String of Pearls

Three generations of Australian women helping a lone warrior to save the disappearing Grey Nurse shark. 

‘I won’t die until it happens’ – the fighting words of octogenarian and legendary marine photographer, diver, film maker, oceanographer and conservationist, Valerie Taylor, who, among her many achievements, has spent more than half her life trying to protect one of eastern Australia’s most critically endangered marine species – the grey nurse shark.

Taylor started observing and filming the harmless, slow-breeders in the 1960s and achieved a world-first for sharks in 1984 – a protection order for what was left of the grey nurse population, slaughtered because people wrongly believed it was a useless, man-eating monster.

Despite that protection order, the species is nearing extinction.

And at 88-years-young, Valerie Taylor is not letting that continue. She’s made it clear, she won’t stop until their habitats are safe from fishing and other dangers. She’s launched a campaign named “String of Pearls”, to lobby governments to introduce an inter-connected chain of protected grey nurse habitats and aggregation sites from Queensland down to New South Wales. Some 50 small NO TAKE areas each not larger than 3 square kilometres, veritable pearls but together strung between the southern of coast of New South Wales and Southern Queensland providing safe passage for the sharks to migrate and breed.

Taylor says she thinks “it’s the best chance we have of saving not only a wonderful, harmless, magnificent looking shark, but also all the marine creatures living in those areas”

But she’s not fighting this battle alone. 

When Bridgette met her long-admired hero, Valerie Taylor, she cried and asked if she could call her Aunty. That launched a powerful bond between two determined and passionate women prepared to do whatever it takes to save the grey nurse shark and the marine environment.

Bridgette is not new to the cause; she’s spent the past 25 years working hard to protect and honour her deep ancestral connections to sea country on the Sunshine Coast.  

And she still gets emotional about the significance of joining Valerie on her String of Pearls campaign.

“It doesn’t get much better than doing this with Aunty Valerie. It’s a dream come true that will ensure the protection of our sea country, which is basically a maternity ward for the grey nurse shark. They’ve been migrating here to give birth forever”  

Bridgette also wants to set what she believes is a desperately needed precedent on the Sunshine Coast, by starting a sea ranger program that will patrol the waters to ensure the protection of the grey nurse and other vital marine animals.

 

When Sarah was 8, she did something that terrified most people – she saw the blockbuster movie, Jaws. But unlike most people, she found it inspiring – she wanted to be the shark expert in the movie and thought it unnecessary that the shark was killed. It’s still one of her favourite movies.

Sarah’s love of sharks had started two years earlier when she was 6 – even at that tender age she knew that sharks were overfished and wanted to spread the word that they needed to be saved.

She started diving at 14 and says Valerie Taylor was one of her role models.  

“And nine years ago, I moved to Australia for the diving and specifically Sydney’s Bondi where I started investigating the grey nurse – it all took off from there."

Sarah has a corporate job but uses all her free time to work as a grey nurse shark citizen scientist advocating for the critically endangered species through the Saving Norman project and Spot-A-Shark, which is being used to help lobby for the String of Pearls campaign.

Sarah is passionately dedicated to Valerie’s cause and says she can’t let her down.

 

Taylor grew up believing sharks were monsters, until she had her first encounter with one on the Great Barrier Reef when she was 12.  

That changed everything for the Queenslander, who started researching and advocating for the protection of sharks to her generation via social media, by joining groups such as Sea Shepherd, and by campaigning against shark nets and drum lines.  

“I learned the grey nurse is damaged by these programs, and that’s when I became involved with looking after the severely depleted species" Taylor said.

Now, at 15, she is still a determined shark activist who’s joined forces with her mentor and inspiration, Valerie Taylor in her String of Pearls campaign. "It’s incredible to see what Valerie alone has achieved and how much of a difference she’s already made."

 

All four women say they’re prepared to do whatever they can to save Australia’s east coast grey nurse shark.

They want everyone to know that the species is not a mindless predator, but instead, harmless with no recorded attacks on humans, and critical to the ecosystems of oceans, and ultimately the planet.  

And they’re hoping the String of Pearls campaign will set off a ripple effect that will raise awareness of the plight of all sharks globally.

Led by Valerie Taylor, they all know, the world needs sharks – but they don’t need us.