Hooked to sharks JIM DAY The Guardian

David Cooke of Stratford gets up close and personal with a tiger shark at the Bimini Biological Field Station in the Bahamas. Submitted photo

David Cooke was 15 when he first went nose to nose with a shark.
Was he terrified? More like exhilarated.
The thrilling experience came in his first shark dive off the coast of Honduras with his father, Jeff Cooke.
“And ever since then I’ve been hooked to sharks,’’ said the 19-year-old Stratford resident.
“I’m a pretty big adrenaline junkie. That grabbed me. I just went home and just started reading about them.’’
He was moved to learn about the plight of sharks with 100 million being killed each year for their fins.
He is now set on spending many years swimming with — and studying — what he considers a greatly misunderstood marine fish.
“I like nothing else in the world as much as I do sharks and I dedicate my life to their preservation,’’ said Cooke, who is the P.E.I. representative for the Canadian Shark Conservation Society.
Cooke is just back from spending several weeks at the Bimini Biological Field Station shark lab in the Bahamas, which offers marine biology internships to people interested in shark research and the conservation of the ocean’s ecosystems.
He did two shark dives and on his last day took part in catching a 12-foot tiger shark.
He also had a memorable adventure while out looking for great hammerhead sharks.
He was quickly hauled to safety while being charged by a bull shark.
The brush with danger certainly didn’t shake his resolve to pursue a career in marine biology, which he plans to do later this year at Dalhousie University.
“That was a nice adrenaline rush,’’ he said. “I haven’t felt anything like that before.’’
Cooke, who has been scuba diving since he was 12, credits his parents with being a big inspiration for him to pursue his passion. Having an uncle, Neil MacNair, as a marine biologist is also another close-to-home influence.
“My interest is pretty much everything in the ocean but right now it is (specifically) sharks,’’ he said.
Cooke plans to go back in the fall to again volunteer at the Bimini Biological Field Station “and perhaps some day become lab manager.’’

Just the facts:

* Sharks have been around for more than 400 million years. There are 375 shark species.
* Sharks are intelligent and can be trained.
* 100 million sharks are killed each year for their fins.
* Sharks can take hours or even days to die after being finned.
* The largest shark is the Whale shark, averaging nine metres in length—the size of a large bus. Whale sharks are not aggressive.
* When a shark loses a tooth, a new one grows in its place.
* Sharks are a critical part of marine ecosystems.
Source: Savingsharks.com