A woman who grew up on Donegal Bay has turned her childhood fascination with the sea into a career defending the ocean\u2019s most misunderstood creatures \u2013 sharks.<\/p>\n
A month ago, Emer Shovlin from Saint Johns Point\u00a0took the stage at TEDxTralee to challenge one of the most pervasive myths in modern culture: the fear of sharks. <\/p>\n
Her talk, \u201cNot Monsters, but Masterpieces,\u201d blends science, storytelling, and personal experience to reframe sharks not as threats, but as vital pillars of ocean and climate health \u2013 creatures that humans depend on far more than we realise.<\/p>\n
Opening with the iconic \u201cDuh-dun\u2026 duh-dun\u2026\u201d from Jaws, she explores how the film\u2019s global impact created the \u201cJaws Effect\u201d\u2014an 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 100 million sharks are killed every year. Since 1970, we\u2019ve lost over 70% of oceanic shark species,\u201d she told the audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we lose sharks, we risk unravelling entire ecosystems, collapsing fisheries, and destabilising our climate.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But she also warned of a hidden reality: critically endangered sharks are turning up in everyday products\u2014from mislabelled fish on dinner plates to cosmetics containing shark-derived squalene.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs consumers, often unknowingly, we are erasing ancient predators one purchase at a time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Despite the urgency, her message is ultimately one of hope. She shares global examples of successful conservation\u2014from the Bahamas\u2019 flourishing shark tourism economy to Ireland\u2019s own protection of the basking shark in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we protect sharks, everyone wins,\u201d she emphasised.<\/p>\n
\u201cConservation isn\u2019t just good for sharks\u2014it\u2019s good for people, economies, and our climate.\u201d<\/p>\n
In closing, she challenged audiences to rethink their relationship with the ocean and the species that support it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause when we protect sharks, we protect the ocean\u2014and when we protect the ocean, we protect our future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The full TEDx talk will be available on the TEDx YouTube channel in the coming days.<\/p>\n
Donegal marine scientist reshaping myths about sharks was last modified: November 17th, 2025 by Staff Writer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who grew up on Donegal Bay has turned her childhood fascination with the sea into a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-270774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}