By Surj Rattan News Reporter

HIS LETTER of introduction said he was a marine biologist specializing in the behavior, ecology and life history of Indo- Pacific reef sharks and rays. His academic degrees include a bachelor of science in marine bi- clogy from the University of Queensland and a master of

» NORTH VANCOUVER marine biologist Richard Martin examines - the jaw of a shark. The Australian native has had several en-

Sunday, May 24, 1992 - North Shore News - 29

HIGH PROFILES Sharks: a hobby to sink your teeth into

science in coral reef ecology and ichthyology.

He sounds like he has been around for quite some time. So it would be natural for someone to do a double take when meeting Richard Martin for the first time — he is only 26 years old.

During a recent interview, Mar- tin gets up. from a chair and ex- tends his hand and greets his visitor by saying: ‘“G’day.”’ -

People from all walks of life have hobbies. They include paint-

NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

counters with sharks and has been bitten four times.

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“was:

ing, photography, reading and gardening.

And then there is Martin. His hobby is sharks. He has been studying the creatures since he was nine years old, when he undertook his first research project.

Martin recalls that he was play- ing in a swamp ir Australia and noticed two sharks heading towards each other on a collision course. While one shark continued to swim straight ahead, the other shark veered off.

“I wanted to know if there was any rhyme or reason as to which one veered off. So I started to in- vestigate,’’ says Martin.

His investigation would last 10 months.

Martin considers himself to be fairly lucky during his numerous encounters with sharks. He has provoked shark attacks on himself 81 times but has only been bitten four times.

“TI figure the odds have been very much in my favor. One time I was bitten by a bizarre Australian shark called the Wob- begong shark. One of the things that I used to do as a teenager to make money to help support my research projects was that I would

take tourists out to barrier reefs and explain about them.

‘*At the end of the trip I would go out to a particular shark that I had named Rosy and hand feed her,’’ says Martin.

On one occasion, Martin had fed the shark all six pieces of bait he had brought with him. When he swam back towards the sur- face, he felt pressure being applied to his right knee. It was the shark.

**] was told that if you push in either the nostrils or the eyes of a shark, it will Jet you go. I knew if someone poked me in the eyes I would bloody well let go.

“IT was running out of air very, very quickly so I pushed in Rosy’s eyes and she let go, and I made it to the surface.”’

Martin says he did not want his mother to find out he had been bitten by a shark so instead of go- ing to his family doctor for treatment, he went to a country doctor ‘‘about 1,000 years old.’”

The doctor failed to take an X-ray of the wound, and, as a result, part of the shark’s tooth still remains lodged in Martin.

**] said to him (doctor): ‘What, no stitches?’ And he said: ‘So, you wouldn’t tan right.’ ”’

Richard Martin: In his

What did you think about the movie Jaws?: ‘I thought it was great fun. I think the negative impact of the film is fairly ob- vious. In the mid-1970s when Jaws first came out to the mid- 1980s, sharks were thought to be sea-going homicidal maniacs.

“It's interesting to see how the film impacted North America as opposed to Australia. In Australia it was a fot of fun. But in America it seemed the reaction ‘God, that was scary. They’re (sharks) really out there.’”

“T think

the movie really

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touched a nerve. For a while it was a sad affair for the shark because it became a great macho thing to go out and kill a shark.” Is the Great White the most dan- gerous shark?: ‘1 don’t think so. The Great White is actually an endangered species. it’s only the second species of shark to be pro- tected.

“1 would guess that either the Tiger shark or the Bull shark would be the most dangerous. Probably the Bull shark. because it swims very close to shore.””

How did you get interested in sharks?: ‘‘Growing up in

@ NAME: Richard Martin @ AGE: 26

e@ OCCUPATION: biologist’

@ RESIDENCE: couver

@ BORN: Queensland, Australia @ FAMILY: Single

Marine

North Van-

Martin says sharks are very cautious creatures.

“The times I’ve been bitten is. comparable to two evenly matched boxers. Each is trying to see if they can exploit each other's wenknesses,’? says Martin. ‘A shark will come in and look you over, and if you show any inclina- tion that you will not go’ down without a fight then they will usually chicken out first.’

Martin also runs the non-profit organization called Reef Quest which he founded in 1981.

The organization is dedicated to the preserving coral reefs through research and promoting public awareness. .

He is also an opponent of the proposed commercial: shark fish- ery off the B.C. coast.

own words

Australia, particularly the Queensland coast, we were always shark-conscious.

“Parents over here might warn their children not to talk to strangers, don’t cross your eyes or they'll stay that way and, my favorite, always wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident. ©

“Well in Australia, my mom, when | went out to run around

‘the beach, would warn me about

the same three things every time: Watch out for snakes, watch out for sharks and watch out for

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