For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth.
Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.
Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle between the Sea Shepherd and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives.
Through it all, Stewart discovers these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey, and how despite surviving the earth's history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years due to human greed.
Stewart's remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world's sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind.
Canadian Connection: Filmmaker Rob Stewart is Canadian and the film is completely Canadian-funded.
I almost cried. Support Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd to stop this cruel crime! Together we are strong!
This documentary shows us that we are surrounded by greedy people who only want money and power. Cutting off pieces of an animal for money is disgusting and cruel to the species. We are more intelligent then anything else on this planet yet we can not figure out that we need these creatures? This film proves to us that man kind is nothing more than savages looking for a way to get money in todays world. This film should be in schools and recommended to as many people as possible to show how these majestic animals are mistreated every day. It gets to me every time I watch it or even talk about it, and that feeling is my reason behind doing something for these creatures.
This documentary was beautifully done. Not enough awareness was available to me before I saw this. I had actually been studying ecotourism in Costa Rica and now I am going there to interview locals on their opinions on the shark finning ban.