1 00:00:06,573 --> 00:00:11,272 December 8, 1963 a day like any other. 2 00:00:12,345 --> 00:00:15,109 At Alldinga Beach, the annual South Australian 3 00:00:15,248 --> 00:00:18,342 spearfishing championships are set to begin. 4 00:00:34,534 --> 00:00:36,525 23 year old Rodney Fox, 5 00:00:36,669 --> 00:00:38,864 a life insurance salesman from Adelaide, 6 00:00:39,005 --> 00:00:42,338 and former champion, takes to the water. 7 00:00:46,579 --> 00:00:49,548 He sets his sights on a large reef fish. 8 00:00:50,350 --> 00:00:54,047 Little does he know that he himself is being stalked... 9 00:00:54,954 --> 00:00:57,184 By a great white shark. 10 00:01:08,601 --> 00:01:10,432 Through a series of near miracles, 11 00:01:10,570 --> 00:01:14,836 Rodney Fox arrives at Royal Adelaide Hospital in under an hour. 12 00:01:14,974 --> 00:01:17,169 The vascular surgeon there has just returned 13 00:01:17,310 --> 00:01:18,937 from an international conference 14 00:01:19,079 --> 00:01:22,139 with the very latest in surgical techniques. 15 00:01:24,918 --> 00:01:28,911 They go to work on the mutilated body delivered to the operating theater. 16 00:01:32,625 --> 00:01:37,255 The shark has punctured his left lung, left clavicle, and diaphragm. 17 00:01:42,402 --> 00:01:45,496 The jaws have bitten through all his ribs, 18 00:01:46,506 --> 00:01:49,168 gouged skin and muscle from his left side, 19 00:01:49,309 --> 00:01:52,073 and exposed several major organs. 20 00:01:55,748 --> 00:01:59,514 According to one surgeon, had Rodney arrived five minutes later, 21 00:01:59,652 --> 00:02:01,552 he would have bled to death. 22 00:02:06,192 --> 00:02:09,320 Sewn back together with over 450 stitches, 23 00:02:09,462 --> 00:02:12,454 he lies bedridden for two months with the pain, 24 00:02:12,599 --> 00:02:14,533 and the awful memory. 25 00:02:16,302 --> 00:02:18,770 Do you hope to continue skindiving one day? 26 00:02:18,905 --> 00:02:22,636 I'll get in the water somewhere sometime, 27 00:02:22,775 --> 00:02:28,111 but I don't know whether I'll go in this gulf here where 28 00:02:28,248 --> 00:02:31,445 there's been two or three attacks in the last few years. 29 00:02:31,584 --> 00:02:34,018 That was Rodney Fox then... 30 00:02:37,490 --> 00:02:40,288 And this is Rodney Fox now. 31 00:02:46,966 --> 00:02:51,266 Seldom has a single event so radically transformed a person. 32 00:02:57,076 --> 00:02:59,476 In a way, the great white shark that attacked him 33 00:02:59,612 --> 00:03:03,981 30 years ago took his young life but gave him another. 34 00:04:15,421 --> 00:04:20,120 In three decades, Rodney Fox has grown from a fearful shark victim 35 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:23,195 into a shark champion and protector. 36 00:04:31,337 --> 00:04:32,668 I think that sharks 37 00:04:32,805 --> 00:04:35,672 and the shark world is really beautiful and interesting. 38 00:04:35,808 --> 00:04:39,972 The shark gets a raw deal, and people just hate it 39 00:04:40,113 --> 00:04:42,980 because they don't understand and they fear it. 40 00:04:44,050 --> 00:04:46,780 I love to see them flying and gliding through the water, 41 00:04:46,919 --> 00:04:49,911 and I think that most people would really enjoy it too, 42 00:04:50,056 --> 00:04:53,287 if the realized they weren't going to be eaten alive. 43 00:04:55,695 --> 00:04:59,961 This from a man who was himself nearly eaten alive. 44 00:05:00,099 --> 00:05:03,296 Rodney's life since the attack has been a continuous challenge 45 00:05:03,436 --> 00:05:06,564 to overcome his fear by facing it. 46 00:05:22,622 --> 00:05:26,058 Today, documentary filmmakers and marine scientists 47 00:05:26,192 --> 00:05:27,591 from all over the world 48 00:05:27,727 --> 00:05:32,130 travel to Australia to go looking for sharks with Rodney. 49 00:05:32,265 --> 00:05:35,894 His knowledge of living sharks is unparalleled. 50 00:05:39,105 --> 00:05:42,097 Marine biologist Eugenie Clark 51 00:05:42,775 --> 00:05:45,903 People who hear about Rodney's shark attack go, 52 00:05:46,045 --> 00:05:49,913 wow, he's an ordinary man like one of us 53 00:05:50,049 --> 00:05:53,212 and yet he'shad such a terrible experience, 54 00:05:53,353 --> 00:05:54,650 and on top of that, 55 00:05:54,787 --> 00:05:57,119 he's telling us that sharks aren't dangerous, 56 00:05:57,256 --> 00:05:59,315 they're good, we should preserve them. 57 00:05:59,459 --> 00:06:02,360 So this is what's so wonderful about Rodney, 58 00:06:02,495 --> 00:06:06,090 the someone who suffered through such a terrible incident 59 00:06:06,232 --> 00:06:09,668 can now defend the animal that attacked him. 60 00:06:12,205 --> 00:06:14,730 It wasn't always that way. 61 00:06:15,875 --> 00:06:22,576 Reliving the shark attack story has been a continuous epic in my life. 62 00:06:22,715 --> 00:06:24,808 So many people want to hear how I survived, 63 00:06:24,951 --> 00:06:26,919 how I stuck my fingers in the shark's eyes, 64 00:06:27,053 --> 00:06:29,487 how I put my arm around it so it wouldn't bite, 65 00:06:29,622 --> 00:06:32,614 and how I went up to the surface and it followed me. 66 00:06:32,759 --> 00:06:36,820 And after about eight or nine years of telling the story, 67 00:06:36,963 --> 00:06:40,091 I read the original Readers' Digest First Person Award the 68 00:06:40,233 --> 00:06:42,098 I had written immediately afterwards, 69 00:06:42,235 --> 00:06:44,965 and I found that I had changed the story a little. 70 00:06:45,104 --> 00:06:48,232 I was telling people what they wanted to hear, 71 00:06:48,374 --> 00:06:50,501 and not necessarily the truth. 72 00:06:52,278 --> 00:06:54,769 Time often affects memory. 73 00:06:54,914 --> 00:07:00,011 Here the story is only two days old, and not nearly so heroic. 74 00:07:00,887 --> 00:07:05,256 All I remember is this big thing pushing me through the water, 75 00:07:08,294 --> 00:07:15,063 and it seemed to let go a bit when I pushed my hand up at it, 76 00:07:15,201 --> 00:07:17,396 and it still wouldn't let go. 77 00:07:17,537 --> 00:07:21,371 The pressure of the water might have been holding me in his mouth. 78 00:07:21,507 --> 00:07:24,704 And I managed to put both arms right around him 79 00:07:24,844 --> 00:07:29,577 and I was looking for his eyes with my fingers and after awhile, 80 00:07:29,715 --> 00:07:34,311 he managed just to let go and 81 00:07:35,188 --> 00:07:38,089 I managed to get to the surface. 