Chris Fischer

Chris Fischer leads his life through the guiding principle of doing good for the world and including the world in the work. A full-time explorer, Fischer has a special gift of seeing the “big picture,” creating solutions around that picture, and communicating that picture in an accessible way to others. An explorer and disruptor, Chris has led 42 global expeditions focused on accelerating the ocean’s return to balance and abundance, by unlocking the life history puzzle of white sharks and other keystone species through expeditions aboard the OCEARCH. 

A serial entrepreneur, Fischer’s collaborative vision for OCEARCH connects the practical (expert fishermen) with the academic (researchers). By connecting multi-disciplinary experts, OCEARCH is able to gather information about a white shark’s migrations, reproductive condition and cycle, genetic status, diet, inorganic and organic contaminant loads, fecundity, parasite species presence, abundance, and infection sites, all in a short 15 minutes. This approach drastically reduces the time and data deficit that has long existed for large marine animals in the field of research and directly addresses the environmental policy paradox for ocean ecology. Since founding OCEARCH in 2007, Fischer’s team has: engaged with more than 190 researchers from global institutions; safely tagged more than 400 animals; advanced science through over 75 peer reviewed papers; and, worked globally with partners across varying sectors. 

Fischer’s approach completely disrupts the research and policy process by making data collection and distribution collaborative, inclusive and open-sourced. This data-centric approach has inspired global ocean environmental protection policies, with Fischer working alongside Presidents of several countries, including the U.S. 

In the spirit of including a global audience in his work, the OCEARCH TRACKER launched in 2013, allowing nearly 2 million annual users to learn about sharks while tracking them across the planet in near-real-time. Further, a STEM curriculum based on the Tracker contains more than 100 lesson plans and is made available at ocearch.org. 

A graduate of Indiana University, Fischer began his career as an explorer as host of the four-time Emmy Award-winning “Offshore Adventures” from 2001 to 2009. It was the #1 watched outdoor TV series and had the goal of pouring the oceans back into people’s lives. From 2009 to 2012, Fischer hosted 20 hours of TV episodes on the National Geographic Channel and 10 hours on the History Channel, chronicling the research on the white shark. 

Fischer has received numerous prestigious recognitions, including The Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Medal for Imagination in Exploration and the Nominee Trust 100 Award for top social innovators list. Further, OCEARCH has been featured in more than 10,000 outlets including The New York Times, CNN, CBS Morning News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, 60 Minutes and most major news media organizations worldwide. 

Fischer’s work through OCEARCH is supported through socially innovative partnerships with Costa Sunglasses, SeaWorld, YETI Coolers, Jefferson’s Bourbon, Cisco Brewery, Jacksonville University, and the support of fans across the globe. 

Fischer continues to explore the world alongside his wonderful family and crew.