MICHAEL TROPIANO
Marine scientist, surfer, diver, photographer and high seas adventurer, ‘Tropi’ plans to spend the rest of his life putting together the ocean puzzle…
Born into a family of farmers and brought up to believe the ocean was a dangerous place “full of sharks and rough seas”, it’s ironic Tropi now spends much of his life on and in the water!
“My dad brought home a fishing magazine one day and in it I found a photo of someone with a huge sawfish stretched out across a canoe,” Tropi said.
“As a kid, it blew my mind. How could an animal like this exist? Not in the deep oceans, but here in Australia in a tiny creek?”
After gaining some fishing tips from his uncle, Tropi became obsessed with fish and the marine environment.
“What were the fish feeding on? Why did they feed only on certain days? What else was beneath the surface interacting with the fish?
“Fishing led to the ocean and the ocean led to everything that is now my world.”
WAY OUT WEST
Based in Exmouth (WA, Australia), Tropi’s an experienced marine ecologist who’s delivered multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects and headed-up marine research teams in the most remote parts of Australia.
“I’m fortunate to have worked in a number of roles, most recently running a marine research laboratory in Exmouth for three years.
“Every time I learn something new, I feel like it’s a tiny piece of a much broader ecological puzzle on how our oceans work.
“I’ll be spending the rest of my life trying to put it together.”
In his spare time, when he’s not surfing, diving or fishing, Tropi’s a passionate underwater photographer and videographer.
Together with his filmmaker mate, Jordan ‘Dingus’ Walden, their media production company Find Wild Photos focuses on all forms of marine life.
“I’m very driven to use my unique understanding of marine ecosystems to capture photos and create videos like few others can!”
THE WORLD’S YOUR OYSTER
Travelling the globe seeking ocean adventures, Tropi also spends several months each year working onboard expedition ships as a naturalist.
Over the past couple of years, he’s travelled to Antarctica, Borneo, Scotland, Patagonia, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, the vast South Pacific region and many other places, experiencing the wonders and challenges of each area.
“Exploring new oceans and learning from other ocean-minded people in other parts of the world is a thrilling and eye-opening experience.
“We spent a month in Mexico last year chasing the sardine run down the coast, which was really something wild.
“The most hectic moment in the water was finding ourselves stuck inside a baitball that was being shredded by mahi mahi!
“I ended up covered in bruises and scratches from the fish, but my buddy Dingus fared much worse and had a molar smashed out of his jaw by a frenzied fish!”
Check out this video of the pair’s mad Mexican adventure, which includes plenty of other crazy experiences – not limited to baitballs and night surfing!
Based in the tropics, Tropi is an Antarctic adventurer!
HOT AND COLD
Like most of us who spend our lives in, on and around the water, Tropi has countless memorable experiences.
“Coming face-to-face with a blue whale, literally being an arm’s length from the biggest animal ever to have called our planet home, is indescribable.
“The silliest bit I remember… as it swam past me, there was a long time when I looked left and right and could see only the whale’s featureless mid-section.
“Its head was way too far to my left, and its tail way too far to my right, to be in my view… it looked nothing like a whale – just an endless, massive, grey sausage!”
From tropical adventures in The Kimberley working with flatback turtles and witnessing the natural spectacle of Montgomery Reef, to watching humpback whales lunge-feed on krill at midnight in an endless Antarctic sunset, Tropi’s oceanic adventures are the envy of many.
“Honestly, the more I travel our world’s oceans, the more I want to spend time back in Western Australia.
“It’s so pristine, I know her secrets… and best of all, it’s home.”
Tropi loves his home state so much, he’s launching a new tourism company in Exmouth, Ningaloo Expeditions.
On his tours, Tropi will take guests to some of the most remote and untouched areas of Ningaloo and share his intimate knowledge of the pristine marine ecology of the region – allowing others to create lifetime memories too!
LUCKY COUNTRY
Perhaps through sheer luck as opposed to effective global management, Tropi hasn’t seen too much direct impact from plastic pollution in Western Australia.
“We’re lucky the currents along the Western Australia coast don’t seem to pile up plastic as much as they do in other parts of the country and around the world.
“Travelling with my work, I see the impacts of plastic pollution pretty much everywhere else.
“Whether it’s countries lacking the wealth and comparatively good waste management of Australia, or countries unlucky in the way ocean currents bring rubbish to their shores, in many places I’ve swam there’s as much plastic as fish.
“All plastic is poisonous on some level and to be swimming through fields of it in remote coral reefs, where local island communities have no means to deal with the influx of rubbish, is very sad.
“While corporate giants continue to get rich producing it [plastic], it’s one of the most devastatingly obvious examples of where we have failed as humans.”
THE TIME IS NOW
Almost everyone’s seen images and videos of sea turtles with straws up their noses and six-pack can holders around their necks. Terrible and shocking, but it hasn’t led to the ground swell of action we might have expected.
“For a lot of people, it’s only when something directly affects them when they take action… that time began a while ago; for the latecomers, the time is now.
“There’s some really scary research coming out about the impacts of plastic on our health… decreases in fertility, along with increases in cancers and cardiovascular disease are all now known impacts of plastic on human health.”
With so much plastic in our food production at just about every stage, it’s almost unavoidable. At least if we catch our own fish from the ocean, we can have fresh food devoid of all that… right?
“Unfortunately, there aren’t too many places around the world where that’s still the case.
“Plastic has been found in the deepest parts of our world’s oceans and is making its way into all oceanic food chains.
“On our current trajectory, pretty much any food source we take from the ocean in coming years will have plastic in it, so all food from the ocean will be [to some degree] poisoning us.”
ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE
With more and more people in the world every day, it places direct and indirect pressure on the health of our oceans.
“We all understand the challenge… ocean health is going down and our usage and reliance upon it is going up, so eventually we’re going to have to make some sacrifices.
“There’s a limit to how much we can take from the ocean and how much rubbish we can put in before it will no longer benefit humans – be it as a food source, oxygen production source, or for leisure experiences.
“Along with avoiding excessive waste and picking up others’ rubbish, we can also drive positive change with our votes and our wallets; choosing to use less plastic and reuse the plastic we can’t avoid.
“Although it can sometimes be difficult, have discussions with others around you and encourage them to accept the challenge to minimise plastic waste… for the sake of all the earth’s – and the ocean’s – inhabitants!”