Do I have to become a marine biologist in order to just study sharks?

Question

I would like to study sharks, like go scuba diving and film documentaries on sharks, and no other animal. How can I do this without having to go to school to be a marine biologist? Are there any programs specifically for people who want to study just sharks? And if anyone knows of any good books or doc.s about sharks please let me know. Thanks!

Answer 1

Sharks are not protected animals so you can jump in the ocean and study sharks all you want.  However, to get a paying job, unless you're willing to do all the grunt work and none of the actual research stuff, you'd have to have some form of credentials or whatever you studied won't be accepted or considered by the scientific community, any articles you wrote probably wouldn't get published, etc.  Any grant for shark research is based on someone having the proper credentials to do the study--and many of those grants state exactly what the support staff can and can't do (sometimes including being on the research boat).  Any work you do would have to be repeated by someone with degrees and they'd get all the glory and reward.  But you can study sharks all you want otherwise.  There are lots of people without degrees studying sharks (and other critters) already, could probably tell you stuff about sharks even the researchers haven't figured out yet.  But you never hear about them or their theories/discoveries because they don't get the recognition.

Answer 2

No, you could become an ichthyologist. You can't just walk in off the street and get any job you want. You have to earn it. If people could get any job they wanted without training, I would have spent my life as a beauty contest judge.

Answer 3

Most likely you'll have to go to school. Not only will you be learning about sharks, but it will increase the chance that you will get a job, and you'll get better pay than without a degree.

Your 13 so you have plenty of time to get experience. Volunteer/work at an aquarium, a natural history museum, marine animal rehab, work at a shark diving tour company, Go to a marine camp, etc.

http://marinebio.org/students.asp

Seacamp: Seacamp Association is a non-profit, marine science education facility located on Big Pine Key in the tropical Florida Keys adjacent to Looe Key and Florida's fragile coral reefs. Seacamp offers marine science education and summer camp experiences including SCUBA, sailing, board sailing, and arts & crafts to students from 12-17 years of age.

I hope these links will help. Good Luck.

Answer 4

It depends on what aspect of sharks you want to study.  Molecular biologists can examine things like relationships between sharks and other marine animals.  If you want to study shark behavior, a program that provides experience in animal behavior would be a plus.  Is there a reason you don't want to study marine biology?  It is probably the most appropriate field for what you to do, at least in the beginning.

It also depends on whether you want to be the one who leads the team, or you are content to be a helping hand (filming, etc.).  In any case, if I were a crew chief, I would want the people who are in the water to know something about that environment.  A degree is good cred.