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We are so excited that our team member @kewinloren

We are so excited that our team member @kewinlorenzen has been elected as the next @waterproofinternational ambassador.
Waterproof has been supporting the work of our founder for nearly a decade and we are honored that they have extended the support to Kewin. Cristina and Kewin continously work and volunteer to explore, research, to provide vital information in the fields of shark, ocean and cave conservation. Read more about Kewin in our link in bio
#exploration #education #conservation

#Repost @cristinazenato, such an important message

#Repost @cristinazenato, such an important message.
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“Killer” “deadly” “massive”
Two lines and yet they managed to include three negative words describing an event that to me appears to be natural and let’s not forget from the headlines themselves “rare”
A dead porpoise shows up with a bite mark. Let’s not forget the “feared to be patrolling”part. Two important facts here. Sharks live in the water and as such move anywhere it reaches. They don’t lurk nor patrol, they just swim and live there. Sad as it may be we don’t have the cause of death; however we know that a shark will scavenge on the dead body of a marine animal, which looks to me as a more plausible event. The same event is also rare, so why demonizing something that is part of nature? Again for the sake if bait click headlines, and not with the intent to report an event. Time to mind the language, educate and dismantle unfounded fears and bogus information, bring back journalism not sensationalism!
With @bite_backsharkconservation Mind Your Language campaign.
#exploration #education #conservation

A lot of our team’s work is not only underwater

A lot of our team’s work is not only underwater but also underground-underwater. Cave diving is a highly skilled, equipment intensive, mentally demanding activity and @cristinazenato and @kewinlorenzen spend countless hours exploring, mapping, understanding the intricate webs of these tunnels to provide vital information about fresh water supply, relationships to other eco-systems and need to protect them from above and below. #exploration #education #conservation
Image of Cristina by Kewin while laying line for a 3D project under the Bahamas National Trust permit

Our team @cristinazenato and @kewinlorenzen joined

Our team @cristinazenato and @kewinlorenzen joined the conch farming project of East End Grand Bahama to learn more about conch, their role in the environment, development , care and conservation needs. A vital component of the Caribbean reef conchs are sustaining incredible pressure from overfishing and being picked before mature age. @queenconchlab together with @bahamajewel and @gailwoon under the partnership of @bahamasnationaltrust and @harborbranch lead a week long workshop with local fishers and stake holders to create pens and educate this staple resource of The Bahamas. #exploration #education #conservation Image @queenconchlab

Don't forget to tune in today for Cristina Zenato

Don't forget to tune in today for Cristina Zenato Underwater Explorer Diving Talks - Portugal 2021 presentation "Shark World"
Due to travel circumstances, Cristina is going to present remotely on panel two. Tune in at 9:00 am EST through this link in bio. The morning will start with Phil Short followed by Cristina's presentation and Jill Heinerth. All three will be avaiable for Q&A at the end of the sessions.
#exploration #education #conservation

Knowledge is power. @cristinazenato writes for DIV

Knowledge is power.
@cristinazenato writes for DIVER magazine about debunking shark myths. Once we understand more, we will fear less.
#exploration #education #conservation
Read it by subscribing with link in bio
Image @kewinlorenzen

We are so grateful for @shelbyreef support. For ev

We are so grateful for @shelbyreef support. For every purchase Shelby Reef donates to three different nonprofits supporting work in shark conservation and education. Head over to their account to view all the beautiful “sharky” items. #exploration #education #conservation

Small actions count; sometimes our team finds an i

Small actions count; sometimes our team finds an incredible amount of the same item while walking the beach. It would interesting to have a database where to log in all the finds and know how to track them based on currents or weather. In this image @cristinazenato found over 40 of these bottles with writings from an eastern culture. Some of the bottles were also all packed inside garbage plastic bags. While it is prohibited to dump plastic, enforcement in international waters is practically inhexistent; still it is still very much a concern how much vessels can dump within certain distances, as if being away from shore won't cause lasting effects to the rest of the ocean, ecosystems and as proved by all the plastic we routinely pick up on the beach, our lives.
#exploration #education #conservation

The dream team is at it again, several hooks remov

The dream team is at it again, several hooks removed from different sharks from our @kewinlorenzen and @cristinazenato
We are so happy when we can make a difference for each of the individuals we spend time with every day. A perfect example of how one person can make the difference in this world. #exploration #education #conservation
As always thank you @neptunic_com for the great support in our work.

