Sharks4Kids Marine Science Hangout: Alison Kock

Welcome to March's Sharks4Kids Marine Science Hangout! Each month we connect with a different marine scientist or ocean explorer to learn about our oceans (spoiler alert, sharks might be featured once or twice!). Anybody can watch live and we'll pick 4-5 classes for each session to participate directly on screen with an unlimited number able to watch the live stream. 

Alison in her own words:

‘My goal is to be a marine biologist.’ This is the hand-made banner that I displayed above my desk all through high school. I have always wanted to be a marine biologist and was fortunate to have parents who fostered my love for the ocean. When I was very young I used to accompany my dad on boat trips to harvest crayfish. We would spend hours at sea, deploying nets and waiting for the crayfish to climb inside. When we retrieved the nets, it wasn’t only crayfish that we found, but small shysharks too. The little sharks would curl up into a ball with their tail covering their eyes and my dad instructed me to kiss them on the head and gently release them back into the water. When I did so, the shysharks would uncurl and swim back down to the bottom.

After high school I enrolled at the University of Cape Town to pursue my career in marine biology and at every opportunity I spent my free time scuba-diving and exploring the incredible underwater world around Cape Town. After my undergraduate degree I had the opportunity to go out on a white shark viewing trip to Seal Island. That was the first time I saw a great white shark launch itself two metres into the air chasing a Cape fur seal. I was hooked. I decided then and there that I was going to be the one to discover the answers to all the questions nobody could answer.

Following a four-year period when I worked as a field guide on the ocean with the sharks and in the terrestrial environment with other wildlife, I went back to university and initiated a research project on the behavioural ecology of white sharks in False Bay, which was one of the six inaugural projects funded by the Save Our Seas Foundation.

Seventeen years since my first great white shark sighting, I am still studying these sharks, now in the role of research manager for Cape Town’s pioneering Shark Spotters programme. I no longer kiss the sharks on the head, but I did achieve my goal and have my dream job.

The goal of Sharks4Kids is to create a new generation of shark advocates through access to a dynamic range of educational materials. Curriculum, games, activities, photos and videos from scientists, videographers and conservationists bring an exciting element into the classroom and show students the beauty of sharks and the ocean. A unique opportunity for the next generation to learn why sharks need kids and kids need sharks.

Creating the next generation of shark advocates through education, outreach and adventure!