Dear Journalists,

I’m happy to comment on Shark Week. So are many of my amazing colleagues, plenty of whom are women or people of color. If anyone tells you that the reason Shark Week isn’t diverse is that shark science isn’t diverse, please refer them to me for correction.

Featuring predominantly white male scientists is a choice, and, perhaps, a habit, but emphatically not a necessity. If you aren’t able to find women or people of color in my field to feature, I’m happy to introduce you to some!

We may not have the “followings” of Shark Week stars, but @Discovery and @SharkWeek had a vital hand in creating those followings—and can do it again, for people who aren’t white men! I promise your viewers would tune in (and want to root for) the incredible scientists I know.

@MISS_Elasmo @CarleeMJ_ @DrKristineStump @WhitenackLab @drjuliawester @Curly_Biologist @HeatherMPhD @dalyengellab @AndreaKroetz @Elasmo_Gal @GDSchwieterman @soFISHtication @SharkAdvocates @jillbrooks85 @Sharkhugger @rachelskubel @mcmsharksxx

This is a small fraction of the awesome women I know in shark science, and I’d bet we’ve all heard “but there weren’t any qualified women” plenty of times when asking why a panel/paper/media event features exclusively men. It just isn’t a legitimate thing to say at this point.