82 00:07:38,758 --> 00:07:43,320 Very luckily there was a boat just coming over to see what was going on 83 00:07:43,463 --> 00:07:47,559 because there was so much blood and disturbance in the water. 84 00:07:47,700 --> 00:07:52,728 And they quickly rolled me into the boat and I had to keep both arms 85 00:07:52,872 --> 00:07:55,238 just like this so they wouldn't rip my arms off. 86 00:07:55,374 --> 00:07:58,673 As they came to shore on this incredibly rough area there, 87 00:07:58,811 --> 00:08:02,212 they drove the boat up onto the shore. 88 00:08:02,348 --> 00:08:07,445 And they loaded me onto a bit of a stretcher, and a car, 89 00:08:07,587 --> 00:08:11,318 the only car in the whole area that had been in this beach 90 00:08:11,457 --> 00:08:14,426 for about four or five years was available, 91 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,052 and they drove it out over the reef with 10 or 20 guys lifting it 92 00:08:18,197 --> 00:08:20,927 over the big lumps and the rocks through here. 93 00:08:21,067 --> 00:08:24,969 Loaded me in the back of it, took off toward Adelaide. 94 00:08:25,104 --> 00:08:28,267 It was an absolute miracle, 95 00:08:28,908 --> 00:08:32,400 especially when they unloaded me out of the boat. 96 00:08:32,545 --> 00:08:35,343 As they did, my wetsuit slid open and my stomach, 97 00:08:35,481 --> 00:08:39,713 actually, loops of intestines, came out which seems funny now. 98 00:08:39,852 --> 00:08:42,787 I've got a good friend who actually tells me every now and again 99 00:08:42,922 --> 00:08:45,117 that he stuffed them back in with his fingers. 100 00:08:45,258 --> 00:08:46,748 They bunched me up. 101 00:08:47,793 --> 00:08:49,658 Rodney's wife ay. 102 00:08:49,795 --> 00:08:53,322 I didn't know how bad it was for many days afterwards, 103 00:08:53,466 --> 00:08:56,594 but by then he was up and breathing and talking and so, 104 00:08:56,736 --> 00:08:58,601 you know, it's only later 105 00:08:58,738 --> 00:09:01,901 when they tell you all the things that were wrong 106 00:09:02,041 --> 00:09:04,168 that you realize just how close it was 107 00:09:04,310 --> 00:09:06,870 But everybody in the hospital thought he was dying 108 00:09:08,281 --> 00:09:09,771 but I knew he wasn't. 109 00:09:11,384 --> 00:09:14,319 His attack drew worldwide attention. 110 00:09:17,924 --> 00:09:21,587 Rodney became a sensation almost overnight. 111 00:09:23,596 --> 00:09:27,692 The public notoriety would set his life on a brand new course. 112 00:09:33,205 --> 00:09:36,538 Three months after the attack, escorted by ay, 113 00:09:36,676 --> 00:09:39,304 Rodney began his return to the sea. 114 00:09:39,445 --> 00:09:42,380 But it wasn't easy to forget his attack. 115 00:09:45,918 --> 00:09:50,014 The fear of the sharks when I went back in the water was huge. 116 00:09:50,823 --> 00:09:52,814 My first time my head went underwater, 117 00:09:52,959 --> 00:09:57,089 I imagined in my mind sharks running in from all directions and I said, 118 00:09:57,229 --> 00:09:59,527 "stop it, you've got to control that." 119 00:10:00,199 --> 00:10:03,657 Things would never exactly return to normal for Rodney. 120 00:10:03,803 --> 00:10:07,239 His love of the sea was now overshadowed by a terrible fascination 121 00:10:07,373 --> 00:10:09,841 with his old nemesis the shark. 122 00:10:09,976 --> 00:10:15,004 In 1965, he organized the first expedition to track the great white. 123 00:10:15,147 --> 00:10:17,775 The adventure became a docudrama. 124 00:10:18,618 --> 00:10:22,145 But danger in the unknown makes man himself the quarry 125 00:10:22,288 --> 00:10:24,620 of the most savage hunter of the deep 126 00:10:28,961 --> 00:10:30,792 the great white shark 127 00:10:33,399 --> 00:10:35,799 the white 128 00:10:38,671 --> 00:10:41,538 great white death. 129 00:10:45,011 --> 00:10:47,104 Come on you bastard, attack. 130 00:10:48,514 --> 00:10:52,746 This is some of the first footage ever shot of a great white under water. 131 00:10:55,087 --> 00:10:56,486 Coming in 132 00:10:56,622 --> 00:10:57,987 now! 133 00:10:58,658 --> 00:11:00,626 That doesn't taste so good, that wire mesh. 134 00:11:02,428 --> 00:11:07,456 The theme is revenge a crusade to rid the seas of evil sharks. 135 00:11:07,967 --> 00:11:09,992 Death and the battle's almost over, 136 00:11:10,136 --> 00:11:15,130 a second maneater who's jaw will never again menace an unsuspecting swimmer. 137 00:11:17,877 --> 00:11:20,937 In those days, people feared sharks 138 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:23,275 because they knew very little about them. 139 00:11:25,151 --> 00:11:28,086 They thought that every shark was a bad shark 140 00:11:30,089 --> 00:11:31,886 and there was a big saying 141 00:11:32,024 --> 00:11:35,482 at that stage that the best shark was a dead shark. 142 00:11:38,998 --> 00:11:41,865 The first film was followed by a second. 143 00:11:55,581 --> 00:12:00,518 "Attacked by a iller Shark" is about Rodney his attack and recovery. 144 00:12:00,653 --> 00:12:05,454 Again, it shows Rodney wielding a speargun, bent on revenge. 145 00:12:07,793 --> 00:12:09,454 Time out to reload. 146 00:12:09,995 --> 00:12:13,328 The cartridge inside the head explodes on contact. 147 00:12:13,466 --> 00:12:16,299 The tremendous concussion is transmitted into the body, 148 00:12:16,435 --> 00:12:18,164 killing instantly. 149 00:12:18,304 --> 00:12:21,671 But it does twist the truth just a little. 150 00:12:22,475 --> 00:12:24,909 I wasn't really after revenge. 151 00:12:25,044 --> 00:12:27,512 What I was frightened of was going back in the water 152 00:12:27,646 --> 00:12:29,443 and being bitten again. 153 00:12:29,915 --> 00:12:33,715 And so I was quite keen to try out the new explosive powder head 154 00:12:33,853 --> 00:12:35,411 that had been invented. 155 00:12:35,554 --> 00:12:39,388 And I went underwater and I shot some of these sharks on file to 156 00:12:39,525 --> 00:12:43,017 show that man could protect himself underwater. 157 00:12:44,063 --> 00:12:45,894 Rod's on a killing frenzy, 158 00:12:46,031 --> 00:12:49,933 intoxicated with his successes overriding his fears. 159 00:12:50,536 --> 00:12:53,801 This is exactly the scene he had been in need of. 160 00:12:55,741 --> 00:12:58,869 In fact, Rodney's attitude was beginning to change 161 00:12:59,011 --> 00:13:02,276 a fact obscured by the dramatic film script. 