Shark Angels in the news again... This time national evening news.

This was part of the full story shot in November.

Tracking a Giant: Meet Nyami Nyami, the 4 meter Bull Shark

(The beautiful Nyami Nyami - photo by Alison Towner)

Three weeks ago, Meaghen McCord from the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC) and her team found the 4 meter giant in the Breede River over 15 km from the ocean. She was an over-achieving shark, setting many records – and proving many theories wrong – including the fact she was living far outside of her known range - in an area she wasn't supposed to inhabit. The discovery was a true triumph for Meag who had been self funding the efforts to find these "ghost" sharks who have long been rumored amongst the locals to exist, regardless of the scientific skeptics that surrounded her.

And, it is an amazing discovery for the Zambezis, who you will recall from a previous blog entry are extremely threatened due to a lack of healthy estuaries in Southern Africa which they use as breeding grounds. It appears the Zambezis do indeed have a healthy place to strengthen their dwindling numbers. It is just hundreds of kilometers South, but I guess no one told Nyami Nyami, our massive and rather clever lady who is most likely soon to become a mom.

Meag and her team tagged the beautiful shark and tracked her for 43 consecutive hours as she swam from fishing boat to fishing boat, out into the ocean and then, far upstream. They vowed to return with more support – allowing them to track Nyami Nyami for 24 hours a day for two weeks straight. It isn't often you have the opportunity to get into the head of a shark by studying her every movement for two weeks, so of course I jumped at the opportunity to participate.

(Tagging Nyami Nyami so we can track her - photo by Alison Towner)

It has been an incredible experience to track Nyami Nyami – and gain a deeper understanding of this misunderstood animal. And what a complex creature she is. She loves swimming in water less than a meter deep on low tides, rubbing her belly on the mud. Then, there are times she enjoys lying stationary in deeper pits probably watching her world swim by. Sometimes she missions at an incredible speed against the current to one of her favorite destinations, and others, she rides the current lazily moving the same speed as our drifting boat. We have tracked her from the river mouth upstream over 30 kilometers and back again. She certainly gets around.

(Tracking the ghost shark... With our trusty Skipper - and brave shark wrangler, Steve Smuts)

Nyami Nyami is quite curious, and often swims up to those on the water – either wading or in boats. While sometimes she will ignore fisherman, other times, she heads straight for them, sitting patiently on their lines waiting for them to catch something. When they do, she is always up for an easy meal – just adding to the adventure that is fishing in the Breede River. She is also very sensitive to vibrations and is often drawn to those making them. I have many times witnessed her swim right up to people waist deep in the water digging for prawns, to merely check them out and then move on. She even swam up on some swimmers yesterday. Never has there been a shark attack in the Breede River. Indeed, Nyami Nyami has had every opportunity to expand her diet; clearly we are not on her menu. Yes, 4 meter bull sharks and people can peacefully co-exist. Even in murky water.

(Paul writes down the data...)

(As Julie tracks her...)

And Nyami Nyami is not alone. We have plenty of evidence to prove that there are more of her kind. Fin sightings, breachings, huge 100 lb Cobbs bitten in half – all attributed to someone other than our girl, since we know exactly where she was at the time each occurred – and it wasn't near any of the other instances of evidence.

(100 lb Cob head - chowed by someone other than our girl... Fisherman fought with the fish for an hour before the line instantly went slack... This is what he reeled in. Photo by JP Botha.)

Although it seems like I am tracking a ghost since she rarely can be seen in the murky water that is less than a half meter visibility, she has breached for us, and for a few minutes each day, she shows an impressive dorsal and caudal fin. So for brief moments, I am visually connected to my new obsession. More spectacular for me, though, are the frequent moments that the tracking device, the VR100, gives us readings of 105. 70+ means she is 10 – 15 meters away… 105? Well, she is nuzzling our boat!

(A brief glimpse of Nyami Nyami rubbing her belly on the mud.)

