Shark Whisperer: Meet the woman who dives with sharks everyday

While many of us have common dream jobs like being a doctor, a chef, or even a singer when we grow up, there are only a few who would consider the path of an aquarist, especially one dedicated to caring for sharks. For Nur Izzati Sulaiman, an aquarist at S.E.A. Aquarium, her unconventional career path was deeply rooted in a passion that went beyond mere fascination. 

As she was growing up, Izzati, had an adventurous spirit. She loved connecting with nature and being in the outdoors.  When she went to university, she got the opportunity to earn her diving certificate as part of her coursework on coral reef restoration and surveys. Given the experience, Izzati was committed to learning more about marine conservation. This, in turn, led her to intern with WWF Malaysia – where she got the opportunity to engage with the local communities to discover more about sea turtle conservation and coral restoration efforts. 

She enjoyed diving and even went on trips overseas to explore chartered waters where marine animals were thriving in abundance. But it was during her first diving trip that she encountered a shark. At first, like most of us, she was startled, but it also ignited a profound interest and desire to learn more about these majestic sea creatures. 

However, she admitted that prior to taking care of sharks, her journey took a reflective turn when she worked in the food and beverage industry and served shark fin soup. It didn’t sit right with her, and at this point, it made her realise the harsh realities faced by these endangered creatures. 

Determined to make a difference, Izzati set out on a mission and made a promise to herself to take care of these misunderstood marine animals by educating others about shark conservation. Ever since then, she has turned her passion into a purpose as she embraced her role as an aquarist dedicated to protecting the very creatures she once served on a plate.

Now, as an aquarist who specialises in taking care of sharks, Izzati dives in daily to feed the sharks and ensures that the marine animals are well taken care of under her supervision. During our interview, she stressed the importance of shark conservation and how many have the misconception that these marine animals aren’t protected enough. They are often deemed as predators, and their numbers are dwindling because of human activities like overfishing and habitat loss. Of course, with someone who works in such a niche field, there are also many things that you might not know about being an aquarist. There are so many emotional and psychological aspects when it comes to working with sharks, and it requires lots of experience, care and patience when you’re handling them, especially on a daily basis. 

Ahead, we dive into some of the challenges she faces while working with sharks, including handling emergency situations, the biggest challenges facing shark conservation today, and she also debunks some of the myths that are often associated with sharks. 

Can you walk us through a typical day in your life as a shark aquarist? What are the main tasks you handle? 

We start work at 8AM, and normally, we will start with a morning briefing and list the tasks that need to be done for the day. We will walk around the habitat, check on the marine animals, and collect water samples to check on the water quality and ensure that it’s ideal for the marine animals. Afterwards, we will proceed to the kitchen to prepare food for our animals.

The food preparation is allocated based on the different habitats and animals. After preparing the food, we will proceed with the feeding. This process involves two parts – surface feeding and dive feeding. Surface feeding involves giving food on the surface and it’s mainly for the fishes. However, dive feeding is specifically for the marine animals that live at the bottom of the habitat such as sand tiger sharks, nurse sharks and all of our stingrays. It is necessary to do so to ensure that these marine animals receive enough food for the day.

We regularly go in for dives to clean the habitat to ensure that our animals have an ideal living environment.

To round off the day, we usually log in our dive feeds in our record-keeping system.

What are some of the emotional and psychological aspects of working closely with sharks?

This is not my first aquarium job at S.E.A. Aquarium, but I found that our sand tiger sharks are one of the largest that I have encountered in my life. I remember I was nervous the first time when I entered the shark habitat to dive. But with the necessary safety measures put in place such as our buddy system and our PPE requirements, give me the confidence and assurance I need for a safe dive, especially during the shark feeding, by wearing the chainmail suit, really makes me feel at ease.

Other than that, I feel proud to be working with sharks and to be working in such a niche field. So I’m actually one of the members of our zebra shark team. So basically, we take care of the pups of the zebra sharks, even when they are just eggs. So not all eggs survive, but only the viable ones have to be carefully taken of so they actually hatch to be pups. So even before it hatches, I’m worried about the survival of these eggs. There are times when we actually find the eggs in our habitat but we really have to make sure that we get the eggs to a safe place so it won’t be disturbed by the other marine animals in the habitat.

The bonding starts when they are just eggs, even when they haven’t developed the embryos all the way till they hatch from the eggs. When they’ve grown up, we will then condition them by training to feed, and this process will go on until they are familiar with being handed.

How do you build a relationship or rapport with the sharks? Is there a way to tell if they recognise you?

As previously mentioned about the zebra sharks, once they hatch from the egg, we will continue to feed and train them. So it’s basically conditioning them to recognise the feeding station and food. The marine animals can differentiate between the feed diver and the maintenance diver. This is because the maintenance diver doesn’t come with any food so they typically won’t bother the maintenance divers. However, for the feed divers, when they go into the water, the sharks will get excited because of the presence of food.

Have you ever had to handle an emergency situation with sharks? How did you manage it?

Occasionally, sharks have a mating wound from chasing each other. So once we notice this, we will act quickly, and our manager and our vet will work together to discuss the best solution for the situation. One solution is to quickly transfer the aggressive animal to another habitat to ensure there is no further injury. This is a natural behaviour during mating season. It can result in wounds, but at S.E.A. Aquarium, just like our zebra shark pups, we try to give our sharks the best shot of survival.

