Cristina Zenato

Last updated
Cristina Zenato
Born1971 (age 5253)
Years active1994-present
Known forShark diving
Website cristinazenato.com

Cristina Zenato is an Italian-born shark diver and conservationist. She is known for her work with Caribbean reef sharks in The Bahamas.

Contents

Early life

Zenato was born in Italy in 1971. [1] Her father was a special forces military diver. [2] She was raised in the Congo until she was 15. [1] She completed high school in Italy. [3]

Career

Zenato began scuba diving at age 22 when traveling to The Bahamas. [4] She started training as a dive instructor and working with sharks in 1995. [5] The same year, she began working for Underwater Explorer's Society (UNEXSO). Later, she became both a PADI Course Director and NSS-CDS Cave Diving Instructor with UNEXSO. [6] Zenato's cave diving projects have included remapping the underwater caves in the Lucayan National Park. [7] Zenato was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2011. [6] She is known for promoting the conservation of, diving with, removing fish hooks from Caribbean reef sharks around Grand Bahama Island. [8] [9] Her work has garnered her the titles of "shark whisperer" [10] [11] and "mother of sharks." [12]

Zenato has been featured in numerous films and television programs including Shark Week's Sharktacular, [13] Against the Current, [14] and Save This Shark. [15] In the late 2010s, she founded the non-profit, People of the Water. [16] She completed her PADI Course Director training in 2016. [4]

Personal life

Zenato first went to the Bahamas in 1994, during which time she decided she wanted to move there permanently. [6]

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References

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