162 00:13:03,816 --> 00:13:07,775 I didn't realize or understand much at that time but I thought, 163 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:09,285 that's not the right attitude. 164 00:13:09,421 --> 00:13:11,116 We've got to look at it further than that. 165 00:13:11,257 --> 00:13:13,452 We've got to learn more about them and understand them 166 00:13:13,592 --> 00:13:15,321 and learn to live with them. 167 00:13:16,061 --> 00:13:19,622 As Rodney's appreciation for the great white began to grow, 168 00:13:19,765 --> 00:13:22,928 so too did his expertise as a shark tracker. 169 00:13:23,068 --> 00:13:25,468 In 1969, he was called into work 170 00:13:25,604 --> 00:13:29,040 on a shark movie unlike any that had gone before. 171 00:13:31,243 --> 00:13:33,711 Has that cage been checked out? 172 00:13:33,846 --> 00:13:35,780 Film Producer Peter Gimbel 173 00:13:35,915 --> 00:13:39,351 turned to Rodney to deliver the sharks for his cameras. 174 00:13:39,485 --> 00:13:41,316 Well, generally, after they've had a taste, 175 00:13:41,453 --> 00:13:44,616 they start really to tear into things and really start to be active. 176 00:13:44,757 --> 00:13:46,520 And then you'll let us get into the water. 177 00:13:47,459 --> 00:13:48,790 I'll push you. 178 00:13:49,328 --> 00:13:51,853 The result the critically acclaimed documentary, 179 00:13:51,997 --> 00:13:54,158 "Blue Water, White Death." 180 00:13:54,300 --> 00:13:57,394 In the crew was diver cameraman Stan Waterman. 181 00:13:57,536 --> 00:14:00,004 The two men would become lifelong friends. 182 00:14:00,139 --> 00:14:00,969 There's gotta' be 12! 183 00:14:01,106 --> 00:14:02,801 Oh, yeah. 184 00:14:06,912 --> 00:14:11,281 Rodney had already done two films about the great white 185 00:14:11,417 --> 00:14:14,978 and Rodney probably knew more about 186 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,988 how to chum in the great white very important that, 187 00:14:19,124 --> 00:14:21,649 chumming, the putting out of what was called burley 188 00:14:21,794 --> 00:14:24,319 in Australia to attract them. 189 00:14:24,830 --> 00:14:28,960 So that Rodney was the natural man to set up the scene for us. 190 00:14:29,101 --> 00:14:31,126 Rodney didn't have a cage back then. 191 00:14:31,270 --> 00:14:32,794 Gimbel had the cages. 192 00:14:32,938 --> 00:14:36,533 Rodney knew where to find the burley, the chum, 193 00:14:36,675 --> 00:14:39,109 and set up the boats. 194 00:14:39,245 --> 00:14:40,644 And way back then, in the beginning, 195 00:14:40,779 --> 00:14:45,546 Rodney was your man in Australia if you wanted to film the great white. 196 00:15:03,102 --> 00:15:05,332 Sorry about you cage, fellah, wait 'ill you see it. 197 00:15:05,471 --> 00:15:06,460 How bad is it? 198 00:15:06,605 --> 00:15:07,594 What a mess. 199 00:15:07,740 --> 00:15:09,037 He bent the cage, Stan? 200 00:15:09,174 --> 00:15:10,903 Oh, wait 'till you see. 201 00:15:12,344 --> 00:15:15,370 The carnage of earlier films was not repeated. 202 00:15:15,514 --> 00:15:19,416 "Blue Water, White Death" marks the beginning of a new kind of relationship 203 00:15:19,551 --> 00:15:22,111 between white sharks and human beings 204 00:15:22,254 --> 00:15:25,690 one that allows the sharks to survive the encounter. 205 00:15:36,135 --> 00:15:39,536 For Rodney Fox, the occasional filmmaking stint was not enough 206 00:15:39,672 --> 00:15:41,606 to support his young family. 207 00:15:41,740 --> 00:15:46,609 So he took up abalone diving, a dangerous but lucrative profession. 208 00:15:46,745 --> 00:15:50,146 It would put food on the table for 18 years. 209 00:15:54,153 --> 00:15:57,589 But always, the sharks weighed heavily on his mind. 210 00:16:01,627 --> 00:16:04,118 One of the hardest things to do over that 211 00:16:04,263 --> 00:16:07,391 18 year period when I was abalone diving 212 00:16:07,533 --> 00:16:10,366 was when I had to return to abalone diving the week 213 00:16:10,502 --> 00:16:13,300 after I'd been out filming sharks. 214 00:16:13,439 --> 00:16:16,067 We had attracted maybe 10 or 15 great whites 215 00:16:16,208 --> 00:16:18,642 around the boat during the week period. 216 00:16:18,777 --> 00:16:21,803 We had them biting on the cages and taking baits 217 00:16:21,947 --> 00:16:24,211 and showing these enormous teeth. 218 00:16:24,350 --> 00:16:27,183 When the film crew had left and everything had quieted down, 219 00:16:27,319 --> 00:16:30,811 I had to make my living again, and go back in the water 220 00:16:30,956 --> 00:16:34,619 only a few miles from where we'd seen all these sharks. 221 00:16:35,728 --> 00:16:38,128 I had to put on another hat and say to myself, 222 00:16:38,263 --> 00:16:40,163 Sharks don't like abalone. 223 00:16:40,299 --> 00:16:44,497 They generally don't eat humans. You'll be okay. 224 00:16:47,373 --> 00:16:49,238 But the first couple of days 225 00:16:49,375 --> 00:16:52,242 I imagined those sharks were looking at me. 226 00:16:54,179 --> 00:16:57,171 And sometimes when my knee would hit a soft sponge, 227 00:16:57,316 --> 00:17:01,275 I wondered whether that was a soft shark's belly 228 00:17:01,420 --> 00:17:04,082 and whether it was biting my leg off. 229 00:17:04,223 --> 00:17:07,852 But I knew that it was fear in myself. 230 00:17:11,096 --> 00:17:14,759 The danger to abalone divers was genuine enough. 231 00:17:15,501 --> 00:17:18,402 Some of the best abalone beds were near seal colonies 232 00:17:18,537 --> 00:17:21,335 where white sharks liked to hunt. 233 00:17:22,241 --> 00:17:24,300 But instead of killing the sharks, 234 00:17:24,443 --> 00:17:26,240 Rodney and his colleagues designed 235 00:17:26,378 --> 00:17:30,474 a protective working cage for the abalone divers. 236 00:17:33,085 --> 00:17:37,488 Then they tested it in shark infested waters. 