It Was ALWAYS Safe To Go In The Water

I was interviewed recently by BBC Wildlife Magazine , alongside Steve Backshall and Bite Back, for a feature on shark conservation. I had a great time discussing why we still fear sharks, the role of the media, and how to reduce fear effectively in adults and chidren with interactive conservation events. You can enjoy the full article here:

It Was Always Safe To Go In The Water

 

The Changing Face of Marine Conservation

With the advent of social media, it is easier now more than ever to experience marine conservation and make a difference to the health of the ocean. In my article for Dive New Zealand magazine I explore the options available for people to get involved in conservation initiatives without necessarily leaving home. We can all make a difference! 

World Oceans Day: Help Make A Mermaid’s Dream Come True

There was a time when putting my face underwater brought on panic attacks and the feeling I would die, which is why I decided to train as a scuba instructor. Go big right?!As Mark Twain so elegantly put it…‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the one you did do. So, throw off the bowline. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.’I certainly threw off my bowline and dug deep, and frankly, I scared the life out of myself for the next three years. With hypnotherapy, crying in my dive mask often, and more visualisations than an Olympic athlete would use, I showed myself and the world that we can do anything if we have the courage to try. Anything at all.What did success look like?This….That moment was when I knew I’d made it and it was worth every tear and moment of terror.Fast forward two years, I herniated a disc in my back and found myself unexpectedly unemployed. Who knew sneezing was so dangerous? I needed a new challenge whilst recovering in bed, so started a marine conservation cause Friends for Sharks with my partner. We planned to give free talks to adults and children around the globe, making marine conservation accessible to all, and talking about the importance of sharks. All whilst raising money for two charities, without funding or an income for ourselves for 18 months. Small matters we’d deal with later, or so I hoped when I lay awake wondering what on earth we’d taken on. We spent the last of our savings on two round the world flights before we could back out.We started off not knowing what Twitter was, let alone how to plan a world tour. I still don’t know what Twitter is but we finished having completed 87 talks, in 8 countries, and having presented to over 7000 people.What did success look like?A lot like this…   With plenty of this…  A little bit of this…  More of this than we’d like…    And finally, this!   We can do anything if we have the courage to try. Anything at all.With that attitude in mind, I have entered the Miss Diving Specials 2017 competition to win a diving adventure. I would like to win so I can join that liveaboard, give shark conservation talks to new audiences, and show others what can be done with a pocket full of courage. I also want to win to take my husband on honeymoon, which is something we can’t afford to do and he dearly deserves some ocean time. That man, he’s amazing. Truly he is.To win, I need the most likes of my photograph at this link. It’s that simple and the current leader has 600 or so votes.Please will you vote for me? It will take less than 20 seconds to do and you might just make a mermaid’s dream come true.Let’s dream big and make this happen! 

Vote Here

 Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.Kathryn 

Place your vote at: https://premium.easypromosapp.com/voteme/811128/627152656

Sharks - Caretakers of the Oceans

A very proud day seeing my shark conservation article for Forest and Bird New Zealand in print. With over 70,000 members/readers, this will go some way to spreading the shark conservation message.Full article here: Caretakers of the Oceans

Say Goodbye to Single Use Plastics

The news about plastic in the ocean is unrelentingly bad, and although it’s difficult not to become overwhelmed by the scale of the problem, there are developments afoot to address it.When it comes to single use plastics, the numbers are staggering: 500 million single-use straws are used and discarded each day and 100 billion plastic bags are used annually in the United States alone. Given that plastic beverage bottles take 450 to 1,000 years to decompose (if at all), and plastic bags take approximately 1,000 years, it’s no surprise to hear the largest area of plastic debris in the ocean is estimated to be 3.8 million m² (10 million km²) in size.Read more of my latest article for Scuba Diver Life here: http://scubadiverlife.com/2016/05/15/13428/           

Mangrove Matters

When it comes to scuba diving it is hard to beat exploring colourful tropical reefs, history-filled wrecks, sun-dappled kelp forests and foreboding caves. Every scuba diver has their favourite type of diving but what of mangroves? What diving opportunities are there within mangroves and why should we care about these dwindling and vital forests?Read more in my latest article for The Scuba News.http://www.thescubanews.com/2016/02/17/mangrove-matters/

Living on a remote island, Cambodia - what is it really like?

