‘Shark girl’ named Young Conservationist of the Year

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Meet the 24-year-old Young Conservationist of the Year on a mission to protect sharks from extinction.

Photo credit: Doug Falter

The photogenic Madison Stewart, honored recently by Australian Geographic, is from New South Wales, Australia and started scuba diving at 12. Instead of being scared by the sharks she encountered, she was fascinated by this intimidating creature.

Photo credit: Perrin James

“I just love them. I love the fear they instil in people. They are the badass animals with a real presence in the water – that’s what I love about them,” she said.

Photo credit: Perrin James

Madison, daughter of an explorer and scuba-diver, has observed a drastic decline in the shark population of the Great Barrier Reef, and has determined to keep them company and work in advocacy.

Photo credit: Perrin James

The young lady acknowledges the danger of sharks, but has never been hurt by one, thanks for lots of preparation before every dive.

“Sharks are very dangerous animals but I also think they're an enigma. There's so much information we can learn about sharks that can make us safer in the water. But sometimes we tend to ignore that danger and treat it like a monster instead of embracing it,” she said.

Photo credit: Juan Medina

Photo credit: Perrin James

Now an underwater filmmaker, Madison is against shark culling, hunting and eating, and always wants to stop people from profiting from sharks’ death.

“It’s an ineffective method to protect people [by culling sharks] – it’s an indirect killing of non-target species and it’s never worked in the past,” she said.

The conservationist is now working with the surfing community to study sharks, seeking a way for humans to share the ocean with them.