How do you collaborate with other staff members, like veterinarians or marine biologists, to ensure the sharks’ well-being?

At S.E.A. Aquarium, collaboration is key. So I would normally work hand-in-hand with the vets and other aquarists to ensure the sharks’ well-being and closely monitor their health conditions, by sharing vital observations and making informed care decisions.

Our regular meetings and open communication enable us to swiftly address any concerns and ensure that each shark receives the highest level of care. We also have a quarantine team which we work closely with, to monitor the movements of the marine animals or when we welcome new marine animals to the habitat.

Why are sharks crucial to marine ecosystems, and what happens if their populations decline?

Sharks play a crucial role in our marine ecosystem to keep our ocean healthy and our ecosystem intact. As an apex predator, sharks help to regulate other marine species and ensure a balanced food chain. However, when there is a decline in shark populations, it could lead to overpopulation of other species which can disrupt the ecosystem. This imbalance can result in the degradation of coral reefs, the loss of biodiversity and the overall weakening of the marine environment.

What are the biggest challenges facing shark conservation today, and how can the public help address them?

Some of the biggest challenges facing shark conservation today are overfishing and habitat loss. These threats combined with the slow reproduction rate, make it difficult for shark populations to recover – putting many species at risk of extinction.

As for overfishing, did you know that over 80 million sharks have been hunted for the demand of shark fins and also for other products such as meat, leather, health supplements and more?

This happens every year and this is why I’m an advocate for shark conservation.

One thing that I appreciate is that I have seen many restaurants take a stand against the consumption of shark fins by phasing out the dish. This includes the restaurants at Resorts World Sentosa, Crystal Jade Culinary Concept Holdings, Pan Pacific Hotel Groups and more. So we should support sustainable seafood to help support shark conservation efforts. Aside from that, it’s important to advocate stronger protection, raise awareness about the importance of shark conservation and support organisations dedicated to marine conservation.

How do aquariums contribute to shark conservation efforts, both in terms of public education and breeding programmes?

Aquariums contribute to shark conservation by sparking curiosity and showcasing the incredible creatures, to inspire a sense of wonder in the public. The education programmes help to raise awareness in the importance of sharks about the importance of sharks in our marine ecosystems, whereas the breeding programmes help to support population reproduction and research efforts.

One of the things that S.E.A. Aquarium does is that we have shark conservation specialty courses which are aimed to give guests a deeper understanding of our sharks by bringing them to dive with our sharks. Besides that, in June this year, S.E.A. Aquarium in Resorts World Sentosa donated five Whitetip reef shark pups to Hong Kong Ocean Park.

These five shark pups are surpluses from a breeding programme at S.E.A. Aquarium that has been running as a part of its marine life conservation. The world-class facilities at S.E.A. Aquarium provide the aquarists, as well as the research and conservation team with ample resources to breed various marine life species, even those with high mortality rates.

The donation to Hong Kong Ocean Park is part of S.E.A. Aquarium’s ongoing collaboration with aquariums around the world to help aquarium-bred marine life find safe and caring homes.”

What are some common misconceptions people have about sharks, and how does your work help to dispel those myths?

I think the public has a stereotypical view of sharks because of the shows they’ve watched. But if I can name three of the most common misconceptions, it would firstly be that most people think that all sharks are dangerous. Out of over 500 species of shark, only a few are known to have attacked humans. The majority of sharks are not dangerous and pose no threats to humans.

Most species are small and feed on fish and invertebrates only, not humans. In fact, in the year 2023, the total number of that was only 120 in the world, which pales in comparison to the number of dengue cases, which have over 6.5 million cases and more than 7300 dengue-related deaths reported.

Secondly, sharks have no predators. As a matter of fact, they can also be preyed upon by larger sharks or killer whales, and in some cases, large groups of other fish. Juvenile sharks are more vulnerable and can be eaten by larger predators.

Human activities also have a significant impact on the shark population, such as overfishing and habitat loss as a result of reclamation activities which often destroy their habitats like coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds which are important for shark feeding, breeding and nursery grounds.

Last but not least, there’s also that misconception of sharks being able to detect a drop of blood in the ocean. Sharks can sense blood at a very low concentration because they have an incredible sense of smell but that doesn’t mean they can track it over vast distances. The idea that they can detect a single drop of blood from miles away is just an exaggeration.

What message do you have for young people who might be interested in marine biology or shark conservation?

My message to those who are interested in marine biology and shark conservation would be to just follow your dream.

So as we know, the oceans cover more than 70% of our Earth’s surface. So there is so much to be learned and to explore.

My advice is to learn as much as you can about marine life and also be open to learning with others. Try to get involved with organisations that offer hands on experience in this field.

Stay motivated and spread awareness about the importance of sharks in our oceans with others, starting with your family members and your close friends.

This field may be niche, so you need to know that it requires lots of dedication, time and patience. I always like to remind myself of this quote from one of our ocean advocators, Sylvia Earle, “Sharks are beautiful animals, and if you’re lucky enough to see lots of them, that means that you’re in a healthy ocean. You should be afraid if you are in the ocean and don’t see sharks.