237 00:18:05,751 --> 00:18:10,120 Watch out for that... Hurry up! Break a leg! 238 00:18:17,329 --> 00:18:20,924 It really proves that the cage is safe to abalone divers 239 00:18:21,066 --> 00:18:24,365 because you've been involved with five sharks down 240 00:18:24,503 --> 00:18:25,902 here swimming around, attacking it, 241 00:18:26,038 --> 00:18:27,699 and they've only taken the hose. 242 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:29,102 And if you've got enough air to survive 243 00:18:29,241 --> 00:18:31,141 and you can get up to the surface, 244 00:18:31,276 --> 00:18:32,675 you'll be safe. 245 00:18:32,811 --> 00:18:34,540 Makes the adrenaline pump, doesn't it? 246 00:18:36,181 --> 00:18:39,981 The adrenalin really started to pump in 1974 247 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:42,280 when Rodney was contracted to coordinate 248 00:18:42,421 --> 00:18:44,446 the filming of live sequences 249 00:18:44,590 --> 00:18:47,525 for the greatest shark film of all time. 250 00:18:49,261 --> 00:18:52,560 He had had experience with filming great whites in the wild, 251 00:18:52,698 --> 00:18:56,293 but "Jaws" was a different kind of project. 252 00:19:06,345 --> 00:19:12,306 They had sent over a small stuntman, a midget diver and a small cage 253 00:19:12,451 --> 00:19:15,716 so that the sharks would look bigger because Jaws, 254 00:19:15,854 --> 00:19:20,484 of course, Bruce was a 25 footer and our sharks were only 14 foot. 255 00:19:21,326 --> 00:19:23,419 And as we were dressing the little guy 256 00:19:23,562 --> 00:19:26,588 one of the sharks came in and grabbed hold of the propeller on my boat 257 00:19:26,732 --> 00:19:29,860 and actually shook the boat physically 258 00:19:30,002 --> 00:19:32,334 and it was well over 14 feet long, 259 00:19:32,471 --> 00:19:34,837 and a very strong shark, and as it swam along the side, 260 00:19:34,973 --> 00:19:37,305 I'm saying to Carl, Quick, get in the water, get in the water! 261 00:19:37,442 --> 00:19:39,034 The cameraman's ready, here's the shark, 262 00:19:39,178 --> 00:19:40,941 and he kept saying, No, no, no! 263 00:19:42,915 --> 00:19:47,011 The stunt diver wasn't the only one who didn't want to go in the water. 264 00:19:47,152 --> 00:19:51,748 "Jaws" was great entertainment, but the public was terrorized, 265 00:19:51,890 --> 00:19:55,087 and the perception of sharks went from bad to worse. 266 00:20:37,369 --> 00:20:40,736 Nobody realized at that time that it was going to be a horror film 267 00:20:40,872 --> 00:20:43,033 that was going to frighten so many people, 268 00:20:43,175 --> 00:20:45,473 including a lot of my friends, out of the water. 269 00:20:45,611 --> 00:20:46,942 I had people say to me, 270 00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:50,571 I wouldn't even go in the bath now after seeing the film Jaws! 271 00:20:51,350 --> 00:20:54,080 For Rodney, "Jaws" was the turning point 272 00:20:54,219 --> 00:20:57,985 the moment he finally realized that the sharks needed a champion. 273 00:20:58,123 --> 00:21:01,149 And so he set out to debunk the old myths. 274 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:08,292 He started a business an expedition business taking filmmakers, scientists 275 00:21:08,433 --> 00:21:11,766 even tourists out into the South Australian seas 276 00:21:11,903 --> 00:21:16,306 for face to face encounters with the real great white sharks. 277 00:21:23,482 --> 00:21:26,178 These days, his business serves two ends 278 00:21:26,318 --> 00:21:28,309 it contributes to marine science 279 00:21:28,453 --> 00:21:32,719 and it satisfies Rodney's rather large appetite for adventure. 280 00:21:32,858 --> 00:21:34,826 Some experience, I'll tell you! 281 00:21:36,194 --> 00:21:39,527 This scientific expedition will drop anchor in the Neptune Islands 282 00:21:39,665 --> 00:21:43,692 off the rugged coast of South Australia to find, film, 283 00:21:43,835 --> 00:21:46,326 and study great white sharks. 284 00:21:52,477 --> 00:21:55,344 Rodney's son Andrew has taken over the necessary, 285 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:59,439 if noxious, chore of mixing the key ingredients of burley 286 00:21:59,584 --> 00:22:03,543 a kind of foul stew that sharks seem to find irresistible. 287 00:22:03,689 --> 00:22:08,786 Blood, ground tuna, and a little sea water that's the recipe. 288 00:22:11,330 --> 00:22:14,663 Andrew will create a smelly slick stretching several miles 289 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:16,961 down current from the vessel. 290 00:22:18,637 --> 00:22:22,835 Any sharks in the area will find the invitation very attractive. 291 00:22:25,477 --> 00:22:28,708 Marine scientists from the University of Adelaide want to test 292 00:22:28,847 --> 00:22:31,372 the strength of a great white's bite, 293 00:22:31,516 --> 00:22:36,317 and to identify the telltale sings of shark attack for forensic purposes 294 00:22:36,455 --> 00:22:38,946 a grisly but necessary study. 295 00:22:42,461 --> 00:22:46,795 The sharks must be induced to bite a specifically designed pressure plate. 296 00:22:50,635 --> 00:22:53,763 First, they need to be worked into a biting mood. 297 00:23:58,103 --> 00:24:00,230 Ready now? 298 00:24:00,839 --> 00:24:02,272 Okay, drop her in, Andy. 299 00:24:02,407 --> 00:24:07,140 Now that the shark has the idea, he gets his tuna on a plate. 300 00:24:08,747 --> 00:24:12,205 Eep it in the air anyway, because he's a bit cranky! 301 00:24:31,069 --> 00:24:36,029 Running tests on the great white sharks in the wild is always unpredictable. 302 00:25:02,434 --> 00:25:04,334 We should have an impression on plate! 303 00:25:05,270 --> 00:25:09,434 The plate is designed to measure pounds of pressure per square inch. 304 00:25:18,617 --> 00:25:19,606 That is amazing. 305 00:25:22,220 --> 00:25:26,418 We're looking at the test strip now and that looks as if... 306 00:25:28,226 --> 00:25:31,161 This one is 500 kilograms, 1,000 pounds. 307 00:25:31,296 --> 00:25:32,228 One thousand pounds. 308 00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:34,264 That one's more than 1,000 pounds. 309 00:25:34,399 --> 00:25:39,666 A thousand pounds per square inch enough to puncture metal plating. 310 00:25:48,113 --> 00:25:53,278 But what exactly is it that draws a great white and prompts it to bite? 311 00:25:53,418 --> 00:25:56,751 Is it the smell of prey, or the sight of it, 312 00:25:56,888 --> 00:26:00,346 or the vibrations it sends through the water? 313 00:26:00,425 --> 00:26:02,985 That's a crucial question for divers 314 00:26:03,128 --> 00:26:06,256 so Rodney helps set up another experiment. 