Shark bait draws hordes to scientist’s virtual tours
A Cape Town scientist’s shark tours have become a global sensation since he started offering them in the safety of cyberspace.
Until March, marine biologist Justin Blake hosted in-person shark experiences. But after lockdown, demand catapulted Blake into an elite group of global live-streamers. His “Meet a Real Life Shark Scientist” experience has rocketed into Airbnb’s top 10 list worldwide, with more than 2,000 guests since April.
“Once it went live [online] it went crazy — it grew really, really quickly,” Blake told the Sunday Times this week.
Blake credits his brother-in-law for encouraging him to share his unusual work life, which includes diving with some of the scariest-looking sharks.
“He said people would love to see this and hear about it — nobody really knows about this stuff,” said Blake, who has co-founded multiple shark research projects and whose interest encompasses manta rays in the Seychelles, dugongs in Florida and giant trevally, tiger sharks and bull sharks in Mozambique.
On the Airbnb website his 90-minute show invites participants to “virtually dive into the site of 12 years of shark research — a vibrant marine reserve brimming with sharks and big fish. Meet a world-record sized school of fish (some bigger than you!), a celebrity tiger shark and her sharky cousins.”
A share of the ticket price goes to a research organisation to benefit ocean conservation. “This funds the science that gives us the stories that I share,” he said. Blake’s success has not gone unnoticed in Cape Town’s closeknit marine biology community, already buoyed by the success of the My Octopus Teacher Netflix documentary.
George Branch, of the University of Cape Town Marine Research Institute, praised Blake’s “fantastic job” of raising awareness of marine science among a largely untapped online audience. “He has very special attributes — enormous enthusiasm and he is also quite inventive,” Branch said.
Marine enthusiasts worldwide have also dived into online marine science courses offered by Cape Town’s Two Oceans Aquarium as part of a new school marine science curriculum. The aquarium has completed 20 courses during the lockdown, for adults and children as far away as India and Russia.