This is Your Ocean:
SHARKS
A look back at 10 years of Celebrating Sharks BY GEORGE C. SCHELLENGER
M
y pitch on Oct. 1, 2010 was simple: create a film that would allow viewers to “experience what it’s like to come face to face with sharks at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas. Reveal why sharks are so valuable to the reef and the economy. Discover why sharks, even in this paradise, could be on the verge of being slaughtered. Find out what’s being done to protect them — and what you can do before time runs out.” I wrote that as a pitch to Wyland, Guy Harvey and Jim Abernathy on what we could accomplish on a week-long expedition to Tiger Beach in the Bahamas. To rewind the clock a bit, it all started at a meeting with Jim and Wyland during a goliath grouper dive off the coast of West Palm Beach in the summer of 2010.
Wyland, Guy Harvey and Jim Abernathy get ready to take the big dip.
84 | GuyHarvey.com
We heard Sunco Wholesale Seafood Company was considering harvesting shark fins in the Bahamas, and they were looking for a permit from the government. Those who know the Bahamas know that if shark fishing were allowed by the government, it would be a very short harvest. Even though it seems like there are a lot of sharks in the Bahamas on a good shark dive, they were all the same sharks centered in one dive location. Take them out, and the shark population would crash. We wanted to show what was at risk, and we had a great team to tell the story. Guy Harvey had just raised $500,000 to help restore the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Wyland had just completed 100 “Whaling Walls” around the world, which depicted the grandeur of marine life. Expert shark diver, photographer and filmmaker Jim Abernathy had published the first in a series of children’s books called Sharks: Close Up. Wyland and team got back quickly to say the film was a go, but I had no idea it would completely, and forever, change my life. I came to the project as a journalist and producer. My brother and I had just finished a series of DVDs and VHS tapes (yes, 2010 was a long time ago) for school libraries across the country to help teach young students about ocean exploration and conservation. To make those films, I’d worked side-by-side with Jim Abernathy on several trips to Tiger Beach. I’d witnessed Jim’s incredible skills underwater, and I saw this project as a way to combine art and science to shatter the public’s perception of sharks.
We wanted to show what was at risk, and we had a great team to tell the story.
