MARINE SCIENTIST | SCIENCE COMMUNICATOR | AUTHOR
I fell in love with an animal that we are taught to fear
Who I Am
Hey, I’m Carlee!
I study sharks and love telling everyone just how amazing and important they are to the ocean. I’m also not your typical marine scientist, claiming the title of Thee Baddie Biologist to represent all the ‘baddies’ doing field work! I believe science is for everyone, that’s why I communicate marine science across various mediums in my own, authentic way.
My research sits at the intersection of ecology, behavior, and human impact. What really piques my interest is the topic of shark tourism and it’s effects on shark movement and habitat use. As a topic and practice growing in popularity, I think it’s important to fill in these knowledge gaps to understand the implications for shark conservation.
For my master’s thesis I traveled to Caye Caulker, Belize to examine the effects of feeding tourism on nurse sharks within a feeding site. I spent two months in the water with these sharks, collecting observational video data and setting up cameras at the feeding site. This work is currently in the preparation for submission for publishing, so stay tuned!
I’m a naturally curious person with many questions about what I observe and a strong desire to answer them through research. It’s important to understand as much as we can about sharks and how they interact with their environments, especially when human disturbances are introduced.