But what I have found more powerful is the community's reaction to Nyami Nyami. As a conservationist with an undying passion for sharks, I have soaring highs and crushing lows depending on whom I am speaking to. Some want to kill her for threatening their fish supply - not realizing the important role she plays in keeping their stocks healthy. Some love the idea of sport fishing for the world's largest trophy set of bull shark jaws. Others are now terrified, even though there were always sharks in the river. But fortunately, those individuals are fewer than those that are absolutely thrilled with the discovery. Many community members are excited about the finding, with people frequently stopping us to ask about her latest escapades. They love the idea that these waters are healthy enough to support Bull Sharks, when almost nowhere else in South Africa can. Often, we pull up to fisherman who are amused at the fact a shark larger than their boat is hanging out, just waiting to see what they catch. Even the swimmers who we notified about the shark below them were shocked but quite curious.

It is fortunate, since the community's support is desperately needed, as she, like so many other sharks, requires grassroots protection. Some question the release of her existence, fearing it is her death wish. Hardly. Instead of allowing a few trophy hunters to come in and silently kill Nyami Nyami (since they witnessed her original capture), instead, due to the publicity, MCM has put an immediate moratorium on all shark fishing in the river until further information can be gathered - with a fine of R500,000 for violators. But legislation, as we all know, is only a small part of the battle. Enforcement is far more important. Thankfully, the community is now self-policing, keeping any potential hunters out. It is my hope that those passionate about the river will continue to serve as Nyami Nyami, and all of her friends', guardian angels. She, and Bull Sharks everywhere, need all the protection they can get.

*SASC has funded much of this effort and desperately needs your support to continue tracking Nyami Nyami and all of their good work.

Shark Angels in Sport Diver - February 2009

To read the article, click on the images...

The silent killer: the disappearance of the world's estuaries

Our impact on the oceans over the last century has been greater than all previous centuries combined. We are quickly changing the oceans’ chemistry, temperature and biodiversity while at the same time, only just beginning to understand these changes’ implications. We know so little really; we are still learning about the oceans’ important role in our climate, atmosphere, and planet, still exploring their depths, and still discovering their inhabitants. And as we slowly build our knowledgebase, pollution, habitat destruction, global warming and overfishing are ravaging our seas – and all that dwell within.

Sharks sit at the forefront of this lethal combination of catastrophes, vulnerable to each of them. Sharks are being fished at the rate of 100,000,000 sharks per year, with many regional species up to 98% extinct. Bottom-dwelling sharks are chased by trawlers, whose fishing practices are so destructive, the muddy tell-tale signs of the underwater bulldozers demolishing the sea beds can be seen from satellites. And pelagic sharks frequently join the 43 million tons of bycatch caught by fisherman on long-lines and nets. No matter how they are caught, they are brought on board to have their fins sliced off - usually ending with the shark being thrown back into the water to die and rot.

At the same time sharks are being hunted for their fins at unsustainable rates, they are also struggling with the contamination of their environment. Not only have sharks absorbed the highly toxic methyl-mercury which compromises, amongst other things, their ability to reproduce successfully, but now scientists are also finding other strange neuro-toxins (linked to brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s) in their flesh. Chemicals, whether dumped or run-off, enter the food chain and become concentrated as they make their way up the food chain. Even the tons and tons of plastics in our ocean – forming two “islands” twice the size of Texas in the Pacific and Indian oceans – are decomposing to a point that the polymer particles, which will take hundreds if not thousands of years to dissipate, are consumed. Some seawater has 7 times more plastic in it than zooplankton, and so this plastic poison also enters the food chain. All of these chemicals are literally poisoning the sharks – and anyone who dares to eat them.

As if not threatened enough, the struggling shark population is also battling with the destruction of habitat. Many sharks and rays rely upon estuaries as nurseries for their young. And sadly, estuaries around the world are under attack. Not only are the fragile ecosystems more susceptible to pollution and overfishing, they are often in areas considered prime real estate. Many estuaries have fallen victim to homes and businesses – either directly or due to the topographical changes urban development force.

