Sharkwater

Rob Stewart is a 27-year-old photographer and filmmaker who is bringing his passion for sharks to a worldwide audience this fall with Sharkwater, a stunning documentary about the lives of sharks and their imperiled state. It has the potential to capture the imaginations of audiences the way An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's oddly thrilling slide show, did.

It's credited with galvanizing interest in tackling the global warming problem, and to be sure, sharks face a slew of threats, global warming being only one of them. Sharks are over-fished, killed mercilessly for their fins so upscale Asian restaurateurs can serve pricey shark fin soup. Their bodies are left to rot. Then there's the Jaws factor -- the intense fear that many Americans feel toward these extraordinary -- and, to be honest, massively toothy -- beings.

The plight of the world's oceans is an issue still largely below the radar. But from pollution due to fertilizer runoff from farmland, to acidification due to carbon dioxide pollution, to overfishing with destructive industrial techniques, to the warming of ocean waters due to global climate change -- oceans are undergoing a tremendous amount of stress. Sharkwater is doing its small part to expose the deep problems with the deep. It's a must-see.

Here's the U.S. trailer for Sharkwater:

For more information, including loads of photos, click here.

COMMENTS ()