Get to Know a Shark Scientist!

Welcome to a new blog series with Shark Fin Swim. I’m Hope, the founder and ocean illustrator behind Shark Fin Swim. Our small business helps raise awareness for ocean conservation through our hand drawn colorful prints perfect for ocean lovers. Using eco friendly materials and production practices we are bringing ocean advocates a more sustainable option for swimwear. As a biologist and purpose driven small business owner this blog series is going to give you an inside look of what it’s like to be a Marine Scientists Biologists, Diver, Professional mermaid and so much more! Let’s meet out Biologists Carlee for this week!

 

photo provided by Carlee Jackson

Can you introduce yourself for those who don’t know about your work and touch a little on what MISS does? 

Carlee Jackson Mail - Women Who Make Waves, follow Carlee on Instagram @carleejackson_

My name is Carlee Jackson and currently I'm wearing many different hats! Overall I’m a marine biologist, I specialize in studying the effects of tourism on sharks, and have worked in sea turtle beach conservation, rehab and fisheries research. Nowadays I don't do as much sea turtle work but hoping to change that soon! I am also a co-founder and the Director of Communications for the nonprofit Minorities in Shark Sciences, or MISS. Our mission is to provide equitable pathways to shark science through education, professional development and community. As Dir. of Comms I am head of our social media and other communication strategies. I also assist with our education programs and field training programs, provide mentorship, and help anywhere else they need me! I also do freelance science communication and am a children's book author.

What first sparked your passion for the ocean? 

I first fell in love with the ocean at about 6 years old. I'm originally from Michigan, so I had no physical connection to the ocean besides what I saw in books and on TV. At 6 I remember attending a book fair with my mom and a book with a picture of a shark on its cover caught my eye. It was a kids book on sharks, and I begged my mom to buy it for me. Once I read it, I became obsessed with sharks! What got my attention the most was the diversity of sharks: how many different species there were and how different they all looked. I'm very attracted to bright colors and there were some colorful sharks in that book! I've always loved the water and being in pools, so loving the ocean came naturally once it was introduced to me. My first time snorkeling in the ocean was when I was about 15 or 16 years old and I remember feeling so happy and at peace in the water. 

You’re 1 of 4 co-founders of Minorities in Shark Science and are going to be celebrating 5 years this June. How did the creation of MISS come about? 

If you remember in the summer of 2020 there was a lot of civil unrest happening around the murder of George Floyd. There was another incident in NYC with a Black birder named Chris Cooper who had the cops called on him simply for mining his business in the park. This particular incident sparked a movement among the Black naturalist community to show the country that Black people do, indeed, enjoy being out in, or have jobs in, outdoor settings. A hashtag #BlackinNature started trending on Twitter, where Black people posted themselves in their environmental jobs or just outside enjoying nature. I joined the trend and posted photos of my working with sharks and sea turtles. That post got a lot of traction, thousands of likes/views when i only had like 200 followers at the time! Jasmin (MISS CEO) commented "omg yay another Black girl shark scientist" and I remember seeing it and thinking no way...you're a Black shark scientist too?? Eventually Jaida and Amani commented on the same post saying similar things and we joked and said "we should start a club lol." So the 4 of us got onto a Zoom call just to chat and shared some of our experiences coming up in the field, and we all felt like we should do something to prevent others from experiencing the isolation we felt. We identified different barriers we saw and experienced and wanted to create something that would break those barriers. And that's pretty much how MISS was born! We first launched with our Shark Research Workshops program, an all-expenses-covered weekend crash course in shark field research.

Photo via misselasmo.org

You’ve also written a few books about ocean animals, can you talk about what inspired you to pursue becoming an author alongside your marine science career? 

 

I actually never really planned or pursued being an author, it kind of just...happened! Back in early 2021. someone from the publishing company reached out saying they heard me on a podcast and thoroughly enjoyed listening to me and wondered if I'd ever thought about writing a children's book. Intrigued, I hadn't thought about it before but I hopped on a call with him to see what they had to offer. He explained they were looking for an author to write a shark book for their series, "A Day in the Life," and laid out the process, timeline and contract. I remember not waiting very long to make a decision because it all made sense to me! Why not have a full circle moment to how I was introduced to sharks by writing a book on sharks myself! My goal with the book is to get the reader hooked on sharks and all the cool, unique things about different species. The rest of my books are with the same publisher because they enjoyed my first one so much, they asked me to write more!

photo provided by Carlee Jackson

Nurse Sharks and Green Sea Turtles are some of your favorite animals, can you give us your favorite fun facts about them and why they’re your favorites? 