The Zambezi Sharks of Southern Africa are one such casualty, for centuries, relying upon toxin-free estuaries to continue their cycle of life. While healthy in the 1960’s, the Zambezi Sharks’ population, also known as Bull Sharks, has plummeted – missing in large numbers from their usual haunts like Protea Banks. Many attribute this in great part to the disappearance of healthy estuaries. During the last 50 years, one by one, the sharks’ birthing places vanished, thanks to river damming, population explosions, and industrial pollution. In fact, reportedly only one estuary remains accessible, protected and healthy enough to serve as a nursery on the eastern coast of South Africa. Shark nets, targeted fishing, and destruction due to ignorant fear or a misplaced sense of competition, combined with an inability to rear healthy young have decimated the population.

Nearby Mozambique and its estuaries are thought to be the Zambezi Sharks’ salvation. So we decided to investigate this theory firsthand. On our recent trip, we visited countless estuaries and even dove in two. And the results, for this conservationist, were frightening.

Many of the estuaries we found were polluted from nearby towns and cities, serving as a makeshift waste facility for garbage, industrial waste and untreated sewage. Others had hotels built upon them, with what appeared to be little concern for their impact upon the fragile ecosystem. And more were dried up, with dead mangrove trees serving as the only indicator to the area’s previous vivacity, victims to changes in water flows that development and climate change inevitably bring about.

Imagine our excitement when we found a large estuary in Tofu that – from the surface – initially appeared to be healthy. We grabbed our gear and decided to see for ourselves… visions of immature sharks and rays dancing in my head.



The first thing that struck me as we approached was the lack of birds surrounding the area. Not a good sign. And then, as we walked to the site, I realized the luxury hotel next to us was dumping their waste directly into the water. It wasn’t until I saw the locals’ fish nets – installed with such intensity you can actually see them when flying above – did I finally acknowledge that perhaps we were mistaken.

We swam towards the mangroves knowing that their roots typically serve as homes for countless creatures. But all we found was a mossy, slime growing over sad strands of sea grass with long, gelatinous sea cucumbers and the spindly legs from sea stars woven in between. 90 minutes in the water and I could count the other life forms we encountered on one hand – a single crab, a small transparent shrimp, and a few silvery fish. Here was a huge bay that spanned as far as the eye could see and should have been bustling with life; instead, it was eerily silent. All that could be harvested from the estuary had been, and with the ecosystem completely disrupted and probably contaminated, what remained was the low level, and incredibly resilient members of the food chain – reproducing in large numbers due to the lack of balance.

For all practical purposes, this estuary, like so many others, was dead.

Resolute, we headed further north, finally escaping the populated areas and tourist destinations. After 6 hours of driving on non-existent roads, we happened upon an isolated estuary in Pomene Bay with a hotel perched aside the lovely bay, allowing us to spend five days observing the estuary – from above and under the water.

Our spirits soared as we heard stories of frogfish, sea horses, brindle bass, crabs and even dolphins. And over the next five days, our dives did not disappoint. Swimming through the beautifully healthy sea grass, we found a treasure trove. Anemones with huge, colorful popcorn shrimp, grasses and sponges entwined with several species of sea horses, black, yellow and orange frog fish lurking about looking for their next meal, beautiful juvenile angelfish displaying the vibrant patterns of youth, sand dollars hairy and purple shuffling on the bottom, and countless varieties of flounders, nudibranchs, scorpionfish, eels, and pipe fish this muck diving veteran had never seen before. We also met several scientists who were busy discovering new species – or species thousands of miles away from their reported home.


What a special place. It was like diving in the macro-heaven Sulawesi, Indonesia – without the garbage.

Our frequent boat trips through the estuary delivered topside sightings of flamingos, humpback dolphins, schools of hunting, large game fish, and even a turtle. Yes, this was a healthy estuary – one that was serving as a nursery and protected area for many species, including sharks no doubt. And one desperately in need of protection.



You see, it wasn’t long before our rose colored glasses wore off and we began noticing the locals that descended upon the estuary in full force day after day at low tide. Dozens of women filling bags and bags of razor clams. Fisherman dragging tiny mesh nets through the fragile grass catching fish, eels and everything else in their path, later throwing the precious bycatch not yet realizing its commercial value, like the sea horses, carelessly aside on the beach to die. Crowds of men with long poles who would stab at the water with as much caution as if they were jack hammering a pothole. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Day after day, this place was being assaulted. How much longer could it possibly last?



