loader from loading.io

Should bull sharks be culled? The truth behind shark bites and how people can actually stay safe

How To Protect The Ocean

Release Date: 01/28/2026

Should bull sharks be culled? The truth behind shark bites and how people can actually stay safe show art Should bull sharks be culled? The truth behind shark bites and how people can actually stay safe

How To Protect The Ocean

Should bull sharks be culled? Shark bites spark fear, outrage, and calls for action, but the real question is whether killing sharks actually makes people safer. In this episode, we unpack why bull shark incidents happen, what science tells us about risk, and why quick emotional reactions can lead to decisions that do more harm than good. Bull shark attacks are tragic and serious, but one surprising insight from this episode is that bull sharks often bite because they cannot clearly see what is in front of them. Murky water, river runoff, and warm summer conditions dramatically increase...

info_outline Ethical climate storytelling: How honest stories move people from fear to action show art Ethical climate storytelling: How honest stories move people from fear to action

How To Protect The Ocean

Ethical climate storytelling asks a hard question that most climate conversations avoid: why do so many people shut down when the science is clear and the stakes are high, and how do we tell stories that actually move people to care and act. In this episode, we explore how ethical climate storytelling can reconnect audiences to climate issues without fear, guilt, or manipulation, and why this approach matters for protecting the ocean and the communities that depend on it. Climate communication strategy often defaults to urgency and catastrophe, but our guest explains why that approach can...

info_outline Who Decides Offshore Drilling, And Why Coastal Communities Pay the Price show art Who Decides Offshore Drilling, And Why Coastal Communities Pay the Price

How To Protect The Ocean

Who Decides Offshore Drilling is the central question behind decisions that shape coastlines for decades, yet are often made by people who never have to live with the consequences. This episode breaks down how offshore drilling decisions are made far from the coast, why public input often feels symbolic, and how risk quietly shifts from decision-makers to coastal communities. Offshore oil and gas leasing sounds like a technical process, but the impact is deeply human. Through firsthand voices from across the US, this episode reveals a surprising truth: once an area is leased, the future of...

info_outline Cook Inlet Offshore Oil Drilling: Why Alaskans Are Questioning Another Generation of Fossil Fuels show art Cook Inlet Offshore Oil Drilling: Why Alaskans Are Questioning Another Generation of Fossil Fuels

How To Protect The Ocean

Cook Inlet offshore oil drilling is being pushed forward through new federal lease plans, but the people who live closest to these waters are asking a hard question: who really benefits, and who takes the risk. In this episode, we unpack why Cook Inlet matters so deeply for salmon, beluga whales, and coastal communities, and why offshore drilling decisions made far from Alaska can have permanent local consequences. Alaska offshore oil and gas leasing has shaped the state’s economy, politics, and identity for decades, and that history still influences how people talk about jobs, revenue, and...

info_outline Distant water fishing fleets are stripping the ocean bare and the new high seas treaty may be our last chance show art Distant water fishing fleets are stripping the ocean bare and the new high seas treaty may be our last chance

How To Protect The Ocean

Distant water fishing fleets are operating just beyond national borders, pulling massive amounts of squid from the ocean with almost no rules, and this episode asks a simple but urgent question: can the new high seas treaty stop ecological collapse before it is too late? Off the coast of Argentina, hundreds of vessels gather in international waters to exploit a regulatory loophole, threatening a keystone species that supports whales, seabirds, and entire food webs. What happens here does not stay here, it affects global fisheries, biodiversity, and the seafood on our plates. High seas squid...

info_outline Hidden costs of seafood: Why “Sustainable” Tuna Is Being Paid for by Taxpayers show art Hidden costs of seafood: Why “Sustainable” Tuna Is Being Paid for by Taxpayers