315 00:26:07,098 --> 00:26:10,556 What I hope to do here is to really work out 316 00:26:10,702 --> 00:26:13,762 whether the great white sharks are interested in humans, 317 00:26:13,905 --> 00:26:18,865 whether they can actually see that there's an unseen shield there, 318 00:26:19,010 --> 00:26:25,745 whether they may be interested in fish or sound 319 00:26:25,884 --> 00:26:28,717 Just to see what they are interested in. 320 00:26:28,853 --> 00:26:32,914 They swim around and around so many times the cages without biting 321 00:26:34,225 --> 00:26:36,455 and haven't had any true results. 322 00:26:37,295 --> 00:26:41,026 In order to test sight, Rodney will use a cage of quarter inch 323 00:26:41,166 --> 00:26:45,034 Lexan plastic to give the sharks a clear view of his shape. 324 00:26:46,938 --> 00:26:49,930 An underwater speaker will test for sound, 325 00:26:50,075 --> 00:26:53,841 broadcasting low frequency vibrations to simulate the vibrations 326 00:26:53,979 --> 00:26:55,810 made by moving prey. 327 00:27:02,921 --> 00:27:06,049 A thawed tune will provide scent. 328 00:27:13,331 --> 00:27:16,164 Will the sharks show any clear preference? 329 00:27:17,135 --> 00:27:19,968 Which one will attract them the most? 330 00:27:28,046 --> 00:27:31,345 The adrenalin that rushes in you as you go down there 331 00:27:31,483 --> 00:27:33,974 and as the shark comes in when you're in the Lexan tube 332 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,486 gives you a real rush that excitement all over again. 333 00:27:37,622 --> 00:27:40,216 It's like the first time in my shark cages. 334 00:27:40,358 --> 00:27:45,295 It's exciting and my heart you can feel it a little higher 335 00:27:45,430 --> 00:27:48,490 in you beating a little faster as you realize that 336 00:27:48,633 --> 00:27:50,498 you are part of an experiment, 337 00:27:50,635 --> 00:27:53,729 that the sharks don't really know whether or not 338 00:27:53,872 --> 00:27:55,669 they can get at you or not. 339 00:27:55,807 --> 00:28:00,244 It was quite unnerving really, because I felt like I was naked 340 00:28:00,378 --> 00:28:05,543 in the middle of the street in the shop window with everything exposed... 341 00:28:10,355 --> 00:28:14,086 Again and again, the circling sharks pass Rodney by, 342 00:28:14,225 --> 00:28:17,353 and return to the source of the sound vibrations. 343 00:28:19,497 --> 00:28:23,524 The proof is clear at close range, underwater vibrations, 344 00:28:23,668 --> 00:28:27,263 not sight or smell, are what attracts the shark. 345 00:28:27,405 --> 00:28:32,934 Rows of sensory cells along the flank are especially attuned to these stimuli 346 00:28:33,645 --> 00:28:36,978 Well, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind they're far more interested 347 00:28:37,115 --> 00:28:41,245 in the low vibrations than they ever were in me 348 00:28:41,386 --> 00:28:42,683 or the tuna... 349 00:28:52,664 --> 00:28:54,632 The more Rodney has studied them, 350 00:28:54,766 --> 00:28:57,564 the more he has come to learn about sharks, 351 00:28:57,702 --> 00:29:02,503 the great variety of sharks all 370 species of them. 352 00:29:04,776 --> 00:29:08,712 I get lots of pleasure from looking at the different species of sharks, 353 00:29:08,847 --> 00:29:13,375 from the carpet shark that lays on the bottom with its frilly mouth 354 00:29:20,792 --> 00:29:26,560 to the nurse sharks that seem to rummage around and sleep a lot 355 00:29:36,307 --> 00:29:41,040 to the beautiful whaler sharks and the bull sharks and the silkie sharks. 356 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,743 There's so many of them the mako sharks and the great white sharks. 357 00:29:46,451 --> 00:29:49,011 All of them have a different feel, 358 00:29:49,154 --> 00:29:51,987 a different way to swim, a different way of life. 359 00:29:52,123 --> 00:29:55,354 But they're all beautiful the way they swim and glide 360 00:29:55,493 --> 00:29:57,484 and fly through the water. 361 00:30:02,066 --> 00:30:06,662 And the biggest and most mysterious of all: The whale shark. 362 00:30:14,979 --> 00:30:17,140 It's not just the largest of the sharks 363 00:30:17,282 --> 00:30:20,308 it is, in fact, the largest fish in the ocean. 364 00:30:20,451 --> 00:30:23,284 But despite its menacing size and appearance, 365 00:30:23,421 --> 00:30:26,982 this is among the most gentle and benign of all sharks. 366 00:30:27,125 --> 00:30:29,685 It eats plankton, not people. 367 00:30:39,170 --> 00:30:41,866 Few in number, slow to reproduce, 368 00:30:42,006 --> 00:30:46,670 the whale shark is one of the great and vulnerable wonders of the oceans. 369 00:31:28,019 --> 00:31:31,648 Whale sharks to diver have been 370 00:31:31,789 --> 00:31:37,819 one of the greatest pinnacles of sharks in all the oceans of the world. 371 00:31:38,930 --> 00:31:42,798 They were the largest shark, they were a docile shark, 372 00:31:42,934 --> 00:31:45,926 they were a shark that you could hitch a ride on, 373 00:31:46,070 --> 00:31:50,939 a friendly shark, all the things that the great white shark wasn't. 374 00:31:59,851 --> 00:32:02,945 Growing to over 50 feet and 20 tons, 375 00:32:03,087 --> 00:32:07,956 the whale shark is so big that it supports other fish, like these remora. 376 00:32:08,092 --> 00:32:10,390 They hitchhike harmlessly on the whale shark 377 00:32:10,528 --> 00:32:12,962 and eat the food it leaves behind. 378 00:32:17,201 --> 00:32:20,034 Ironically, the most visible fish in the ocean 379 00:32:20,171 --> 00:32:22,867 is also one of the least understood. 380 00:32:27,078 --> 00:32:30,912 No one can say where or when these sharks reproduce, 381 00:32:31,049 --> 00:32:33,381 or even how old they grow to be, 382 00:32:33,518 --> 00:32:36,612 but some scientists believe they live as long as we do, 383 00:32:36,754 --> 00:32:42,124 Roaming the tropical ocean in search of food and occasionally, each other. 384 00:32:47,098 --> 00:32:51,159 Now imagine a shark this big with teeth to match 385 00:32:51,302 --> 00:32:53,702 a massive, meat eating predator. 386 00:32:53,838 --> 00:32:56,671 At one time, such a shark did exist: 387 00:32:56,808 --> 00:33:01,074 Caharadon megaladon 50 feet of carnivore 388 00:33:01,212 --> 00:33:05,046 lived during the miocene ear some 20 million years ago. 389 00:33:05,183 --> 00:33:09,176 It was the largest ocean going predator that ever existed. 390 00:33:12,423 --> 00:33:17,087 Rodney traveled to South Carolina to find out more about the megaldon. 391 00:33:20,264 --> 00:33:22,129 He and naturalist Vito Bertucci 392 00:33:22,266 --> 00:33:25,394 will dive in the Cougar River off Charleston. 