This place, like so many others, is falling victim to our collective ignorance and greed, while we blindly ignore the tremendous consequences upon things needed for our own basic survival. Remove the fish, remove the sharks, kill the fragile ecosystem and we jeopardize far more than a single estuary. We jeopardize the already strained oceans, our life source. And what’s worse, this is happening all over the world. Estuaries are threatened with extinction.

Perhaps there is hope for this estuary. The resort manager, Joe, a passionate lover of the oceans, recently convinced Maritima (the governmental agency responsible for protecting their coasts) to come and see the estuary for themselves. Not only did Maritima protect the area in front of the resort - the artificial reef – from gill-netters and agree to assess the impact in three months, but they are considering making the entire estuary a marine protected area. Of course, enforcement is always a challenge – I joined Joe in chasing away fisherman netting where they were not allowed. We also filmed what we saw – both the good and the bad – and are providing it to the government, to further the cause, writing letters to the ministry as well.

Our population is already at levels that are not sustainable from a resource perspective on this planet – so it isn’t surprising that in a country where 80% of the people live below the poverty level, it is a mad rush to take whatever they can. Even less excusable is the fact that more wealthy countries seize this as an opportunity to irresponsibly ravage these resources as well, destroying everything including estuaries in their path. The oceans are both our dumping grounds and our endless supply of life irregardless of our stewardship. It is up to those of us who care and can see the big picture, to stop the destruction. Or minimally, fight the good fight and be very noisy while it happens before our very eyes. The sharks, the sea horses, and even our fellow human beings, depend upon it.

Threatening those that threaten: Sharkfinning in Mozambique

Southern Africa has some of the richest shark waters in the world – which is part of the reason I find myself, a shark conservationist from Chicago, USA, drawn here. Over 210 species live in the nearby waters, more than 60 of which can only be found here.

However, like many other places around the globe, Southern Africa's sharks are vanishing before our eyes at alarming rates. Shark finners, motivated by the out of control demand for shark fin, have locked their target and are ravaging one of Africa’s most precious resources. Leaving behind a wake of disaster for the locals – and the rest of the world - who will suffer considerably when these waters are depleted of sharks.

I learned this first-hand on a recent trip to Mozambique.

Offshore, it is estimated that the area surrounding Mozambique has the highest concentration of long-line fishing vessels in the world. Over 200 are targeting shark for their fins. Any one of these vessels is capable of catching more than 100 tons of sharks per trip, quickly offloading to factory ships offshore only to fin again. In June, an illegal Namibian ship was seized with 43 tons of sharks, an estimated value of US$5 million, onboard the unlicensed ship.


Inshore, sharks face a similar fate from artesianal fisherman.

With 80% of Mozambicans living below the poverty level, it isn’t surprising that sharkfinning is running rampant. Fins from a single shark can fetch up to US$120, a few months’ income. Consider a small boat can land as many as 1,000 sharks a year and you have the recipe for environmental disaster.

The word is out. Shark fins mean big money and fishermen, desperate to feed their families, are heeding the call.


Before long-line fisheries began in early 2000, anecdotal reports indicate the shores surrounding Mozambique were rich with sharks and rays. These days, it is a very different story, with our own dives consisting of a rare shark or ray sighting only a handful of times. Unfortunately, the lack of infrastructure available for coastal monitoring and enforcement leaves Mozambique, like so many other countries, horribly exposed to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The government estimates that last year, the cost of this fishing to Mozambique was almost US$40 million.

However, a public groundswell is forming. Those passionate about sharks have formed a group called Eyes on the Horizon. A brilliant concept and one long overdue, members serve as the “eyes and ears” for the resource-strapped government. It was their Executive Director, Simon Pearce, who told us about Pomene.

When we arrived in Pomene, we recalled Simon telling us the shark finners were chased out just three weeks prior. A group of migrants who systematically move up the coast of Mozambique, they relocate when a local shark population is depleted – or when a local community becomes fed up with the impact the shark fisherman have on their livelihood – including the fish and tourists that they rely upon. Fishing accounts for over 50% of Mozambican’s incomes so it wasn’t long before local fishermen realized that when the apex predators like sharks are removed, the other fish beneath them on the food chain disappear as well.

