"My Journey to the Lab: From Landshark to Sharkland" by Kate Meyer

My name is Kate Meyer, and I’m absolutely and irreversibly in love with sharks. I’m convinced I was supposed to be a fish instead of a human, and I’m never happier than when I’m covered in salt water with sand in my hair. 

Even though I come from the landlocked state of Vermont in the US, I fell in love with the ocean as soon as I got my SCUBA certification on a family vacation when I was 12.  The creatures of the sea fascinated me, and I found myself obsessed with the top predators that keep our ocean ecosystems in balance. I was saddened by news of their declining numbers and set my mind to pursue a career in shark research and conservation to benefit our fragile oceans.

It was during my junior year at the University of California, Berkeley when I first heard about the Sharklab in a documentary on killer whale/shark interactions that my parents saved for me on our DVR (look up “The Whale that Ate Jaws,” you won't regret it!). I had just returned from three months of marine biology courses abroad in Australia and was convinced that an ocean-related future was something I wanted to pursue. Directly after seeing this, I started and submitted my Sharklab application to intern the following summer, and then waited a few long months only to receive a rejection letter at the end of March. This was deflating, but I told them if something opened up to keep me in mind. I’m very glad I did that. After resigning myself to plan a summer of non-sharky volunteer opportunities, soon after I received a follow-up email from the lab saying that a spot had in fact opened up! I was invited to come work for the July - August slot. 

I’ve never dealt well with abrupt changes, and having to decide on coming to the Sharklab with ten days’ notice was one of the hardest, but easiest decisions I've ever had to make. It only took a few hours to smack the sense into me. I cancelled my family vacations. I left my horse to get fat and lazy over the summer. I made calls to back out of several local volunteer commitments.  I bought my tickets to Bimini that same night, promising myself I would not to take a single minute at the lab for granted. 

…

Because of the nature of my acceptance, I feel a strong drive to prove myself as a volunteer who deserves the privilege to work here. Myself and two other volunteers arrived at a funky time because the lab was undertaking a “deep clean.” To be honest, our first day and a half consisted of cleaning out closets and kitchen cabinets, and bleaching pots and pans.  When we aren’t cleaning or helping with chores around the house, we’re out in the field for long days of research. We quickly realized that all this hard work was just part of living and working at a research station. Everyone does it. This sometimes means tracking for sharks all day without finding a single one, or setting nets and walk-checking them for hours with the same lacking result.  Patience and persistence is the name of the game here--your attitude about the work you’re doing can change everything.

And then the staff and volunteers went out on a surprise reef shark dive, where we snorkeled with caribbean reef sharks circling around us...  

I definitely didn't enjoy myself. Not one bit. Psyyyyyche! Being at the Sharklab for these two short weeks has totally reaffirmed my passion for this kind of work. Through long days on the field, saltwater showers, and the tropical storms this summer, I am more enthusiastic than ever to be a part of shark research in the future.  I feel motivated to keep learning, and the people I met here inspired me to love and care for the oceans like I’ve always wanted. Less than a week after coming to the lab, I had to remind myself I’m actually just a country girl from a land of forests and green pastures instead of a beachfaring islander, because I'd felt so at home. I couldn’t ask for more in life than to be surrounded by people as excited about sharks as I am, and people so willing to spend nine hours a day working in the hot sun while suffocating on mosquitos, all in the name of shark research. Plus now I’m really, really tan.

Thanks for reading!

Kate Meyer
Sharklab Volunteer, July 15th to August 15th, 2014