Page 44 - Headingtonian Magazine 2017

THE HEADINGTONIAN 2017
ALUMNA SPOTLIGHT
SWIMMING WITH SHARKS
FRANCESCA TROTMAN
(2011)
44
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When I was 13, my family took their first non-European holiday to Barbados. One morning, my parents said ‘We’re going to take you scuba diving. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and you’ll probably never do it again...’ Little did they know it would change my life forever.
As soon as I entered the ocean on my first dive, I knew this was my destiny. I devoured Jacques Cousteau and David Attenborough documentaries.
I remember watching one particular documentary on the ‘flying sharks
of South Africa’ which fuelled my obsession with sharks. I had always thought they were cool creatures but I began to read more and more about them and they fast became my favourite animal. I completed my Advanced Open Water Certificate when I was 16 and went on to study Marine Biology with Oceanography at the University of Southampton.
At the end of my 2nd year, I secured an underwater photography internship in Guinjata Bay, Mozambique. While I was there, I witnessed at first hand the slaughter of sharks for the commercial value of their fins. The killing struck a chord with me and I began to monitor the shark fisheries every day.
I decided this would be the subject of my Masters dissertation and
on my return to England, I asked Dr Ken Collins, a shark and whale specialist, to be my dissertation supervisor. Ken helped me recruit 3 students who came to Mozambique with me in the summer of my 3rd year to collect 4 months’ worth of shark fisheries data. We experienced some heart wrenching sights that will stay with me forever.