I was hoping to meet the scary “Man Tweeter” and when I saw it I realized it was a defenseless animal and I was even more afraid of it than that. The moment sparked my curiosity and I decided to learn more about sharks. I travelled to Guadalupe Island along the Pacific Ocean in Mexico to see the great white sharks. When I was able to take some amazing white shark photos, I realized that the camera is not a tool. I realized that it was a way to achieve my goal of meeting sharks.
The film reduced the shark to one or two explanations for many. They are horribly exhausting. What do you learn from being with them and why do you protect them?
From a very young age, my parents were divers, so I dreamed of becoming a diver. While my mother passed away when I was only one year old, my dad was telling me about his adventures with the shark. He said they were in the wrong. When I was 7, I watched a movie jaw, And I was drawn to the character of scientist Matt Hooper. Finally, when the shark destroys the boat, Hooper enters the cage, the shark breaks it, and everyone thinks he must have been eaten, but in the end he survives. Right after we saw the movie, we went to the beach in Takistan, Veracruz, eastern Mexico. My dad bought a small dead shark from a fisherman and I played on the beach with Half Brother. Those moments led to my love for the shark. For me, living with animals is my safe space. When I’m truly myself, I feel calm. It’s safe and secure.
Wired covers overfishing reaching deep waters, threatening rays and sharks. In your 20-year encounter with these creatures, have you seen a change in their population? And what is it like to witness our impact on the ocean firsthand?
I saw two phenomena. I had another life than I had now, off the coast of the Caribbean Riviera Maya, without going far from my home near Cozumel. But I’ve also seen places like Cabo Palmo at the tip of Baja in California, where there were few sharks 20 years ago. When sharks exist naturally, without someone supporting and feeding the population, it is a sign that the ecosystem is healthy. At Cabo Pulmo, they created a protected area that became a point of hope. These regions are not sufficient, but you can find whole food chains there, from sharks to the smallest plankton. Taking sharks will disproportionate the entire ecosystem.
Recently I have seen more and more dead and bleached corals, which is very sad.
What does it look like?