Pulling into town, we spied the telltale sign of shark fishing: shark jaws hanging in the roadside curio huts. Upon closer inspection, the fresh, pink flesh on the jaws indicated these were recently caught. There were over a dozen jaws - bulls, tigers, grey reefs - some from sizable animals. When I began asking about the jaws, everyone surrounded me eager to make a sale. But, as more and more questions arose, suddenly everyone’s English was forgotten.


It was obvious the shark fishermen were still nearby.

Searching for shark fisherman is a complex and can also be a dangerous game. Especially in a third world country rife with poverty and crime where English is not readily spoken. You can’t simply go in and start asking questions expecting to be dropped on the deck of a long-liner with a gracious welcome, nor can you intentionally jeopardize the excessive income of a fisherman surrounded by poverty - without putting yourself into immediate jeopardy. Given the money involved, shark fishing is not unlike drug trafficking rife with suspicion, murder and corruption. Many shark finners operate behind veils of secrecy and are known to be ruthless - often times shooting at those that try to stop them. Some of my conservationist friends know this firsthand having found themselves at the business end of machine guns - which I am told are easily come by in Mozambique.

So, instead, you must build rapport and trust with a few locals. You must ask innocent, uninformed questions and remain completely non-judgmental about the responses. You must invest time and learn what motivates the community. You must earn the respect of local conservationists by proving you are passionate and just want to help, easing their suspicions. You must consider everyone an asset extracting bits of information from all you meet, fashioning it together like a complex jigsaw puzzle whose pieces are spread out over miles of terrain. And, you must get lucky. Which, in this case, we did.

After a week building rapport, we earned the trust of a resort owner and his local staff who knew plenty about the shark fisherman – and were willing to serve as our translators and transportation. And we gathered enough intelligence to know the shark fisherman were indeed migrants disliked by the locals, who were supplied their fishing gear by the businessmen that purchased their fins and were actively still fishing five kilometers up the coast in a village whose chief was notoriously corrupt.

That was enough to pull together an expedition to locate the shark finners.

It wasn’t long before we found their camp… and their long-lines. And it wasn’t long before they found us; our boat was identified immediately. These shark fisherman were extremely nervous already – as they had just been chased out of their previous camp. They weren’t about to let it happen again.

A few local fisherman gave their lines up, pointing us in the direction of two buoys, about 50 meters apart and equidistant from shore. Innocent enough, the buoys floated at the surface. If you didn’t know better, you would never have guessed what was sunken below.


The boat full of shark fisherman saw us approach their buoys and immediately went back to their camp for reinforcement. We took advantage of the gap and slipped into the water. But we were told to hurry – it wouldn’t be long before our problems multiplied. So We descended to see what lay below.

What we found was two sets of sunken lines (called bottom lines) one tied to each buoy line near the sandy bottom. A few meters later, we found the first attached long-line with a “j” hook, thick and corroded, ten meters apart from the next hook, baited with what appeared to be eel (later we found they were getting bait from the protected estuary nearby and had been chased away countless times). The fishing lines were heavy ropes with attached metal lines and swivels to ensure a captured shark wouldn’t be able to bite through the line or break free.

The lines extended past the sand, right over the reef, and my heart sank as I recalled all the other long ropes I had seen laying on the fragile coral at the other dive sites we had visited. The fisherman had been there too.


In the short time we dove the lines, we found a huge remora with a hook through its eye socket, bleeding profusely, obviously unintended bycatch. The remora’s sad eyes plead with us to save it though it seemed to have accepted its fate, lying in an unnatural position presumably overcome by agony. We tried desperately to free it, but to no avail. My mask grew blurry and I realized I was shedding tears for what I knew was happening here – and on the rest of the hooks throughout the world that I couldn’t see.


When we ascended, the resort owner told us we must go in a tone that conveyed a clear sense of urgency. Still in shock, we gathered our gear together and prepared for a speedy journey home. As we neared the beach to make our way home, the shark fisherman began pouring out from the bluffs, some with machetes in their hands. There was much shouting and hand waving as they accused us of cutting their lines and dared us to land the boat on shore. And, even though I did not speak Portuguese, there was no mistaking the tone, intensity and visual cues. These fisherman were ready for battle.