393 00:33:29,907 --> 00:33:31,636 It's a dangerous dive. 394 00:33:31,776 --> 00:33:35,803 But this was a hunting and dying ground of cacharadon megaladon 395 00:33:35,947 --> 00:33:39,781 and his fossilized teeth lie embedded in the river bottom. 396 00:33:51,896 --> 00:33:54,729 The most important thing to worry about here 397 00:33:56,801 --> 00:33:58,962 is just to work you way into the current 398 00:33:59,103 --> 00:34:02,698 and down the anchor line and then once we get down, 399 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:04,603 you have to be aware that there are sharks 400 00:34:04,742 --> 00:34:08,303 and turtles in this area and an occasional alligator, 401 00:34:08,446 --> 00:34:09,936 and if you do come up on one, 402 00:34:10,081 --> 00:34:15,485 not to be startled by it and if you ignore them, they usually ignore you. 403 00:34:15,620 --> 00:34:19,147 Alligators, the only danger with them is on the surface. 404 00:34:19,557 --> 00:34:21,047 If you see one come at you at the surface, 405 00:34:21,192 --> 00:34:23,160 all you have to do is dump your air and go down. 406 00:34:23,294 --> 00:34:25,125 And they won't come after you. 407 00:34:25,997 --> 00:34:27,521 The sharks, if they come up to you, 408 00:34:27,665 --> 00:34:29,462 just give them a shove and they'll take off. 409 00:34:30,101 --> 00:34:32,194 Well, I got my knee pads on for praying 410 00:34:32,336 --> 00:34:35,601 I hope this turns out alright. Here goes. 411 00:34:41,012 --> 00:34:44,345 The water is cold. Visibility is nil. 412 00:34:44,482 --> 00:34:47,280 The darkness is decidedly spooky. 413 00:34:47,418 --> 00:34:52,515 I had some incredible images of monster sharks swimming around. 414 00:34:54,425 --> 00:34:55,983 In these gloomy water, 415 00:34:56,127 --> 00:34:58,960 a monster carnivore would be right at home. 416 00:34:59,097 --> 00:35:03,158 Within minutes, Rodney finds the first traces of these ancient killers. 417 00:35:03,301 --> 00:35:07,294 Luckily, of course, it's the teeth, not the shark. 418 00:35:30,995 --> 00:35:31,620 You okay? 419 00:35:31,762 --> 00:35:32,956 Yeah, why? 420 00:35:33,798 --> 00:35:35,959 I dunno' if I can get up here very easy. 421 00:35:37,835 --> 00:35:39,803 Just leave your gear on the floor. 422 00:35:40,538 --> 00:35:41,971 How do I get this helmet off? 423 00:35:43,074 --> 00:35:44,974 I feel a bit like Hoodini. 424 00:35:46,944 --> 00:35:47,876 Why are they different colors? 425 00:35:48,012 --> 00:35:49,411 This one was in the sand. 426 00:35:49,547 --> 00:35:50,275 On the sand? 427 00:35:50,414 --> 00:35:52,473 Yeah, it the sand and these were in the mud. 428 00:35:56,254 --> 00:35:59,280 You know, when I was heading down there with you for the first time, 429 00:35:59,423 --> 00:36:01,357 I thought, "what am I doing here?" 430 00:36:02,660 --> 00:36:05,185 It was dark and crazy and I'm pulling and I'm spinning sideways 431 00:36:05,329 --> 00:36:09,265 on the rope down there and it was only when I saw the bottom come up slowly 432 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,096 that I realized there was a steady bottom there 433 00:36:12,236 --> 00:36:15,467 and I thought, "I cannot give up now because I gotta' get back in the boat." 434 00:36:16,207 --> 00:36:18,175 And then I went on and then when I saw 435 00:36:18,309 --> 00:36:20,675 that first half a tooth down there I thought, 436 00:36:20,811 --> 00:36:21,607 "Ah, this is worth it." 437 00:36:21,746 --> 00:36:25,443 And then I started looking, looking, and I forgot about all the problems 438 00:36:25,583 --> 00:36:27,448 that you told me about down there and started 439 00:36:27,585 --> 00:36:29,246 looking, looking, looking for teeth. 440 00:36:29,387 --> 00:36:31,651 And, you know, you can get carried away. 441 00:36:33,758 --> 00:36:37,888 Down in Jacksonville, Florida, Dr. Cliff Jeremiah is taking Vito's 442 00:36:38,029 --> 00:36:41,658 fossil teeth and reconstructing a megaladon shark jaw. 443 00:36:41,799 --> 00:36:44,461 It will be the largest shark jaw in the world 444 00:36:44,602 --> 00:36:47,162 big enough to swallow a small car. 445 00:36:47,305 --> 00:36:50,797 And it has an entire set of properly matched teeth. 446 00:36:58,416 --> 00:37:02,443 It has taken Vito 19 years to collect the full set. 447 00:37:04,488 --> 00:37:08,618 Some 200 fossilized teeth will line the recreated jaw, 448 00:37:08,759 --> 00:37:12,422 adding almost 300 pounds in teeth alone. 449 00:37:13,998 --> 00:37:19,959 Shark teeth, of course, stand out so much that white pointy ivory 450 00:37:20,104 --> 00:37:23,232 things knives against their gray body. 451 00:37:23,374 --> 00:37:27,538 And of course, if you had somebody in a room pointing a revolver at you, 452 00:37:27,678 --> 00:37:29,077 you would look at the revolver too, 453 00:37:29,213 --> 00:37:30,976 because it's the sharp pointy end, 454 00:37:31,115 --> 00:37:33,845 the point that's going to cause all the trouble. 455 00:37:37,021 --> 00:37:39,489 Shark teeth are compelling. 456 00:37:39,624 --> 00:37:43,560 It's difficult not to admire them and react with a shudder. 457 00:37:43,694 --> 00:37:47,221 The only part of the shark's skeleton that's not cartilage, 458 00:37:47,365 --> 00:37:51,461 these razor teeth are used to dismember and devour prey. 459 00:37:51,602 --> 00:37:56,266 But despite our worries, only rarely is that prey human. 460 00:38:00,511 --> 00:38:07,178 First of all, the word shark is such an enormous pull on people. 461 00:38:08,286 --> 00:38:12,154 Sharks three or 400 varieties of sharks in the world, 462 00:38:12,290 --> 00:38:17,091 all go together as one name shark and that spells out fear. 463 00:38:17,228 --> 00:38:19,696 Research was done and shows that the word shark 464 00:38:19,830 --> 00:38:22,560 had a higher reaction on the nervous system of people 465 00:38:22,700 --> 00:38:25,032 than any other word in the English language. 466 00:38:25,169 --> 00:38:28,195 And so the general public, when they talk about sharks, 467 00:38:28,339 --> 00:38:31,900 they talk about something they cannot understand and something they fear. 468 00:38:37,481 --> 00:38:40,450 In fact, sharks are not all scary. 469 00:38:40,584 --> 00:38:43,917 Only a handful are any kind of threat to people. 470 00:38:44,055 --> 00:38:47,513 What they are is vitally important to the oceans. 