Today is International Coastal Cleanup day! Our te

Today is International Coastal Cleanup day! Our team, @cristinazenato and @kewinlorenzen clean up every time they go to the beach making coastal clean up day an every day event. We don't need to go to the beach to clean up our plastic, we can clean up from where we are. The best way to prevent plastic from entering the oceans is to reduce our use of the single use, clean our streets and our roads, rivers and waterways leading to our oceans. The effects of our pollution will reach way further than we have physically been. Ask our two explorers who have found plastic remains in unexplored caves, so deep inside the tunnels and so wedged in that they could not even reach it to pick it up.
#exploration #education #conservation
Image one: Kewin with a load of party balloons from one beach walk. Want to implement one change? Stop the use of party balloons and teach our children to decorate in more sustainable ways.
Image two: Cristina never brings a bag or container to the beach as she knows she will find enough to fill with other pieces
Image 3 Cristina approaches a floating bottle in the depths of a cave system discovered and explored in 2020, one of the many pieces removed by the team during the dives. Image by Kewin

Education is the key to conservation and it comes

Education is the key to conservation and it comes in different formats. We are so proud of the collaboration with @sharktopia and the creation of coloring pages for children and adults. You can download these and more for free with link in bio. #exploration #education #conservation

#Repost @cristinazenato with @make_repost
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When speaking on behalf of sharks I always choose the positive and beautiful images of the sharks I spend a lot of time with.
Unfortunately sharks are not doing well! comprehensive survey of sharks, rays & chimaeras finds 37% of 1199 species now classify as threatened on https://iucnrle.org
"The conservation status of the group as a whole continues to deteriorate, and overall risk of extinction is rising at an alarming rate" - lead author Nick Dulvy.
An incredible high rate of beautiful and healthy images of sharks that a lot of programs and photographers propose to their audience come from my backyard, The Bahamas. There is a reason why the world travels here to capture these images. Shark in The Bahamas have been fully protected since 2011.
Not so in most parts of the world. I am reaching out to my European friends to support the #StopFinningEU campaign.
The aim of the campaign is to ask the extension of the Fins Naturally Attached regulation to import, export and transit of shark and ray fins in the EU in order to make shark fin trade not economically sustainable. In order to do so the democratic tool of the EU Citizens' Initiative was chosen, it allows citizens to ask a concrete legislative modification to the EU Commission provided that 1 million votes are collected in the EU.
In order for StopFinningEU to succeed we need 1 million votes by Jan 22 and right now only 285k people have voted. It is really important to let people know about this initiative in order to get to a shark fin trade ban as the ones obtained in the US and in the UK.
Follow @stopfinningeu, sign (you have to be a EU citizen to sign) support and share.

Image taken at Tiger Beach, Grand Bahama Island of three tiger sharks with @isotta_underwater_housings

Fear of the unknown is perhaps our greatest fear.

Fear of the unknown is perhaps our greatest fear. While caution is a useful instinct, we lose many opportunities and much of the adventure of life if we fail to support the curios explorer within us.
Rick Witter swims through the tunnels of Svarthalfheim, one of the two major systems our team, @cristinazenato and @kewinlorenzen discovered and mapped during 2020. Understanding where these tunnels go and how they are affected by human and natural intervention is vital to their direct conservation and to the protection of critical areas they come in contact with.
#exploration #education #conservation
Image @cristinazenato

Our founder @cristinazenato has accepted the invit

Our founder @cristinazenato has accepted the invite from Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation to become an ambassador for the campaign MIND YOUR LANGUAGE, calling on media to stop demonizing sharks and only report accurate shark encounters, together with Steve Backshall and Wendy Benchley.
Through this campaing they will continue to address the incorrect use of words and at times images to portray shark encounters or shark appearances in what is their home the ocean. Education is the key.
#exploration #education #conservation

