Alex Antoniou of Black Forest, Colorado, lives in a landlocked state, which kind of makes him an unlikely advocate of sharks. However, in 2010, Antoniou founded Fins Attached, a 501c3 organization that conducts research and promotes the conservation of marine ecosystems ó in particular, sharks.Although he calls the mountains home now, Antoniou is rooted in the sea. He was born on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea; however, at age 6, Antoniou and his family immigrated to England.He attended high school in London, graduating in 1976. Antoniou then studied at Crewe and Alsager College (now Manchester Metropolitan University) and graduated in 1981 with a bachelorís degree in exercise science. ìI wanted to be a physical education teacher and did some temp teaching between my undergraduate and graduate work,î he said. ìI realized it wasnít for me and quickly changed gears.î Antoniou joined his brother at the University of Nebraska, where he obtained a masterís degree in exercise science. ìI specialized in motor learning and motor control to help humans acquire motor skills,î he said.At the University of Nebraska, Antoniou became a teaching assistant for a tennis class, where he met his wife, Renee. ìShe invited me to her house with her family to have Thanksgiving dinner, rather than being in the graduate dorm by myself,î he said. It obviously went well. On May 11, 1985, they married in a joint ceremony with Reneeís sister and her husband. Two weeks later, Antoniou and his wife had a second wedding with his family in Cyprus.The newlyweds then moved to Illinois, where Antoniou did his doctorate work in kinesiology at the University of Illinois. After completing his coursework a few years later, Antoniou worked as an assistant camp director in Fairfield, New Jersey, while he finished his dissertation. Antoniou planned to teach at a university after receiving his doctorate.In 1992, he attended a conference for the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, and found a posting for an aquatics coordinator at Rutgers University. Antoniou interviewed for the job on site during the conference, and the university offered him the position.ìThatís where I became a scuba instructor and started teaching scuba at the university,î he said. ìI took students, faculty and staff on scuba diving trips.î The trips included travel to Florida, Puerto Rico and Utila ñ a bay island off the coast of Honduras. ìThatís where I heard about whale sharks,î he said. ìSo, I went out there on a scouting trip.î After his shark encounter, Antoniou contacted the executive director of the Shark Research Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. ìWe chatted for about an hour on the phone,î he said. ìThe next thing I knew I was going back to Honduras to set up a field research station for the Shark Institute to tag whale sharks.î Antoniou and a team of divers were the first to deploy satellite tags on whale sharks in the Caribbean. The tags tracked and monitored the sharksí movements.Antoniouís involvement with shark research and conservation snowballed shortly after setting up the field research station in Honduras. ìI started finding out what was going on with sharks around the world and how their population is being decimated,î he said. His travels expanded to Mexico, the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica. Antoniou said the cost of most of his short-term expeditions is funded by ìpay-in guests.î ìWe have a lot of people who want to pay to come with us,î he said. ìThey want to help and they actually participate in the research as well.îIn 1992, Antoniou left his job at Rutgers University and moved to Colorado where he began working for the National Swimming Pool Foundation. Because of the distance, Antoniou worked fewer hours with the Shark Research Institute but maintained his interest in sharks. He made connections with dive shops in Denver and Colorado Springs. ìDespite being a landlocked state, there are a lot of divers in Colorado,î he said. ìThe number, per capita, is right up there with California and Florida.îAntoniouís ocean expeditions average about nine per year; and his wife and 22-year-old son, Nicholas, often join him.Part of the reason sharks are in peril is because some governments have established culling programs that contract fisherman to kill sharks near public swimming areas, Antoniou said. ìWe should not change nature to suit our own needs,î he added.Antoniou said he believes shark attacks are usually blown out of proportion. ìWhen one happens, the media typically latches on to it, and thatís all that people hear,î he said. ìAll of a sudden they think sharks are out to get people.î Antoniou described it as a ìJawsî mentality. ìJaws (the motion picture) has left a lasting impact on peopleís psyche that strikes a chord in people,î he said. ìPeople donít have that same fear walking through the woods with the possibility of being attacked by a bear; when, in reality, more people die from bear attacks each year.îHaving experience swimming with sharks for more than six years, Antoniou said some television shows have not done sharks justice in their portrayal of them. ìIt is so unfortunate that they get a bad rap in the press and the media,î he said.Antoniou is in the process of creating a promo for a documentary about sharks. ìWe want to get a full-blown documentary to tell the true story of what is happening with sharks,î he said. ìWe want to educate people on the true nature of sharks.î Antoniouís most recent trip to Guadalupe will be aired as a five-part series on KRDO Channel 13 in November.ìIt is estimated that 80 to 100 millions sharks are caught every year, mostly to satisfy the demand for shark fins in the Asian markets,î Antoniou said in a follow up email. ìThis means many sharks are just finned Ö the practice of cutting the fins off a shark and throwing the body back in the ocean. Most of the time, the shark is still alive when they do this ó a brutal practice.îAntoniou cited a study reporting that scalloped hammerhead, white and thresher sharks are each estimated to have declined by more than 75 percent in the past 15 years.ì(Fins Attached) was born as a result of my passion and motivation to continue to try to make a difference to help sharks and save sharks from becoming extinct,î he said.Fins Attached is hosting a fundraiser Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Denver Art Museum. The featured speaker is Rodney Fox, an Australian man who survived one of the worst shark attacks in history. In 1963, while taking part in a spearfishing contest, a great white attacked Fox in the chest area and almost bit him in half. Extensive surgery and 462 stitches later, Fox remains a passionate protector of the environment and wildlife.Antoniou will also speak at the fundraiser about the current status of shark conservation efforts. Food, a cash bar and a silent auction are included. The price for the event is $25 in advance or $30 at the door. For more information, visit http://finsattached.org.
