It’s only fitting that the sixth annual Shark-Con wrapped up on National Shark Awareness.
Spreading awareness through shark science, conservation efforts, education and art were at the heart of this year’s convention held at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa on July 13-14.
This year’s Shark-Con offered an array of shark-related activities suitable for both adults and kids including interactive exhibits courtesy of the Florida Aquarium, Sea World and the Clearwater Aquarium, as well as fossil digs, slides, bounce houses and rides.
Saturday’s highlights included a Spongebob Squarepants panel featuring Rodger Bumpass (Squidward) and Lori Alan (Peal Krabs), and a special Shark Attack 20th anniversary panel with actor Ernie Hudson.
Sunday featured a Jaws-themed panel with guests Joe Alves (designer of Bruce the shark, assistant director – Jaws, Director – Jaws 3D), Jeffrey Voorhees (Alex Kitner) and Susan Backlinie (Chrissie), and an OCEARCH panel with Dr. Bob Hueter and captain Brett McBride. Sunday also featured an exclusive screening of Mako Shark Evolutions: A Guy Harvey Expedition followed by a Q& A with the director George Schellenger.
Shark Week veteran and executive director of the Atlantic Shark Institute Joe Romeiro’s priority was to raise awareness for the mako shark.
Speaking of shark awareness, SharkBytes founder Eric Knox talked to us about his new app that lets users track shark-related incidents from around the globe. The SharkBytes app helps users stay informed of any shark bites at their local beaches while at the same time educating them about the the sharks themselves. For more, read their guest column here on Sharkophile.com
For University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine Science’s Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, his goal is to help instill scientific literacy in the next wave of possible shark researchers through educational outreach programs in classrooms.
For many of the exhibitors at the convention, the focus was on raising awareness for legislative initiatives that can affect the conservation of sharks. For Oceana, it was the organization’s push to pass the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act currently working its way through the U.S. House of Representatives.
Fins attached founder Fins Attached founder and CEO Dr. Alex Atoniou is putting his efforts into funding research missions to help aid in legislative initiatives that can protect sharks through their range of migration.
The Shark Conservation Fund, a collaboration of philanthropists dedicated to solving the global shark and ray crisis, was there to raise awareness and funds for what it called “big picture” issues facing sharks.
Many of the exhibitors used their art to help spread awareness. Jewelry designer Brooke Kanani showed off some of her creations as part of the OCEARCH exhibit. Kanani has currently partnered with the shark research organization with 20% of every purchase of one of Kanani’s pieces going toward their shark tagging and tracking efforts.
If you saw Sharkophile at this year’s event and wondered “where can I get one of those awesome shirts?” Here is your chance. Check out our full selection of long-sleeve performance fishing shirts available while you are there. Proceeds from every shirt sold help support our mission to provide the latest shark-related news, photos and videos.
If you haven’t already, please follow along on Twitter and Instagram to relive all the updates and photos from Shark-Con, and don’t forget to like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Sharkophile for the latest news and exclusive interviews with shark celebrities and experts.
To read Sharkophile.com’s recap of last year’s Shark-Con 5, click here.