Good day Shark people! This week I am delighted to interview one of the people that most inspired me years ago when I was starting to do my own research to learn about great white sharks: researcher, photographer, author and expedition leader Alessandro De Maddalena, M.Sc.! If you are a Great White Shark fan, you will for sure know all the great work of research and expeditions carried by De Maddalena, but if you don't this interview it's a way to better get to know one of the greatest experts of sharks.
Let's jump into the interview to learn more about the work of Alessandro and great white sharks.
Photo credit: Alessandro De Maddalena
When did you first start to be interested in sharks?
When I was a child I loved marine life and prehistoric animals. When I was 7 or 8 year old, I saw my first documentary featuring great white sharks, “Uomini e squali” (“Men and sharks”) by italian filmmaker Bruno Vailati. It included a very interesting section filmed at Dangerous Reef with the collaboration of australian shark legends Ron and Valerie Taylor, and Rodney Fox. That exact day I decided that I was going to spend my life studying sharks.
How difficult it is to become a biologist specialized in sharks? And what advice would you give to young people willing to work in this field?
I’m a natural scientist specialized in sharks. I must say it was quite a long and difficult road to become what I am today.
Photo credit: Alessandro DeMaddalena
From an early age I studied a lot of shark biology on scientific books and papers on my own.
Then I earned a ‘Laurea Magistrale’, equivalent to a Master of Science, M.Sc., from the University of Milan, Italy. My Master Thesis was on the presence of the great white shark in the Mediterranean Sea. Then I did a lot of research, mostly on sharks of the Mediterranean Sea, and I wrote many books, scientific reports and magazine articles. In 2010 I started to host great white shark expeditions giving a shark biology course, first in South Africa, working with Apex Shark Expeditions, and later even in South Australia, with Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions. In 2017 I became an Adjunct Professor of Vertebrate Zoology for the post-graduate course in Marine Sciences at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. I’m now in the process of creating my own Shark Museum in Simon’s Town, South Africa.
My advice to young people interested in sharks is to choose this kind of job only if they are really very passionate about this topic. Studying hard for many years is necessary to work properly in this field. Also it’s fundamental to keep in mind that the priority must always be the respect for the animals, not the achievements in the research carried on them. There’s a dramatic need for an ethical approach in this field. Too many animals are harmed in the process of doing research.
As a Great white shark expert, are you concerned about the loss of genetic variability in South African shark populations? What scientists and laws can do to reduce this loss?
I’m deeply concerned about the decrease of all species of sharks that we are witnessing year after year.
All types of fishing where sharks are the target or by-catch must be stopped. More in general, I’m convinced that a 10 year worldwide interruption of all types of fishing has now become necessary to restore the balance of the marine ecosystems.
Photo credit: Alessandor De Maddalena
During these last years sightings of great white sharks have been stable, have decreased or increased?
They have dramatically decreased. People have no idea of how bad the situation is nowadays. And it’s not only about great white sharks. It’s about the large majority of species of sharks. There are by far less sharks, and their size is getting smaller. Areas where we used to see plenty of them seem now like a desert.
What about the Mediterranean area? it is known that there was a big nursery near Sicily Island, it is still the case nowadays?
For a long time, the Mediterranean Sea used to be a centre of abundance of great white sharks, and without any doubt it was one of the most important areas in the world for this predator. The great white shark nursery in the Sicilian Channel, between Sicily and Tunisia is still there. But the Mediterranean population of this species has decreased so much that every sighting is now regarded as an event. Sadly, South Africa is going towards the same exact path, and in a few years time from now the situation in the two areas may be just the same, if nothing is done urgently to conserve this natural resource. Fishing is wiping out everything. We are now simply too many people for our planet.
What “take-home message” would you like to give to readers to raise awareness in sharks and oceans conservation?
There are many ways each person can give a valid contribution in preserving shark populations. These are some of the things that we must do: use condoms to prevent having more than two children per couple, vote only for politicians who have a solid background as nature conservationists, do not purchase shark parts (meat, jaws, teeth, cartilage, etc.), do not purchase any marine species caught with non-selective gears (tuna, swordfish, etc.), do not watch documentaries advertising invasive research methods or shark fishing, do not choose dive operators who use shark body parts in the chum or as bait.
We are at the end of the interview, but if you are curious about the work of De Maddalena M.Sc. https://dakuwaqablog.wixsite.com/dakuwaqa/post/meet-dr-alessandro-de-maddalena-great-white-shark-specialistdrI highly recommend to go to his website by clicking here. and also to visit his Facebook page. there you can find stunning pictures, articles and also be updated on the next expeditions with great white sharks!