 

Nurse sharks are my absolute favorite and I can talk about them all day!! They are sometimes called "puppies of the sea" by divers because of their lax and lazy behavior, usually found sleeping under coral and rock. But, when it comes to doing research with nurse sharks and restraining them for tagging on boats, they are the complete opposite of lax and lazy! I think that they rest at the bottom and build up their rage, because they come up very angry and hard to deal with, ha! They are very flexible sharks and can bend head to tail giving them a wide range of motion. They also have very muscular pectoral fins and use them to push themselves off the bottom...or to push themselves off our boat platform! We call it the nurse shark rodeo. I am a kindred spirit to nurse sharks as I also come off as very lax and easy going....until you try me and I flip on you! More fun facts: they use muscles in their face to pass water through their gills manually (called buccal pumping) so they can nap stationary on the seafloor. They also use this for sucking conch out of the shell. They also come in a variety of brown shades, we are trying to find out why that is!

Green turtles are actually not my favorite species of turtle even though I have a book on them! Loggerhead turtles are my favorite. Mostly because I've been bitten by a green turtle while working at a rehab center, haha. When I worked with sea turtles, loggerheads always stole my heart. They have gigantic heads, for perspective their head is almost the size of a leatherback turtle, the largest sea turtle at 600-2000lbs. Loggerheads only get up to about 300lbs!! Their jaw muscles are the size of large bicep muscles, so they have an extremely strong bite to crush through conch shells and other crustaceans. Another fact is that they have a very wide migration range, traveling thousands of miles to breeding grounds, foraging spots and to nest.

 

Photo by Ryan Geller on Unsplash

What has working with kids and doing events like the Kids Ocean Summit alongside Dr. Sylvia Earle been like to help inspire new generations to care about the ocean? 

 

Working with kids really reignites my passion and fuels me to keep going. They always show up with genuine curiosity, wonder, excitement and QUESTIONS! It brings me joy to introduce sharks and marine science to kids for the first time because you never know how that new knowledge and experience will impact them. I mean, it took 1 book to put me on my lifelong path to become a shark scientist, imagine what reading a book AND meeting a shark scientist could mean for a kid! It is very surreal to share space with Dr. Sylvia Earle who is an inspiration to millions and millions of people over the world. Being alongside her, a literal legend, inspires me to continue her legacy of being a badass woman scientist, conservationist and role model.

How have the other MISS co-founders Jasmin, Jaida and Amani inspired you?

Jasmin and I are the same age and she really inspires me to get my shit (excuse my language) together sometimes! She is such a phenomenal mentor, scientist, educator and friend. Jasmin is very resilient and inspires me to become a better leader, speaker and scientist in the field. I'm so lucky to call her my friend!

Side note, Jaida and Amani are a few years younger than me and Jasmin, which we actually found out in a funny way when me and Jasmin had no clue what they were talking about in regards to a YouTube homework helper account, after which we then realized we were absolutely not in high school at the same times, ha!

Jaida inspires me to be my fully authentic self. She has this bright energy about her all the time and really is a genuinely hilarious human. She also started her PhD program right around when we launched MISS and continues to juggle her program, MISS responsibilities and her growing science communication platform.

Amani is so smart and such a strong individual she inspires me to always keep going and believe in myself. She also is in her PhD program doing a phenomenal job.

photo provided by Carlee Jackson

What advice would you give someone who is passionate about science, nature etc but doesn’t feel comfortable taking up space due to lack of representation? 

 

My advice is to find community with people who can be your hype squad! Whether that be friends, family, online communities, clubs, social acquaintances, ect. If you don't feel comfortable taking up space in your passion-field, then you need some encouragement and a push to get you to step out of your comfort zone. The only way to take up space is to get uncomfortable first, but you can't do it on your own. I never would have felt comfortable taking up space in my field if I wasn't constantly encouraged and pushed to reach my goals. 

How can people who are maybe less directly involved in the science community help amplify and advocate for minorities in these spaces? Is donating to organizations like MISS a good place to start? 

Donating to minority-serving organizations like MISS is a great start! Volunteering time and resources to these organizations also is a great help. Spreading the mission of these organizations by word of mouth helps amplify our message and increases awareness on the barriers to access that many minorities face.

photo provided by Carlee Jackson