SHARKS MISSION

Passionate about diving, Fabienne Rossier founded the first French association dedicated to sharks in January 2013. It was created by the desire of divers to act to make sharks better known, because of their essential role in the oceans and to erase this image of a man-eater who endures in the collective unconscious. Since the creation of the association with the support of their members, the five founding members have fought every day for the cause of sharks. “Today sharks are massacred on a large scale in the greatest general indifference. It is essential that people realize their importance, because our life is linked to theirs. They are part of the oceans food chain, if we eradicate them the oceans will die there will be no more oxygen produced by the oceans (which produce 83% of the oxygen we breathe on earth). There is therefore an urgent need to save sharks […] it will be the generations to come who will suffer from this problem ”.

How long have you worked at Sharks Mission and how has the association evolved?

Sharks Mission is a law association 1901, which implies volunteering. Everything was built from scratch until the association became today. The peculiarity compared to other associations, is that we focus only on sharks. Social networks were essential as communication tools which allowed us to spread our prevention messages or the dissemination of focus on all species of sharks, which are delivered every day on our supports. The website is enriched with scientific articles. We are fortunate to be able to translate articles (almost en primeur) from abroad, at the forefront of the latest discoveries regarding sharks and make them available to our subscribers, who are increasingly numerous (about 20 000 people).

How do you manage to balance your professional and your personal life?

It's a lot of personal work, especially in the evenings and weekends. Fortunately we are many to take over the information and dissemination on social networks or for the translation of articles. When you are passionate, this passion helps to achieve many things and it becomes an essential engine for the advancement of projects. I could not help but create this association and act. As a diver, I had the opportunity to meet sharks and I had such a harmony in their contact and exchange, that they kind of pushed me to act and take this cause for them. It may seem utopian at first, but I had to spread the information and get things back to where they are.

They are extraordinary fish with exceptional senses. They have existed since the creation of the earth, they have hardly evolved since and today they are in the process of extinction. We must therefore mobilize as many people as possible, people must have the right information and they must be really aware that these fish are essential and ensure that governments take the appropriate measures to ensure their sustainability, which is unfortunately not the case today. Even though there have been advances and things are going in the right direction, there is still a lot to do. The devastating effect of industrial fishing (which scrapes all the seabed) and which in its nets catch both tuna and sharks. This is called “bycatch”, which catches several species of sharks and thus, their populations are exterminated.

What have been the major difficulties that you have encountered over time in relation to your position and your status?

Get them to interest a public that is not necessarily the most sensitive to the cause of sharks and make them aware that their role is essential. It is absolutely necessary to make them wonder about this problem and it is certainly the most difficult thing. We ask ourselves the question "what will we bequeath to future generations?" ". It is necessary to have people's attention and listening to explain to them the essential place of the shark (their senses, their role, the different species) and the extermination they are currently undergoing. We must ensure that people are more and more responsible in their consumption, because everyone is concerned. Shark cartilage is found in capsules dedicated to treating osteoarthritis or in certain cosmetics (shark liver oil), it is multiple and varied: do not buy shark steak, check that in your canteen business or that of children that there are not this kind of dishes offered ... so we need scope. For example, contacting establishments (in France) or restaurants when they are reported to us and making sure by making them aware that they no longer offer sharks on their menu.

Do you have the same weight as a man in this environment to make your voice heard, do you feel any inequalities?

The actions we have taken and the seriousness we demonstrate on a daily basis in view of our acclaimed actions, I am convinced of our credibility. It is true that it is a rather particular universe that is that of sharks. A woman in this area is all the more special, this being when you explain things there is no problem. There is obviously misogyny from time to time and indeed you always have to fight a little more than maybe a man would do, but we get there!

How many women are working with you? What is the male to female ratio?

In the team where there are five of us, I am the only woman. However, there are other people who work and support the association, members who help and contribute and I see that there are more and more women. I have women around me who are fighters and who do all they can to help the cause and divulge information. They are important supports for the association. We feel very strongly their commitment and their passion, they are communicators who redouble their efforts. There is at the same time a feminine sensibility and on the other hand the biting and the rage that women have to impose on themselves (which may seem contradictory). There are women who don't dive at all but are just as passionate about sharks and have this drive to really want to get things done for their protection. I myself am sometimes surprised to see some really invested members, like Amazons.

Do you have support?

