The Dorsal Fin

Hanging out with one of beauties at Guadalupe.

The Dorsal Fin is a shark conservation-minded blog that will deal with shark news and promotion of shark conservation.

Content is written and edited by me, George Probst. I am not a “shark expert” nor a “shark professional,” rather I am shark enthusiast, diver, and wannabe photographer, who appreciates these majestic animals and believes in promoting responsible shark conservation and awareness to help reverse the damage that is currently being done to the oceans’ shark populations due to overfishing, by-catch and finning.

My educational background is in Industrial and Systems Engineering. I have earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from Virginia Tech, with the latter being focused on Ergonomics and Human Factors Engineering. I worked for an environmental engineering firm for over 5 years and am currently the owner/operator of GTP Designs, a freelance graphic design firm.

My fascination with sharks began not long after my first trip to the library as a small child, where I became focused on books about dinosaurs and, of course, sharks. Since then, my sense of wonder for these animals has never ceased. I went on my first great white shark dive in 2006 at Isla de Guadalupe and returned there in 2007, and 2008. I have had the amazing opportunity to see over 20 different white sharks at Isla de Guadalupe. In addition, I have been open-water diving with whale sharks, nurse sharks, sand tiger sharks, and bull sharks (and possibly several other sharks who have might have seen me diving, but not vice-versa).

I believe strongly that sharks are an important part of the marine environment and that responsible conservation efforts need to be taken in order to counter the decimation of shark species that continues to occur on a daily basis.