How To Protect The Ocean

Hidden costs of seafood are shaping the global tuna industry in ways most people never see, and this episode asks why it matters for the ocean, workers, and anyone who buys seafood. Hidden costs of seafood raise a simple but uncomfortable question: if an industry cannot survive without public money, can it truly be sustainable, and who is paying the price behind the scenes? Tuna fishing subsidies are at the center of this story. Drawing from new peer-reviewed research, this episode breaks down how fuel tax exemptions and government support keep European tuna fleets operating, even when they...

info_outline This ocean place will help protect the planet, but we need to do something to help it show art This ocean place will help protect the planet, but we need to do something to help it

How To Protect The Ocean

This ocean place will help protect the planet but it is disappearing faster than scientists can track it, and that puts climate goals, food security, and coastal protection at risk. In this episode, we explore why seagrass meadows are one of the most powerful and overlooked ecosystems on Earth, and why failing to measure them properly could undermine global conservation and climate efforts. Seagrass conservation and climate solutions are deeply connected, yet monitoring these underwater meadows has been inconsistent and fragmented around the world. We break down why scientists have struggled...

info_outline Ocean carbon sequestration: The climate solution hiding in seaweed forests show art Ocean carbon sequestration: The climate solution hiding in seaweed forests

How To Protect The Ocean

Ocean carbon sequestration is failing because we are ignoring one of the ocean’s most powerful climate allies, seaweed forests, and that blind spot could cost us precious time in the fight against climate change. This episode asks a simple but urgent question: how can one of the fastest-growing, most productive ecosystems on Earth still be missing from climate policy? Seaweed blue carbon challenges everything we think we know about how the ocean stores carbon, because kelp forests do not lock carbon in place, they move it. Scientists are now tracking how seaweed captures carbon near the...

info_outline How Scientists Detect Ocean Life From a Single Bottle of Seawater and Why It Could Change Ocean Protection Forever show art How Scientists Detect Ocean Life From a Single Bottle of Seawater and Why It Could Change Ocean Protection Forever

How To Protect The Ocean

How Scientists Detect Ocean Life is one of the biggest challenges in ocean conservation, because we cannot protect what we cannot see, measure, or even prove exists. How Scientists Detect Ocean Life using environmental DNA asks a powerful question: what if a simple bottle of seawater could reveal more species than divers, cameras, and nets combined, and what does that mean for how we protect the ocean? Environmental DNA ocean monitoring is changing how scientists understand marine biodiversity, especially for rare, shy, or hard-to-detect species. In this episode, you will learn how tiny...

info_outline Human Relationship with the Ocean: Why Losing This Connection Could Cost Us Everything show art Human Relationship with the Ocean: Why Losing This Connection Could Cost Us Everything

How To Protect The Ocean

Human Relationship with the Ocean begins with a simple but uncomfortable question: how did humanity become so disconnected from the very system that makes life on Earth possible, and why does that disconnection matter right now? This episode explores how the ocean is treated as a distant resource rather than a living, planetary force, and how that mindset shapes policy, economics, and everyday decisions that quietly accelerate ocean decline. Ocean Literacy is more than knowing facts about marine life, it is about understanding how deeply human survival, culture, and identity are tied to the...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Should bull sharks be culled? Shark bites spark fear, outrage, and calls for action, but the real question is whether killing sharks actually makes people safer. In this episode, we unpack why bull shark incidents happen, what science tells us about risk, and why quick emotional reactions can lead to decisions that do more harm than good.

Bull shark attacks are tragic and serious, but one surprising insight from this episode is that bull sharks often bite because they cannot clearly see what is in front of them. Murky water, river runoff, and warm summer conditions dramatically increase confusion for these sharks, making humans more vulnerable without the sharks intending to target people.

Living with sharks means accepting that the ocean is not a controlled environment. The emotional moment in this episode comes from recognizing that fear-driven solutions like culling may feel satisfying, but they do not reduce risk and can damage ecosystems that keep oceans healthy and predictable for everyone.

Support Independent Podcasts: https://www.speakupforblue.com/patreon

Help fund a new seagrass podcast: https://www.speakupforblue.com/seagrass