April 2020: Year of the Woman

Dr. Eugenie Clark (1922-2015)

The life and legacy of an ocean pioneer

Mature Eugenie framed by a shark's jaw
Photo by John Pendygraft - IPTC Photo Metadata

Dr. Eugenie Clark, “The Shark Lady” was a living legend on campus while I attended the University of Maryland at College Park in 1992. She was a pioneer in marine conservation and the study of shark behavior, and greatly helped the public understand and appreciate sharks. At the time of her death in 2015, she had completed 72 submersible dives and many more using scuba gear to study marine life. She even completed her last dive at 92 years old, the year before she died.

Young Eugenie, a Japanese American, learned to swim at the age of 2 and developed a childhood fascination with sharks. In her later years, she would credit her ocean-loving Japanese cultural heritage for her love of the sea and its creatures. When she started out after WWII, few women were working in the male-dominated field of marine biology. Eugenie pursued her dream to be an ocean explorer, earning a B.A. in zoology from Hunter College in 1942 and a master's and Ph.D. from New York University. She had hoped to attend post graduate studies at Columbia University, but was refused admission because administrators were afraid that she would just get married and start a family after graduation and never use her scientific training.  Instead, Clark would go on to become a role model and mentor to a generation of women marine biologists.

Dr. Clark examines a bull shark captured by fishermen in Isla Mujeres, Mexico on assignment for National Geographic
Photo by David Doubilet - National Geographic Creative

Clark began her career as a Fulbright scholar exploring the Red Sea and later discovered the first effective shark repellent in secretions from a flatfish found there. While working off shore from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula she explored undersea caverns to find "sleeping sharks" suspended in the water, a discovery that upended scientists' belief that sharks had to keep moving to breathe. A serious researcher who developed the first “test tube babies” in female fish, in 1955 she founded what is known today as Mote Marine Laboratory, a research facility that studies wild fisheries, coral reef restoration, marine mammals and marine biomedical research. In 1968, Clark joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, where she taught marine biology until her retirement. She stayed connected with Mote, spending her later years there as a trustee.

Her greatest legacy may be the message she was able to convey about the importance of ocean exploration and the conservation of species because of her down-to earth demeanor and likability. She received more than a dozen grants from the National Geographic Society, made several TV specials for the Society as well. She wrote the memoirs Lady with a Spear (1953) and The Lady and the Sharks (1969) and co-wrote the children’s book The Desert Beneath the Sea (1991) about her investigations of sandy floors of the Red Sea. She also famously taught then Crown Prince Akihito of Japan how to snorkel. But perhaps Clark will be most remembered for her courage. David Doubilet, her colleague and friend, was with Clark in the Sea of Cortez when she rode the back of a 50-foot whale shark, the largest fish in the sea. He thought he would never see her again. She later called the ride one of the most exciting journeys of her career. On March 16, 2015 the U.S. Congress posthumously honored and recognized Dr. Clark for her efforts to understand and preserve the oceans. 

Sources:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/news/en_US/2015/02/150225-eugenie-clark-shark-lady-marine-biologist-obituary-science.html#/88942_990x742-cb1424898842.jpg
https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/sharks-rays/eugenie-clark-shark-lady
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/may15/eugenie-clark.html


Guest Blogger: Ranger Lesley Leader – Bohemia River State Park

Lesley has worked for MPS since 2015. Born and raised in the rocky, dry scrub region of India’s Deccan Plateau, these days she enjoys spending her free time on or in the water, exploring Maryland’s beautiful and diverse aquatic systems.