Life at the Shark Lab – Fieldwork, sharks and PB&J sandwiches by Intern Issy Crawley

When starting to write this blog, I honestly did not know where to begin. Over the past ten weeks, I’ve learned and experienced so much that it’s difficult to find the words to explain the experience I have had. I will do my best to put on paper some thoughts from my internship, but in case my main message gets lost, I will put it here first - if you are considering applying, do not hesitate. I can guarantee you will learn so much from the team here and will leave the internship with skills which you can carry with you into many different aspects of life. If you have an interest in the marine world, I can assure you the Lab will offer the opportunity to grow that interest and will surround you with like-minded people who share your passion. Living and working alongside so many individuals who are equally fascinated by the ocean made the lab feel like a second home.

Coming to the Lab, I had everything to learn, and it would only be fair to say my time here has been nothing short of phenomenal. After finishing university, like many people, I found myself feeling many opportunities were beyond my reach, that money was a bit tight, and that breaking into the marine world I wanted to be a part of seemed impossible. Many organisations appeared reluctant to offer early-career graduates the chance to gain hands-on experience and break into the working world. In all honesty, post-graduation, I felt rather shut off from the world of science I had spent 4 years involved in. 

The Shark Lab has really changed that completely for me. Here, I have been given the chance to expand my knowledge on sharks, connect with others who share my passion and learn more about running a field research station and conducting field research, all while being hands-on the entire time. 

From day one at the Lab, we were involved in every task, there was never any hesitation to allow us to participate. One thing about the Lab is that the more eager you are to learn, the more opportunities you’re given. One of my favourite parts of the internship was the trust we were given. Once we were shown how to do something, we were encouraged to take ownership and get on with it. I really loved being given the chance to try things and prove to myself that I can do majority of tasks I put my mind to when given the opportunity. Being an intern at the Lab is a chance to learn new things without being expected to be perfect at everything from the start, and I found this to be such a rewarding atmosphere. All the staff at the Lab want you to succeed, they’re eager for you to try and learn and this helped to push me out of my comfort zone and not hold back for fear of making a small mistake. 

Analysing BRUV footage and identifying fish with fish ID master, Captain Egg

During our first few weeks at the Lab, we began to learn how to ‘work up’ a shark in the field and how to analyse BRUVs ready for research and even how to fish. We assisted with ‘request a speaker’ presentations and visited several different snorkelling spots, ticking off, almost daily, experiences many people would have sitting on their bucket list. We also helped host an outreach day with a local school, which was a lot of fun and a nice introduction into the outreach and education side of the Lab’s work ahead of visiting colleges. 

Sharing our work with the local high school and taking them to see the baby lemons (Photo Credit @Maddelena Polla)

Going to the Florida Keys to begin a month of research, I was both nervous and excited. Having spent many hours behind a desk in a different kind of Lab, the opportunity to get my hands dirty and get out on a research boat was a very full-circle moment for me. It was a chance to become one of the researchers I spent so long reading about in research papers. I hadn’t realised that ‘fieldwork’ also meant becoming extremely familiar with the local soundtrack, ‘Conch Country’ music. By the end of week one, I could hum a few tunes. By week two, I was singing along. And by week three, I had the majority of songs committed to long-term memory. 

Again, as interns, we were immediately integrated into every single aspect of research, from handling the winch, to baiting hooks, making and repairing more gear, taking samples from sharks and processing the samples ready to be sent off. Being trusted with real responsibility was incredibly motivating and made me feel like a valuable part of the team.

The days out on the research boat were some of the toughest but most fun of the entire internship. This is where I discovered PB&J sandwiches for the first time and I tell you, they changed my life!! Conducting research became like clockwork. Everyone has a role, everything is fast-paced and methodical and although it could be a little stressful at times, the feeling after sampling shark after shark back-to-back is unbeatable. 

Some of the team in space buns - they’re good luck for catching sharks, but only if you pour some of your Spindrift over the side of the boat too! (Photo Credit @Chelle Blais)

By the end of each day, we would return half mermaid (perhaps less glamorous) covered in fish scales, salt, slightly sun bleached and more than ready for dinner, but always smiling. 

For anyone out there who feels, as I did, that it’s difficult to bridge the gap between graduation and working in marine science and that there is an unreal expectation for you to leave university already equipped with half a lifetime’s worth of experience, I can’t recommend the Shark Lab enough. 

The Shark Lab truly offers a springboard for you to build upon so many skills. If you give it your all and make the most of every opportunity, it may just be what you need to take the next step. My time here has certainly given me the final confidence nudge I needed to have faith in myself and my abilities to be a valuable member of the marine community. 

As someone who likes to be very organised, I always find myself thinking of ‘what’s next’. Before coming to the Lab, I also felt I needed to have the future career all planned out, that I needed to know exactly what I was going to do next. But one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned here is that going with the flow can be so much more rewarding. 

Plans change constantly, sometimes they are better and more exciting, sometimes not, but being at the Lab, I learnt to become so much more okay with that. That is something huge that I can now carry with me. I feel less pressure to have it all worked out and finish my internship ready to explore whatever comes my way, and excited to see how many different opportunities I may get involved in.

Something I learned early on is that your time at the Lab truly becomes what you make it. There are always new things to learn if you’re willing to put yourself out there. The Lab is filled with people who have incredibly diverse skills and backgrounds, all of who are genuinely excited to teach you if you show the enthusiasm. Being surrounded by such a wide range of knowledge makes every day feel like an opportunity, and the more you embrace that, the more you get out of your time here.

I will finish by saying the experience has been transformative, both personally and professionally and I know it’s only the beginning of my journey in marine science and conservation. If you’re thinking about applying, take the leap. You’ll gain more than research experience, you’ll find confidence, community, a broadened perspective and leave with a new appreciation for what it takes to be part of a remote team actively furthering our knowledge of life beneath the waves. 

The team out on a research trip in Florida (Photo Credit @Wyatt Albert)