Shark conservation is not a field for the faint of heart. It pits biology against commerce, sentiment against symbolism, and, frequently, science against entrenched bureaucracies. Sharks themselves, apex predators honed over hundreds of millions of years, are now among the most imperiled inhabitants of the world’s oceans. Vilified in pop culture, sliced up for their fins, and managed more like commodities than living creatures, sharks have few allies in high places. One of the more persistent, however, is Stefanie Brendl. Brendl did not arrive at shark advocacy by way of academia, marine biology, or institutional science. Her background was in scuba diving and ecotourism, and her immersion in shark conservation began not in a laboratory but in the ocean itself. What began as a fascination morphed into a calling, spurred by a single free-diving encounter with a tiger shark: A moment Brendl describes as transformative, almost mythic in tone. But it was what followed that mattered. Within a week, she was inside Hawaii’s legislative chambers, helping craft America’s first major ban on the shark fin trade. That campaign would become a blueprint. Hawaii’s legislative success ricocheted outward, eventually helping to inspire similar laws across the United States and in parts of the Pacific. Brendl founded Shark Allies to institutionalize her advocacy and has since combined policy work, public education, and strategic coalition-building to pursue greater protections for sharks and rays. Great white shark at Guadalupe. Photo by Stefanie Brendl While the victories are real, Brendl is clear-eyed about their limitations.…This article was originally published on Mongabay