471 00:38:47,658 --> 00:38:48,784 As top predators, 472 00:38:48,926 --> 00:38:52,885 they help maintain the entire balance of the underwater world. 473 00:39:03,307 --> 00:39:05,707 Rodney's fascination with these great hunters 474 00:39:05,843 --> 00:39:07,936 has taken him all around the planet. 475 00:39:08,079 --> 00:39:11,776 His quest: To learn still more about sharks, 476 00:39:11,916 --> 00:39:13,850 and it's quest that never ends. 477 00:39:13,984 --> 00:39:16,248 Alright, we're gonna' place the mask on and the way to do that 478 00:39:16,387 --> 00:39:19,413 is to put your chin in first and then we'll pull this strap over the top. 479 00:39:19,557 --> 00:39:22,185 Here at Walker's Ca in the Northern Bahamas, 480 00:39:22,326 --> 00:39:27,127 Rodney and Dr. Eugenie Clark have come to swim with reef sharks in the wild. 481 00:39:28,032 --> 00:39:31,832 On this dive, Rodney and Eugenie are wearing special masks 482 00:39:31,969 --> 00:39:34,665 that allow them to communicate underwater. 483 00:39:40,344 --> 00:39:46,010 No metal cages, no Lexan tubes, just a swim alongside the sharks 484 00:39:46,150 --> 00:39:50,348 to show that if you know what you're doing, you have nothing to fear. 485 00:39:56,260 --> 00:39:59,559 They've picked a dive center where frozen fish remains are put out 486 00:39:59,697 --> 00:40:02,860 to lure large numbers of sharks for the divers. 487 00:40:13,077 --> 00:40:16,046 It's just beautiful to be here and watch them. 488 00:40:16,180 --> 00:40:18,978 The nurse sharks are the first to arrive. 489 00:40:19,683 --> 00:40:24,211 They certainly don't seem to be paying any attention to us, do they? 490 00:40:33,030 --> 00:40:41,062 What sort of food or fish do these nurse sharks normally eat? 491 00:40:41,972 --> 00:40:46,341 The nurse sharks eat the food on the bottom shellfish, 492 00:40:46,477 --> 00:40:50,413 clams and any kind of fish they can get ahold of. 493 00:41:03,060 --> 00:41:05,153 Genie, he's eating your hair. 494 00:41:07,264 --> 00:41:08,822 Watch out! 495 00:41:09,667 --> 00:41:10,827 They're trying to eat your hair, Genie. 496 00:41:10,968 --> 00:41:13,198 Trying to eat my hair? 497 00:41:28,285 --> 00:41:30,651 I really like that, Rodney. 498 00:41:33,824 --> 00:41:37,282 He just stopped then and wanted to be scratched... 499 00:41:40,331 --> 00:41:42,765 While the nurse sharks are fairly docile, 500 00:41:42,900 --> 00:41:46,267 the blacktips that follow are much more aggressive. 501 00:42:21,105 --> 00:42:24,632 That one just tried to bite me on the camera... 502 00:42:31,315 --> 00:42:33,180 How about staying close to me? 503 00:42:33,317 --> 00:42:35,376 It's getting a bit exciting here. 504 00:42:38,255 --> 00:42:41,782 How many species do you think we're seeing, Genie? 505 00:42:43,594 --> 00:42:47,894 Well, it looks like three species for sure 506 00:42:48,032 --> 00:42:53,334 the gray reef or the reef shark, as it's called in the Caribbean, 507 00:42:53,871 --> 00:42:57,068 a lot of these nurse sharks, and then the blacktip. 508 00:42:57,207 --> 00:43:00,802 I don't know if there are two species or one of the blacktip. 509 00:43:12,222 --> 00:43:14,713 Yet, even the blacktip and gray reef sharks 510 00:43:14,858 --> 00:43:17,952 seem more interested in the food than the humans. 511 00:43:18,095 --> 00:43:21,690 There are almost 80 sharks feeding simultaneously. 512 00:43:21,832 --> 00:43:25,029 And for the most part, they simply ignore the divers. 513 00:43:29,006 --> 00:43:32,737 Funny how when we're down here with them, the way we are now, 514 00:43:32,876 --> 00:43:36,744 we've both stopped feeling that there's any danger at all 515 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,372 in the situation we're just so fascinated with watching them. 516 00:43:44,321 --> 00:43:50,351 In fact today, people threaten sharks more than sharks threaten people. 517 00:43:55,599 --> 00:43:57,123 Sharks are being killed 518 00:43:57,267 --> 00:44:00,031 sometimes purely out of hate they don't even use them. 519 00:44:00,170 --> 00:44:03,537 In some of the shark tournaments, they just go out and kill sharks. 520 00:44:03,674 --> 00:44:05,642 But I think we're getting away from that. 521 00:44:05,776 --> 00:44:10,406 There's too much now on television and magazine articles and books 522 00:44:10,547 --> 00:44:13,516 and people like Rodney Fox who are... 523 00:44:13,651 --> 00:44:19,351 telling people what good sharks can be and who are living examples 524 00:44:19,490 --> 00:44:23,358 of how, if you understand a shark, you can go on swimming with them, 525 00:44:23,494 --> 00:44:26,622 and they are not to be feared and hated. 526 00:44:27,564 --> 00:44:30,055 They're like puppy dogs, aren't they? 527 00:44:31,201 --> 00:44:34,864 Some sharks you can swim with, some you can't. 528 00:44:35,005 --> 00:44:37,371 It takes some education, experience, 529 00:44:37,508 --> 00:44:41,308 and common sense to figure out which ones are safer than others. 530 00:44:46,016 --> 00:44:49,110 Silkie sharks, for instance, are on the safe list. 531 00:44:49,253 --> 00:44:51,153 And with silkies, there's a twist, 532 00:44:51,288 --> 00:44:54,382 as Bahamian Stuart Cove will show Rodney. 533 00:44:54,525 --> 00:44:57,858 And when we go down there, you're going to twist its tail? 534 00:44:57,995 --> 00:45:01,089 Yes. It's important when we're swimming around with sharks 535 00:45:01,231 --> 00:45:01,890 to keep our hands down, 536 00:45:02,032 --> 00:45:03,431 because they do have teeth, 537 00:45:03,567 --> 00:45:07,367 but when they swim by us, if we grab their tails and twist them gently, 538 00:45:07,504 --> 00:45:09,631 it will paralyze the shark and when you do that, 539 00:45:09,773 --> 00:45:12,435 you can actually roll them over and stroke their bellies. 540 00:45:12,576 --> 00:45:15,704 We use this maneuver to actually remove fish hooks 541 00:45:15,846 --> 00:45:18,076 and so we sort of do the sharks a little bit of a favor 542 00:45:18,215 --> 00:45:20,911 and we remove the fish hooks and it doesn't seem to bother them. 543 00:45:21,051 --> 00:45:23,042 Paralyze the sharks and then release the sharks, 544 00:45:23,187 --> 00:45:25,815 they'll come right back to you and you can do it again. 