Our team, @kewinlorenzen and @cristinazenato had t

Our team, @kewinlorenzen and @cristinazenato had the opportunity to visit Sandy Cay off the coast of Grand Bahama island to assess the situation with a group of local stingrays and juvenile lemon sharks and the presence of hooks in their mouths and bodies.
Together with Keith Cooper, of West End Eco-Tours Bahamas, they have received permission to devise a system to remove hooks from these animals. We are so happy to be able to contribute to solve this issue.
#exploration #education #conservation

Have you ever heard of the "Star Thrower" story by

Have you ever heard of the "Star Thrower" story by Loren Eiseley?
It is the foundation upon which our small team, @cristinazenato and @kewinlorenzen base their work in #exploration, #education and #conservation. Fueled by the belief that one person can make a difference, they single handedly tackle numerous actions at any given time. Part of their work is to remove hooks from the local sharks they dive and work with. While it may appear as an inconsequential action, as they cannot reach all the sharks in the world, their work has taught many to appreciate sharks as living, breathing creatures, who can suffer and are subjected to pain like anyone else. It has created a desire to want to protect sharks. While we recommend to not trying to remove hooks from random sharks met on dives, we encourage the promotion of conservation, through small actions in personal lives, from reducing plastic and other forms of pollution, being aware of our carbon foot print, changing our diet to lower our seafood intake and to push for better legislation in the areas we live in to protect sharks and rays.
Image by Mae Dorrikott

It may not appear as the most glamorous part of ou

It may not appear as the most glamorous part of our work, but it's the fundemental part of our mission. We are proud to support education through the world on subjects regarding ocean and shark conservation, cave exploration and women in STEM.
Your donations help us continue our mission. Contact us through link in bio to book yours.
#exploration #education #conservation

Our oceans suffer tremendously from the “out of

Our oceans suffer tremendously from the “out of sight, out of mind”
Many of us love the ocean, the sound of the waves, the salt of the air, the sense of peace that it may bring but we need to create a much deeper connection to the 71% of our Planet. We need to understand that oceans are the key to climate and life, they are the most important producers of the oxygen we breathe and they regulate the lives of millions dependent from them. Without healthy oceans we can’t have healthy lives and everything we do, even when not connected to them, has an effect.
Education is a fundamental key to understanding and to protecting.
#exploration #education #conservation
Image @cristinazenato

We want to thank you for all the donations receive

We want to thank you for all the donations received through your purchases in our little online store. It is set up to create items on demand, hence there is a little extra time to wait when you order. Every little bit helps and your monthly purchases last month covered for five different classroom presentations. Thank you so much!
#exploration #education #conservation
Link to the shop in bio

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my w

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
Following the recent misinterpretation of an event from the news, I started to think about the sensationalistic language used to describe sharks and their behavior. Here are some of the words I believe should leave our vocabulary.
Aggressive: I am frequently asked which species are more aggressive than others. That word implies intent, and sharks are just animals designed by nature to function in a certain way. We would never consider our dog eating out of a bowl with no table manners because they cannot use a fork and knife. The same goes for the sharks; their behavior is part of their genetic code.
A similar consideration goes for the word Vicious (deliberately cruel or violent). It carries an even heavier negative connotation with a high anthropomorphic interpretation of behavior. A cheetah running after an antelope and killing by biting the neck to cause death is not vicious. It has no other intent than survival through eating, not an intent to harm the animal for cruelty.
My all-time NOT favorite it's Shark Infested Waters. It's like saying trees infested forests. The oceans do not belong to us; they are home to various creatures, including sharks, where we can venture and enjoy but cannot live. Sharks don't infest waters, sharks live there.
Shark Attack follows as another incorrect description of encounters. Most of the shark encounters, millions of them, are positive encounters. There have been more people in the water with sharks without them even knowing the sharks were present. The negative encounters for humans by sharks are rare; the same cannot be said for sharks encountering humans.
Last but not least in my list is the Man-eating [...] Sharks do not eat people, they were here a few 100 million years before us, and humans are not on their diet. Sometimes sharks accidentally bite a human, rarely the encounter is fatal, and for the majority, the shark swims away after the confusion. I am not diminishing the results of a shark bite to a human, it is a traumatic experience, but the animal is not a man-eating...
"Opening the limits of our language will open the limits of our world." #education

What is conservation? #Repost @cristinazenato wi

What is conservation?