The resort owner suddenly realized the guide had a shirt on from the resort and whisked us away before we could be identified – fearful of the ramifications. The night watchmen were put on full alert for days following the incident, as he knew exactly what we were dealing with. We were miles away from any sort of enforcement or support, let alone infrastructure. Laws didn’t apply in places like this – and there was no place to hide.


I was so caught up, it wasn’t until days later that I realized just how much danger we were in. Caught up in passion, I lost all sense of reason having finally found myself with the ability to take on those killing the sharks face to face, and I was willing to do whatever it took. Thankfully, my mates, having grown up in Africa, prudently recommended we return when we have more support and options.

In the meantime, we have turned over the finners’ location to the governmental agency, Maritima, and to Eyes on the Horizon. I am hopeful they will do whatever they can – including the government whom boldly showed commitment to the cause by recently deciding to turn that seized Namibian shark fishing vessel into a patrol boat.

And, we are determined to return to Mozambique to get involved in grass roots efforts, educate local fisherman on other sustainable options, work with Eyes on the Horizon, and, in some small way, contribute towards the establishment of a structure that the rest of the world can follow. We need to send a message that shark finning cannot and should not be tolerated in any country – nor can it be sustainably beneficial, either economically or environmentally.

We are all connected to one another, and to the sharks, who keep our oceans healthy. Countries around the world, like Mozambique, who are struggling with basic socio-economic issues, desperately need everyone’s help to save the last remaining sharks. I just hope we aren’t too late.

Another Senseless Death

This time, it was a pregnant female that was caught and killed in the shark nets installed near Scottsburgh beach today. A shark whose population is so threatened, it is raised in test tubes in Australia in a desperate attempt to save it from extinction. A shark that is rarely linked to incidents with humans (and more than half of those are provoked) whose main source of food is small fish and crustaceans. A shark who had made it through two sets of nets to the beach, and was then caught in the cloudy water returning to the sea. A shark that was brutally strangled and suffocated to death. A shark that never should have died.

And what’s worse, she was a pregnant female whose death marks the demise of dozens of unborn Raggedtooth Sharks. Running the gauntlet of hundreds of meters of nets installed up the coastline of South Africa, she had most likely made it the long journey up to Sodwana and back instinct guiding her to her birthing place before becoming entangled, not seeing the camaflouged black net in the murky water. Surprised, she must have fought to free herself, only worsening the nets’ hold as it tightened around her gills slowly choking the last breaths of air out of her. A beautifully elegant animal, she spent her last painful moments desperately alone probably never imagining a fate such as this, the remora affixed to her belly giving her no solace.


I found her a few hours later. Diving down, I knew there was a shark on the net – a dead shark. But no amount of dead sharks can prepare you emotionally for the sight. There she was, her head and gills engulfed in tightly meshed net, her timid eyes glazed over forced to accept her fate, her harmless mouth agape frozen in time as she struggled for her last breath of air. This magnificent shark, the kind that is so shy it won’t even allow a diver to come too close, murdered by ignorance and greed. My heart sank when I realized she was with carrying a precious cargo – as many mature females are at this time of year – a new generation of sharks slaughtered before entering the world. I stroked her graceful snout and wished her death was not in vain. That the world would wake up and stop the insanity. That the archaic nets would finally be removed – having caused the deaths of thousands of harmless sharks, dolphins, turtles, rays, and whales while serving a primarily psychological purpose. But while causing very real destruction to a very fragile place.



Then, I could only watch as men dragged her to the surface, joking and laughing as they tried to pull her into the boat, a very large shark, having spent years avoiding the nets of death, As if her death wasn’t brutal and senseless enough, they proceeded to dismember and destroy her in front of my eyes. She was just another fish to them. They gaffed her so hard the gaff broke in two, affixed thick ropes that sawed thru her gills, the water turning red with blood, and then, poked out her eyes only to stick their index fingers into her eye sockets. Her majestic beauty transformed into gore. The air filled with the pungent smell every shark conservationist dreads. The smell of fresh, dead shark.


