ABOUT US
The INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE SHARK, in both 2009 and 2019, was conceived, created, and executed by The Shark Group, founded and led by the Sharkman of Malta, Alex Buttigieg. Ila France Porcher created the Let Sharks Live Group to discuss affiliated projects and raise public support.
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To join, please write to: the.year.of.the.shark@gmail.com
Alex The Sharkman is a retired Professional Scuba Diving Instructor with a great passion for sharks and marine conservation that started in the early 70's. Having started scuba diving at a very young age, it is no surprise that he would make it his profession. Since his early teens, he has been collecting as much data as possible about sharks, an interest he inherited from his brother. In the early 70's he saw the all time classic documentary by Peter Gimbel "BLUE WATER WHITE DEATH" and learned about Ron & Valerie Taylor and Rodney Fox.
He read about Rodney Fox and Henri Bource and how they fought to protect sharks after their near fatal accidents. Then came Eugenie Clark, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Al Giddings and John Stoneman whose documentaries inspired Alex to learn more about the underwater world.
In the early 80's Alex joined a Scuba diving club and later started working as an assistant in a local diving centre. Within a year, he became a certified Instructor. It was here that he was nicknamed "Sharkman" by his students and diving guests. In 1997 he set up his web site "Sharkman's World" dedicated to the education, conservation and protection of Sharks, and also initialized and spearheaded the campaign for the Great White Shark protection in Malta, a campaign that lasted for two years until September 1999, when the Maltese Government published the Laws that gave protection to the Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and also the Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus).
'The Sharkman' has dived with and studied sharks in the Red Sea, South Africa, Fiji and in Malta. He has also taken an active part in many international campaigns for shark conservation and protection. In 2001 "Sharkman's World" won the Best Personal Website Award in the Malta Web Awards and in 2003 founded Sharkman's World Organization. In 2007 Alex founded The Shark Group, an Internet based forum and also in the same year, Sharkman's World Organization became a member of the international Shark Alliance. In 2008, he was also the co-founder of the Let Sharks Live network, and together with Ila France Porcher, initiated the first International "Year Of The Shark - 2009" campaign. The success of the campaign plus the need for more conservation measures, Alex has teamed up with Ila once again to launch "The Year Of The Shark - 2019" campaign.
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He also collaborates with the Global Shark Attack File (USA), The Shark Research Committee (USA), The International Shark Attack File (USA), Australian Shark Attack File, and The Fishbase database.
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The Sharkman has co-authored two books, written various articles and contributed data and information for T.V. documentaries, scientific publications and books. He has also given many talks about sharks and their conservation both locally and abroad. He also writes poetry (see the page, A True Nightmare) and some of his works have also been published internationally.
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Website: Sharkman's World Blog: Sharkman's Blog
Ila France Porcher with Madonna, a favourite shark who was finned.
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When the several hundred reef sharks she knew so well were finned for the shark fin soup racket, she wrote down their story, a book entitled The Shark Sessions. Her next book, The True Nature of Sharks is a full scale examination of their natural behaviour and intelligence.
She has also published a book about sea turtle behaviour based on her years rehabilitating them, entitled, MERLIN: The Mind of a Sea Turtle. Articles include a variety of features about different aspects of shark behavior and conservation, especially in X-ray International Dive Magazine and Live Science, and several scientific papers. Other books are: Outwitted by Chickens: The Bird Who Killed the Tiger, The Spirit of Wild Ducks, and Birds are Impossible: The Supernatural Ways of the Fliers.
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Art website: http://ilafranceporcher.wixsite.com/wildlifeart
Author website: http://ilafranceporcher.wixsite.com/author
Shark Words blog: http://sharkwords.blogspot.com/
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These findings were presented at a conference on animal cognition at the Max Planck institute in Tutzing, Germany, in 2003, as the first evidence of thinking in sharks. Part of her study was subsequently published in the scientific journal Marine Biology, and she was dubbed “the Jane Goodall of Sharks,” for her documentation of their intelligent behaviour while giving a presentation about them at the University of Miami.
Ila France Porcher, who contributed the writing and graphics for the Year of the Shark in both 2009 and 2019, has studied wild animal behaviour all her life. When she began observing sharks underwater, she realized immediately that they were very different from the terrestrial animals we know best. So she launched a full scale study of their behaviour, as animals and individuals, that lasted fifteen years. Then she observed other species, including tiger sharks, for shorter periods.
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Thus she learned that sharks are thinking, and likely conscious animals.
Thanks to Jim Abernethy of Scuba Adventures, Florida, for the use of the video on the title page.