Let’s talk about sharks; an interview with David Shiffman
The shark scientist shares his journey as a researcher, talks about sustainable fisheries management, and debunks a conservation conspiracy theory
David Shiffman has always been fascinated by sharks.
“At my master’s defense, my parents had smuggled to my advisor photos of four-year-old me with shark toys and shark t-shirts,” he admitted.
Shiffman now has a Ph.D. in Ecosystem Science and Policy and studies sustainable shark fisheries management at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, where he is a Liber Ero Postdoctoral Research Fellow in conservation biology.
He was quick to point out that sharks are not an uncommon fascination for a child.
“It seems like most kids go through either a shark thing or a dinosaur thing at some point in their lives, and I actually had both of those,” Shiffman said. “I had to pick one, and I chose shark.”
But Shiffman acknowledged that it was pretty rare for such an early passion to stick.
“A lot of people have this winding path with lots of valuable life lessons that they gained along the way that they can share,” Shiffman said. “Lots of people have succeeded in science as well as plenty of other fields coming from something else and realizing they didn’t like that other thing. So I’m somewhat unusual there.”
If you were at a bar and someone asked you about your work, what would you really want them to know?
“A lot of people…they hear the word shark and they’re terrified — they picture a scene straight out of Jaws, they picture a blood-thirsty, murderous, evil creature murdering their whole family,” Shiffman said. “And that’s not what sharks are.”
Much of Shiffman’s current research involves outreach and communication with various stakeholders in shark conservation, from fishermen to environmental nonprofits.
He says that while his work now is “very social science-focused,” his Ph.D. research allowed him to go into the field to sample, measure, and tag sharks a few times a month.
Having had so much hands-on experience with these creatures, Shiffman wants people to understand that they’re rarely a threat to humans. In fact, they’re essential to human prosperity.
“Sharks are actually really important to a healthy, functioning coastal ecosystem, and a coastal ecosystem is one that millions and millions of humans depend on for food and for climate,” he explained. “So when we lose those predators and that food web gets in trouble, it’s bad for people.”
Debunking conservation myths
As a researcher, Shiffman has seen a surge in pubic interest in sharks, and he’s been featured pretty frequently for his mixed feelings on Shark Week.
In fact, he said tracking how the public perceives sharks is one of the more rewarding aspects of his research.
“I like that part of my job is I get to not only talk to people about [sharks] but quantify it,” he said. “I can track trends in what people think about sharks over time and what sort of implications that might have for how we interact with sharks or how we protect sharks or how we fish for sharks and use them…I feel like I’m making a difference, as cheesy as that may sound.”
One trend that Shiffman has noticed is that, in some cases, people are taking conservation ideas too far.
Historically, a lot of environmental outreach has focused on communicating the serious threats to crucial shark populations and the importance of protective conservation policies. Sometimes what’s lost in this message is the fact that it’s possible to maintain a healthy shark population without banning shark fishing altogether.
“The conclusion that many people are inaccurately drawing — in some cases from misleading or even wrong outreach programs from fringe groups — is that all sharks are in super bad conservation trouble, and there’s no such thing as sustainable fishing, and fishermen are evil and scientists that work on fisheries management are bought off by evil industry and organized crime,” Shiffman explained.
Shiffman’s work in sustainable fisheries management directly counters this claim.
“The science is very clear that sustainable fisheries management can exist for sharks,” Shiffman said. “Those types of [sustainable fishing] policies are overwhelmingly supported by scientific experts, whereas banning all fishing, or banning the trade of shark products, are policies that people have concerns about.”
Who is Shiffman’s personal powerhouse?
“Someone who I really admire in my professional world is Sonja Fordham,” he said. “She is the president of a nonprofit group called Shark Advocates International — she’s on twitter @SharkAdvocates — and she’s been working in conservation for a long time.”
Shiffman said he’s especially grateful for Fordham’s mentorship in the area of public policy.
“One thing she’s done that I think is really great is she’s made herself available for scientists, particularly students, who have questions about the policy implications of their work,” he said. “She’s happy to answer questions before we go and say something stupid…that makes life harder for people who work in the policy space.”
Shiffman said he is happy to answer any shark questions on Twitter @WhySharksMatter.
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