More than 6,000 of her kind have been caught and killed in the last three decades joining the over 26,000 other harmless sharks that have been slaughtered. And many more will continue to die every year. Senselessly. Brutally. Needlessly.

Generations of animals – many threatened with extinction - who play a critical role in this planet’s health killed because of a media-induced, irrational fear.

When will this madness stop?

CNN Blog - The world needed to see what I was witnessing

Expanded version of blog featured on cnn.com

I broke the surface having just completed the last day of diving on some of the most incredible reefs I had ever seen. Floating in the deep blue waters, I looked around and surveyed the dozens of forest covered limestone islands that surrounded me. This was truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. I was in Raja Ampat off the western tip of Papua in Indonesia, one of the most remote and biologically diverse marine ecosystems on the planet. I was here filming the reefs and marine life in a newly established Marine Protected Area (MPA).

Cruising back to our camp, we noticed a small fishing boat anchored in a shallow lagoon within the protected area. Curious, we decided to investigate. As we drew near, we made a grizzly discovery. On the blood soaked deck, covered with buzzing flies, were dozens and dozens of shark fins that had recently been sliced off of small reef sharks. Looking into the water, an odd shape at the bottom caught our attention. Immediately we identified it as the body of a shark. It took all my willpower to control my feelings of anger and frustration. And then I recalled, where sharks should have been abundant on every protected reef, we had not seen sharks the entire week. Now it clear why. It was also immediately clear what I had to do.
The world needed to see what I was witnessing.

Flipping my video camera on, I documented the gruesome reality of what lay strewn before me: the fins, the blood, the flies, grisly contradictions to these magnificent surroundings. Loading my camera into my underwater housing, I threw on my snorkel gear and slipped into the water. Below me strewn across coral reef were a dozen, dead juvenile reef sharks rolling gently with the current. Descending down, my stomach turned as I saw the blood seeping from wounds where their fins had been. These beautiful sharks had been ruthlessly sliced and thrown overboard to drown, killed just for their fins.

After filming all I could stomach, I returned to the boat. Enraged, I wanted to do something. Certainly this reckless harvesting must be illegal. Our guide Andy then informed me that the fisherman had presented a legal shark fishing permit which for $30 granted him the right to fin sharks for 30 days. Quick math revealed 10 sharks per day times 30 days, or 300 sharks for $30. 10 cents a shark! This was the price for the life of each of the juvenile reef sharks below me on the reef. But what was the cost on the marine ecosystem and the local community that depended on it?

Something changed in me that day, something that would grow inside and drive me to dedicate my life to ending the short-sighted destruction of marine environments and first and foremost, by halting the shark fin trade.

Upon my return, I discovered that most people had no idea what was happening in the oceans and that most had never experienced what lay beneath the surface. I also learned that when given the opportunity to explore and interact with marine life or to experience it virtually through engaging underwater footage and stories, that they did start to care. A lot. And once they cared, they wanted to take action.

So much of what I have learned about the oceans, I have learned while diving and filming firsthand what the underwater realm is truly about. Much of what we watch, read and hear regarding marine life is only a shadow of the reality. For many people, the closest they come to this world is a seafood restaurant or sushi bar. To truly appreciate the ocean, there is no better way than to immerse yourself in it. And to truly know what is going on, you must witness it yourself.Take sharks for instance, one of my favorite subjects. We are taught to believe sharks are mindless killers, that even a drop of blood will send them into a feeding frenzy and that most species of sharks are "man-eaters". Prior to diving with sharks I wanted to believe this wasn't true but years of media conditioning and the "Jaws" phenomenon had left their mark. Hundreds of dives later with sharks, and I am certain the myths couldn't be further from the truth. I have drifted with schools of over 500 hammerhead sharks and watched as 100 reef sharks formed hunting packs at night. I have knelt within touching distance as a dozen bull sharks, some over 1000 lbs and 11 feet long, fed on fish. 

During the filming of our documentary Shark Angels (www.sharkangels.com), three amazing women from the conservation field joined me and spent 4 days, without cages, diving with a dozen tiger sharks and 50 lemon sharks. Our goal was to demonstrate that even the "fiercest" of the sharks had no intentions of harming people. And in all these years and all these dives with sharks, I never witnessed a deliberate attempt by a shark to injure or kill. What I did witness, to my great joy, was countless divers have that "ah ha" moment when they realized the truth about these amazing creatures.