545 00:45:26,790 --> 00:45:29,918 Well, I'm game. Let's try it. 546 00:45:40,904 --> 00:45:42,667 Silkie sharks are so called 547 00:45:42,806 --> 00:45:45,604 because instead of the usual rough shark skin, 548 00:45:45,743 --> 00:45:48,234 theirs is smooth as silk. 549 00:45:49,713 --> 00:45:53,672 Reaching up to nine feet in length, they inhabit the waters off Nassau, 550 00:45:53,817 --> 00:45:56,081 to the south of Walker's Cay. 551 00:46:11,001 --> 00:46:14,232 Grabbing silkies by the tail might sound tricky, 552 00:46:14,371 --> 00:46:17,499 but divers in the area have been doing it for awhile, 553 00:46:17,641 --> 00:46:21,577 ever since they first set out to remove the hooks of careless fishermen. 554 00:46:21,712 --> 00:46:25,409 That's when they discovered the silkies' special weakness. 555 00:46:29,153 --> 00:46:31,519 It's called tonic immobility, 556 00:46:31,655 --> 00:46:34,317 and it's a quirk of the sharks' nervous system, 557 00:46:34,458 --> 00:46:37,018 a kind of temporary paralysis, 558 00:46:37,161 --> 00:46:41,564 brought on by twisting the sharks' tails and flipping them over. 559 00:48:24,635 --> 00:48:27,468 I don't believe that. Those sharks are so friendly. 560 00:48:27,604 --> 00:48:29,697 They're right behind you. They're all around... 561 00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:31,205 It's incredible. 562 00:48:35,145 --> 00:48:37,670 I've never experienced anything like that before. 563 00:48:37,814 --> 00:48:42,148 So silkies are friendly. Nurses are okay. 564 00:48:42,286 --> 00:48:44,015 What about any others? You got any others? 565 00:48:44,154 --> 00:48:46,418 We've got no dangerous sharks in the Bahamas. 566 00:48:47,391 --> 00:48:48,585 Unfortunately, two weeks ago, 567 00:48:48,725 --> 00:48:53,685 we had a longline boat come into our area and target our shark dive, 568 00:48:53,830 --> 00:48:56,822 up in the reef area on the inland sites 569 00:48:56,967 --> 00:49:02,837 and caught 35 of our shark population and they had different names. 570 00:49:02,973 --> 00:49:04,031 They were like our kids. 571 00:49:04,174 --> 00:49:07,302 It was like having your pet dog killed. 572 00:49:07,444 --> 00:49:08,536 And we had a great affinity, 573 00:49:08,679 --> 00:49:12,137 a great affection for all these wonderful sharks. 574 00:49:12,282 --> 00:49:16,343 Well, after that great white shark got me, 575 00:49:16,486 --> 00:49:18,647 I really knew nothing about sharks. 576 00:49:20,524 --> 00:49:24,358 This is one of 350 varieties of sharks in the world. 577 00:49:24,494 --> 00:49:28,658 And you just have to find out which ones are potentially maneaters, 578 00:49:28,799 --> 00:49:31,233 or manbiters, as they say. 579 00:49:31,368 --> 00:49:35,998 I'm less frightened now than I was before my shark attack, 580 00:49:36,139 --> 00:49:39,870 because I've learned to find out which ones are dangerous 581 00:49:40,010 --> 00:49:40,635 and which ones aren't, 582 00:49:40,777 --> 00:49:43,541 which ones you can handle, which ones you can swim with. 583 00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:45,307 I think they're beautiful. 584 00:49:48,218 --> 00:49:49,583 Hi Joe 585 00:49:50,287 --> 00:49:53,882 Felicity, Margaret 586 00:49:54,024 --> 00:49:54,888 boys and girls, 587 00:49:55,025 --> 00:49:58,722 many different shapes and sizes. Come on. 588 00:50:02,499 --> 00:50:05,195 It's my belief that education will stop 589 00:50:05,335 --> 00:50:08,793 this massacre of all the sharks and the massacre of our oceans. 590 00:50:08,939 --> 00:50:13,399 There's a great upwelling amongst people now to say, 591 00:50:13,543 --> 00:50:17,070 Hey, let the sharks live, let's learn more about them, 592 00:50:17,214 --> 00:50:20,240 let's find out how we can enter the water without 593 00:50:20,384 --> 00:50:22,045 having to kill them all off. 594 00:50:22,185 --> 00:50:24,813 And it's the education of our younger people now 595 00:50:24,955 --> 00:50:29,221 and I see a large uprising of it young six and seven years old saying, 596 00:50:29,359 --> 00:50:31,884 Don't throw any plastic in the water, don't do this, 597 00:50:32,029 --> 00:50:33,724 why are you killing that shark, 598 00:50:33,864 --> 00:50:36,059 why is that photograph of a dead shark? 599 00:50:36,199 --> 00:50:40,568 It's really great to see that we are starting to let our seas live. 600 00:50:42,406 --> 00:50:46,342 For Rodney Fox, the past 30 years have been a journey, 601 00:50:46,476 --> 00:50:48,603 a journey with the shark. 602 00:50:53,183 --> 00:50:57,017 It was a voyage that started in one terrible instant, 603 00:50:58,722 --> 00:51:01,657 a voyage into the face of fear. 604 00:51:13,770 --> 00:51:17,501 Over 30 years, Rodney has traveled from terror and death 605 00:51:17,641 --> 00:51:19,836 to understanding and life, 606 00:51:19,976 --> 00:51:23,207 from the early days when killing sharks seemed right, 607 00:51:23,346 --> 00:51:28,113 to the present when harming them, even accidentally, seems very wrong. 608 00:51:38,061 --> 00:51:42,430 In a way, he was chosen on that awful day 30 years ago 609 00:51:42,566 --> 00:51:44,591 to speak for the sharks, 610 00:51:44,734 --> 00:51:48,192 chosen for a special lifelong bond. 611 00:51:48,805 --> 00:51:52,571 For while the great white would put one mark on his body, 612 00:51:52,709 --> 00:51:57,009 the next 30 years would leave another on his soul. 613 00:51:57,481 --> 00:51:59,676 Thirty years ago, I had no idea 614 00:51:59,816 --> 00:52:04,014 I'd be dragged into a whole lifetime of the study of sharks. 615 00:52:04,154 --> 00:52:09,524 And when I look back now, I realize and feel quite proud 616 00:52:09,659 --> 00:52:12,651 that I've worked with so many interesting people. 617 00:52:12,796 --> 00:52:16,027 And what I've tried to do over that period of time 618 00:52:16,166 --> 00:52:19,567 is to get the respected filmmakers... 619 00:52:19,703 --> 00:52:22,797 and the scientists that know what they are talking about 620 00:52:22,939 --> 00:52:24,964 to learn more about the great white 621 00:52:25,108 --> 00:52:29,374 and get them to portray that the shark isn't a bad shark, 622 00:52:29,513 --> 00:52:32,778 that we have to learn to live with it, and not just kill it. 623 00:52:32,916 --> 00:52:35,316 And I look back over the 30 years to find 624 00:52:35,452 --> 00:52:37,784 that slowly it's been happening and working 625 00:52:37,921 --> 00:52:41,721 and all of the people agree with my philosophy: 626 00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:45,853 "Let the sharks live!"