#Repost @cristinazenato with @make_repost
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On many occasions I receive messages and questions from people interested in contributing to conservation.
The general feeling is that they need to do something special, or different or work directly in the field like I do in order to be considered conservationists.
But in truth what is conservation?
A widely, maybe sometimes too widely used word, conservation has become an abstract word many feel they cannot fulfill.
Conservation is the realization that our actions have reactions, that our presence on this planet and our way of living has had and will continue to have an impact on the creatures and environments around us. It is the realization that every single move we make can have an impact and that needs to be mitigated or changed to avoid the damage.
The problem is, we are so disconnected from nature that we think that conservation is a separate action during a specific day: I wake up and make breakfast, I go for a run or walk, I respond to email, I work on conservation, then I continue with my day, my lunch, my gym, my movie theatre, or planning my trip, shopping, eating out.
Conservation is a life style; every one of us is a conservationist. A small action is better than no action. Each and every one of us can contribute to the improvement of how we establish ourselves on this planet. And it does not require far away expeditions, drastic actions or incredible life changes. Conservation starts on our doorstep as we enter the house, it continues in every day choices we make and in the way we approach life in general. And it can be as much as one change, one choice and one action.
Image created with Elisa Areano eareano after picking up garbage from the beach, primarily party baloons and fishing nets, to bring awareness to how our small actions can have big impact in this world.
#exploration #education #conservation

@cristinazenato will join a panelist of incredible

@cristinazenato will join a panelist of incredible explorers to discuss #exploration at the next virtual event @asiadiveexpo
To join check link in bio

We partnered with @delanecooper , an amazing artis

We partnered with @delanecooper , an amazing artist for the creation of Thrive the Five. The sales of this unique pendant will support our first scuba scholarship for one Bahamian girl 12 years or older to become a certified diver. Inspired by our founder @cristinazenato Thrive the Five tells a beautiful story you can read link in bio.
#exploration #education #conservation

@cristinazenato is conducting a week of educationa

@cristinazenato is conducting a week of educational postings about cave diving, answering some repeated questions and trying to dispel some of the myths related with this activity

Did you say a bunch of wet rocks?
Following some of the comments I received in my recent post, it appears that the average impression from people when speaking about cave diving is that we go and look at a bunch of wet rocks, and in a jockingly way that is exactly what we do. The reality is that we are looking at nature's masterpieces while also reading the geological story of our planet while gliding through it. These giant crystal decorations were formed during the ages when the sea level was as much as 400ft below the current level and the caves were hollow passageways where rain water mixed with the organic matter on the surface found its way throught the limestone levels (bedding planes) and drop by drop, inch by inch grew these amazing decorations. Cave diving is swimming through that history book and admiring the intricave creations, one never like the other.
As mentioned, cave diving training is important for the safety of the diver (next post I will concentrate on the specific cave skills but it's also fundemental for the safety of the cave. If the diver touched some of these delicate formations they would shatter like a crystal glass dropped on a hard floor, forever lost. Gear, body, fins, hand and head positions, how to swim in, how to turn, how to swim out are all techniques mastered in less delicate environments prior to venturing into these breathtaking places.
@kewinlorenzen admires a very delicate portion of the North Tunnel in the Old Freetown system, Grand Bahama Island
#exploration #education #conservation
@kissrebreathers @waterproofinternational @scubapro @diveshearwater @lightmonkeyofficial @fourthelementdive

This is what #education is all about #Repost @cr

This is what #education is all about

#Repost @cristinazenato with @make_repost
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How do we conquer our fears? By facing them. And it’s never too late to start. It was an amazing experience to share the world of my sharks with William Shatner, @williamshatner and to watch his desire to journey from fear to understanding during the Shark Trek program on @sharkweek
A wonderful, kind and sharp mind human being, I will always treasure to have had the opportunity to spend time with.
#exploration #education #conservation
@neptunic_com @scubapro

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