CONSERVATION THROUGH CAVES
“There are no monsters in the sea, only the ones we make up in our heads,” says Cristina Zenato, who has made it her mission to create an appreciation of sharks, and a desire to protect them.
Her website, Facebook and Instagram feed are full of images of her floating serene alongside sharks, touching and stroking them with obvious affection – before she digs in to remove hooks and parasites from their mouths. In addition to being a shark behaviorist and ecologist, speaker, writer and conservationist, Cristina is a passionate cave explorer, understanding first hand how caves “function as the subway of the underwater world”, connecting land and sea via interstitial zones like mangroves. Many of the cave systems she pioneered are now MPAs, and she is a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame. Cristina spearheaded the campaign that resulted in the full protection of sharks in The Bahamas, and founded the nonprofit People of the Water to widen the distribution of training, education, research related to ocean and environmental issues.