Sadly, during this same period, I have watched sharks disappear from the oceans. Where once sharks were plentiful on all the reefs of the world, they have effectively vanished from all but a few remaining sanctuaries. And even within these "sanctuaries" they are being systematically targeted and killed for their fins. Fins! Less than 3-5% of the sharks total mass, the other 95% either thrown back in the ocean or used as a cheap by-product. And of this 3-5%, only the small strands of cartilage will be used with the rest discarded as trash. These cartilage strands will be boiled and used as a flavorless thickener, like thin noodles, in a watery soup flavored by chicken stock. Shark Fin Soup.

Once popular on only special occasions among the ultra-elite in Asia, the recent economic boom in China coupled with intense marketing by the shark fin trade, has fueled an explosion in demand. And the result, over 100 million sharks are killed every year primarily for their fins. In the past 20 years, many of the great shark species populations have been reduced by over 90%. If nothing changes, sharks are heading on a one way road to extinction.

So what if we remove sharks? Slow to grow and slow to reproduce, sharks have perfectly evolved over 400 million years to keep our oceans in balance by removing the sick and managing populations. Remove the sharks and the populations of faster growing predatory fish they control explode and wipe out successive layers in the food chain. Ultimately the fish stocks collapse including the small fish that maintain the coral, algae takes hold and the reefs die. No reefs, no fish. What nature developed over 400 million years to keep our oceans healthy, man is wiping out in less than 50 years. Over 1 billion people depend upon the ocean for their livelihoods and survival. What will happen when over 1 billion people lose their jobs or go hungry? That is why sharks matter.

In the developed world we live in societies where our consumption behavior is disconnected from its impact on the environment. With regard to fish, most of us don't know and don't care to know where our fish comes from, how it is caught or raised, what by-catch is associated with it, and what waste products it produces. As a result, the ocean are being effectively strip-mined, utilizing some of the most destructive and wasteful fishing practices imaginable. And the result, sharks along with all other large species of fish have been largely fished out of most of the seas with hardly any notice or public outcry. And now, we are fishing our way down, removing successive layers in the food chain.

I have just returned from filming again Raja Ampat, several years after that first encounter with shark finning. As part of my documentary on the global shark fin trade, I spent a week following and filming shark fishermen in the region. When you consider that Raja Ampat is one of the most ecologically diverse and pristine marine ecosystems left on earth, the situation couldn't have been more depressing. Where just a few years ago long-line fishermen were pulling out a dozen or so 1.5 meter long reef sharks in a single day, they were now catching almost nothing except a handful of baby sharks over the period of a week.

Having wiped out the sharks in Southern Raja Ampat, most of the shark fishermen had moved on to find new shark fishing grounds. The shark fishermen that remain were now using miles of bottom drift nets instead of lines. These nets scrape off the coral reefs and catch everything in their path including baby sharks, reef fish, turtles, rays and manta rays. The situation had clearly hit rock bottom for sharks and the outlook for the rest of the ecosystem is not good.

After a week of documenting desperate fishermen plunder their dwindling resources, I spent the latter part of my visit filming in the Marine Protected Area surrounding Misool Eco Resort, the very same area I had first encountered the shark finning in. Where only a few years ago no sharks were seen, on many dives I now observed young reef sharks patrolling the walls and reefs, and in the resort bay, up to a dozen juvenile black tip reef sharks hunting in the shallows. The local villages that once fished these waters were now employed at the resort and as rangers. They were partners in the protection of their reefs. Their jobs and the entire marine protected area were funded through dive eco-tourism. A far more sustainable way to profit from the oceans.

This really struck home with me. The unique combination of marine protection, community involvement and sustainable tourism can turn the tide on a seemingly impossible situation, a beacon of hope for our oceans in peril. Even in a short period of time, the transformation can be significant. In addition to stopping certain behaviors, if we just change 'how' we do things and consider the impact of our actions on the environment, we can make a big difference. And the more people that consciously choose to become part of the solution, the more global in scale this impact will be.