Our members are a very important support because they commit to 200% and implement relevant actions. They are people who are faithful and who we can count on. It may be an associative environment, you have to be careful because sometimes there are amazing things. When you have your guide and your philosophy, it works and progresses in the right direction, while giving results that are satisfactory. To see some messages from people who change their perception of sharks and stop hunting them, or restaurants that become aware of the problem and decide not to offer sharks on the menu, these small victories and these results are the most rewarding . We act according to our means, we have neither sponsors nor subsidies, so we act as we can and with our means. Conferences are also ways to engage people and have them interact with specialists. This is a part that we have developed a lot lately.

What are your actions?

Our field of action is mainly access to consumer information, and to ensure that they become responsible for their purchases, at the level of restaurants and fishmongers. In terms of specialized information for divers, we provide brochures for diving clubs at the international level, which work where sharks are found and explain how to behave during dives with sharks according to their species. There is a huge work of awareness and mobilization: the communication of the right information, around actions, petitions ... We impose a rhythm on nature that is not the same as ours and this rhythm is devastating. Sharks reach sexual maturity very late compared to other species (between 15 and 20 years for most species). They often have young one in two years for the majority of species with some exceptions. Today with the pressure of overfishing and this for several decades, we find ourselves with a large part of the population of the different species of sharks which are in the process of extermination. For some, more than 90% of their population has been exterminated. If they are fished before even reaching the age to reproduce, this undeniably accentuates their extinction.

These are fish that can not be raised as we can with other species of fish, it's impossible. So all that is lost and completely lost. This would be irreversible, hence our conferences and brochures to inform people of the urgency of the problem. It's a real time bomb on which we are all sitting.

We need to make it come to us and make people aware, it's much easier to mobilize as many people as possible if they understand the issues, there will be more weight at the level of decision makers and politicians, who will be able to take decisions and will take the necessary steps to effectively protect sharks. At the level of the industrial fishery, there are things that are extremely simple to put in place, with systems that exist and that are effective, but unfortunately the governments do not oblige the trawls to equip them. There is a system to repel sharks (for example in tuna fishing), it would be sufficient if the nets are equipped with its systems that repel sharks by acting on the bulbs Lorenzini, which disturbs them It is a system that has been verified and that would avoid to have these sharks caught in the nets in bycatch, which features thousands of sharks. These are very inexpensive, if not modest, measures that could save the lives of many sharks. Unfortunately, pressure has to be put on the government and we hope that citizens are increasingly critical. It is important today that they take the trouble to take an interest in the subject and quickly take up this cause for the actions that we can carry out as an association.

What is the impact on your actions?

It is not in vain that we are doing. We had a lot of testimonials at the Salon de la Plongée, where we were very much in demand and it was very gratifying. We also have a scientific research assistance program with a specialist (Doctor Mauricio Hoyos Padilla) who works in Mexico on the island of Guadeloupe with the Grands Blancs and the Revillagegido Archipelago with other species. We are offering people to help fund the purchase of beacons, tags, and shark collection kits. The more we know about species (because we are totally ignorant and we still have a lot to learn), the more we will be able to better protect them.

So we allow with this project, to adopt a sort of shark and we do tagging expeditions by consulting each shark that is numbered. The person then receives the information and the characteristics of this one (size, sex, species etc…) it is a rather long process. When the beacon is recovered by the scientist, we can communicate the shark's path. The funds are transferred to Kakunja (scientific association) to help finance the purchases of beacons. It is a direct aid to scientific research in order to have a better knowledge of sharks.

We have different ways of doing things, I made the first educational coloring book about sharks. This is a board of art therapy type designs that is as much aimed at adults as kids. For each species represented there is a description of the species. It is both fun and educational, it is a work of awareness.

I also wrote a book titled " Sharks My Feelings »In order to make people who do not put their heads under water, and who will certainly not see sharks during a scuba dive, feel the contact of different species. It is a story of my encounters with sharks, on different places on the globe and my personal experiences. I develop there the threats which weigh on them and all the progress which led to the association in 2013. This was the trigger of what the association is today.

Interviewed by Aurélie Kula

Sharks Mission: sharks-mission.fr

Sharks Mission Future Generation : www.facebook.com/groups/1634959576584465/

Adopt a shark: www.sharks-mission.fr/actions-petitions/docteur-mauricio-hoyos-padilla/adopter-un-requin

Site dedicated to the image, to travel, to the testimonies of people who have the chance to dive with sharks and who relate their feelings: www.facebook.com/groups/1537218113170099/

www.sharkeducation.com