I have been thoroughly enjoying the past two weeks of staying on a remote island off the coast of Cambodia whilst volunteering and lecturing with Projects Abroad. The island we are staying on is called Koh Sdach and it is a small island with a population of approximately 3000 people and zero tourists. The village consists of stilted houses that sit above the turquoise waters and there is no mains electricity, sewerage or mains water. We are utterly reliant on rainwater for our shower and toilet needs and it is rustic at its finest!We are here for three weeks to educate the volunteers, staff and local school children about the plight of sharks and we are having a fantastic time. Admittedly, living in 30+C heat and high humidity without air conditioning is a challenge but being a part of this friendly community is a great opportunity. It saddens me that the island has no waste management system and that the majority of the waste generated ends up in the oceans. There is literally plastic everywhere...on local beaches and on the beaches of neighbouring uninhabited Islands. There are discarded fishing nets on the reefs that are killing corals and all manner of other waste to be found.But, this is the good part, Projects Abroad are working hard to tackle this with regular beach and reef cleans up, by educating locals and by hopefully introducing a waste management system in the future. The diving is incredible here and the project is making a very real difference to the health of the coral reefs and the marine creatures that inhabit them.I hope you enjoy my insight into a week living and volunteering on Koh Sdach, including an underwater discovery that had the volunteers smiling all day long:http://www.mytripblog.org/pg/blog/cambodia-social-manager/read/408119/a-week-in-koh-sdach-cambodia-by-kathryn-hodgson-friends-for-sharks

http://www.mytripblog.org/pg/blog/cambodia-social-manager/read/408119/a-week-in-koh-sdach-cambodia-by-kathryn-hodgson-friends-for-sharks

Bula from Fiji!

It has been a busy and exciting three weeks for me, as I have been working with Nicholas alongside the staff and volunteers at Projects Abroad shark conservation project in Viti Levu, Fiji. I had been looking forward to visiting Fiji and, despite the utter lack of sunshine, it has been a wonderful experience.The Fijians are kind, friendly and welcoming people who offer bright smiles and greetings whenever you see them, even in the cities such as Suva. The island itself is covered with lush jungle greenery and is of course fringed by beautiful tropical beaches and the coconut palms that Fiji is known for. The river banks are home to mangrove forests, which are a vital ecosystem for the health of the oceans and many species of animal. I was fascinated to learn about the importance of mangroves during my time on Fiji and thoroughly enjoyed a day of mangrove reforestation - during which we planted 7000 mangroves! 

 It is our final two days on Fiji now before we begin a long journey to Kuala Lumpur that will fly via Melbourne, Auckland, Hong Kong and Singapore. I can't say I am looking forward to that many flights in one go but it'll be worth it when we reach Kuala Lumpur, where we intend to enjoy a week of sampling the city that is known for its fantastic cuisine.

Author Interview: Pukah Works

It has been a busy and exciting few weeks since I last blogged and that time has seen me say farewell to New Zealand and hello to sunny Melbourne, where I am currently based as part of our Friends for Sharks world tour. I have really enjoyed our time in Melbourne so far and have been teaching at Kunyung School in Mount Eliza, Melbourne and completed our 80th shark conservation event with SEA LIFE Melbourne. That fantastic event was an evening with Friends for Sharks and included champagne, canapes, our lecture and a  Q&A session in front of the shark tank. We really enjoyed our evening and it was staggering to think we had come to the other side of the world to be there (via various countries and 79 other events since January 2015). What a milestone for us. [gallery link="file" ids="371,372,373,374,375,376,377,378,379,380"]

I'd like to take a moment away from my travels though to introduce you to my latest author interview, which is with the author K.Caffee from Pukah Works. The questions for this interview were great fun to answer and very thought provoking. Read on to find out how I balance my writing with other activities, how No Damage came about, the books that have inspired me through life and more:https://pukahworks.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/author-interview-kathryn-hodgson/