagram.

This is how the world is now, right?
We all just walk around on our phones.

I think I saw that on a talk earlier.

This is all good. Okay next.

So I'm going to use a hashtag.

#HelpSaveSharks.

Okay. #HelpSaveBella.

Here with the amazing group
at TEDx conference in Europe,

helping spread great ideas and ways
we can help save sharks and our future.

Sharks are important.

Redefining the relationships
we have with sharks.

#SharkConservation, #HelpSaveSharks,
#NoSharkFinSoup, #TEDSavesSharks,

#TEDTalksonSharks.

Okay.

And I will share that.

Awesome!

And this is the best part.

I get to thank you all

for being a part of the force

that redefines the relationship
we have with sharks for a better future.

Thank you, guys.

(Applause)