SHARKS DON'T SINK

A shark researcher discusses the challenges she has faced as a Black woman in a “toxic, white, male-dominated” profession.

Graham credits her angler father with instilling in her a love of the sea. As he taught her to fish, he reminded her to always “appreciate the ocean for the life and sustenance it brings us.” At the College of Charleston, the author majored in marine biology, a discipline that introduced her to the animals who became her research passion: sharks. The more she studied them, the more she realized that sharks, like people, were “feared, misunderstood, and brutal­ized, often without recourse; assumed to be threatening when so often we’re the ones under threat; [and] portrayed unfairly in the media.” After college, Graham earned a graduate research fellowship to Florida State, where she became involved in fieldwork on the critically endangered sawfish. At one point deep into her research, Graham, who had already been “fighting for space” and respect as a Black woman in the marine biology field, was forced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to turn over sawfish data she had been collecting to a white male marine biologist. Burned out, traumatized, and on the verge of giving up, she came into contact with other women marine scientists who helped her move out of academia and into nonprofit research. Among these women, two of whom were also Black, Graham was able to recover and help co-found Minorities in Shark Science, which provides “support for gender minorities of color in the field of shark biology and ecology in order to foster greater diversity in marine science.” Readers of this book will no doubt find Graham’s outspokenness and activist approach to creating opportunities for marginalized shark and marine researchers both inspiring and refreshing.

A fine celebration of determination in the face of significant professional obstacles.