A woman who grew up on Donegal Bay has turned her childhood fascination with the sea into a career defending the ocean’s most misunderstood creatures – sharks.
A month ago, Emer Shovlin from Saint Johns Point took the stage at TEDxTralee to challenge one of the most pervasive myths in modern culture: the fear of sharks.
Her talk, “Not Monsters, but Masterpieces,” blends science, storytelling, and personal experience to reframe sharks not as threats, but as vital pillars of ocean and climate health – creatures that humans depend on far more than we realise.
Opening with the iconic “Duh-dun… duh-dun…” from Jaws, she explores how the film’s global impact created the “Jaws Effect”—an irrational fear that has shaped public perception for decades. But as she makes clear, the real threat is not sharks hunting humans, but humans hunting sharks.
“More than 100 million sharks are killed every year. Since 1970, we’ve lost over 70% of oceanic shark species,” she told the audience.
“If we lose sharks, we risk unravelling entire ecosystems, collapsing fisheries, and destabilising our climate.”
Drawing from her background in marine conservation science and her childhood fascination with the ocean, she recounts a transformative moment diving with bull and tiger sharks in Fiji. Rather than fearsome predators, she found calm, curious, evolutionary masterpieces.
Her talk highlights the profound role sharks play as keystone species and even climate regulators. She explained how their presence protects vital carbon sinks like seagrass meadows, preventing them from being overgrazed and releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere.
But she also warned of a hidden reality: critically endangered sharks are turning up in everyday products—from mislabelled fish on dinner plates to cosmetics containing shark-derived squalene.
“As consumers, often unknowingly, we are erasing ancient predators one purchase at a time,” she said.
Despite the urgency, her message is ultimately one of hope. She shares global examples of successful conservation—from the Bahamas’ flourishing shark tourism economy to Ireland’s own protection of the basking shark in 2022.
“When we protect sharks, everyone wins,” she emphasised.
“Conservation isn’t just good for sharks—it’s good for people, economies, and our climate.”
In closing, she challenged audiences to rethink their relationship with the ocean and the species that support it.
“Because when we protect sharks, we protect the ocean—and when we protect the ocean, we protect our future.”
The full TEDx talk will be available on the TEDx YouTube channel in the coming days.
Donegal marine scientist reshaping myths about sharks was last modified: November 17th, 2025 by Staff Writer