"It preys upon the dead." "the injured." "and the shipwrecked." "Its reputation as a man-eater eclipses even the great white and the tiger shark." "This is the oceanic white tip, ashark Jacques Cousteau once called the most dangerous in the sea." "Despite its potential for mayhem, it is a shark rarely encountered." "The oceanic white tip lives far from land, hunting in waters thousands of feet deep." "Closer to shore, the bull shark is notorious for its shallow water attacks on humans worldwide." "Astalker of river-mouths and estuaries, the bull has pulled down victims in waist deep water." "Its drive to feed has pushed it hundreds of miles up rivers." "including the Mississippi as far north as the state of Illinois." "The oceanic white tip and the bull shark have worn the label of "man-eater" for many years." "but is this reputation truly deserved?" "Now, scientists and photographers, armed with only their knowledge of shark behavior, go where few humans have dared to venture." "Their goal is to swim with and photograph these" ""supposed man-eaters" without fear of attack." "to survive face to face encounters with creatures once thought to be the ocean's deadliest." "to enter the realm of the" "" Sharks of the Deep Blue"." "Out of the Pacific, cauldrons of ash and lava drive upward on Hawaii's big island." "In these volcanic highlands heavy rain falls, cascading headlong to the sea below." "As the rain collects in swollen streams, debris in the form of dead plants, birds and animals wash toward the ocean." "Their final destination is the deep blue waters off the Hawaiian coastline." "the domain of a voracious scavenger." "By nature the oceanic white tip is curious." "Few objects found floating at sea escape the shark's attention, but it is hesitant to immediately feed." "Like most sharks it is a cautious, careful predator." "Awayward coconut, caught in the current, sparks the creature's curiosity." "Though the coconut proves frustrating for the hungry shark, the ocean teems with scavenging opportunities." "During storms," "livestock, domestic animals and feral pigs that inhabit the island can also die and be swept out to sea." "offerings a white tip will hungrily accept." "Some experts believe the oceanic white tip satisfies much of its diet by scavenging." "Like a vacuum of the deep, it cleans the sea of the dead and dying, targeting virtually any floating object it encounters." ""The oceanic white tip has a very broad diet and that's one of the things that makes it dangerous." "The oceanic white tip eats fish, but it also eats squid, it eats rays, it eats garbage, it eats carrion." "And they will investigate any object floating on the surface of the water and if it appears to be eatable and doesn't make a good effort at defending itself they will attack it and consume it." "They have large triangular serrated teeth that are very similar to the teeth of a white shark or a bull shark and are designed for carving apart items that are too large to be swallowed in one piece." "So they're certainly capable of eating a human being." "Some of the most gruesome tragedies in the annals of seafaring have involved the oceanic white tip, including a tragic incident in World W ar II, in which hundreds of men may have been devoured by sharks." "After a top-secret mission to deliver the first atomic bomb to an air base in the South Pacific, the U. S. S." "Indianapolis was hit and sunk by a Japanese torpedo." "The attack destroyed communications aboard ship before a distress call could be given." "850 of the crew went in to the shark-infested waters." "Five days later when rescuers finally arrived only 3 16 men came out." "Though sharks were responsible for many deaths, survivors had difficulty identifying the species." "Experts rule out dangerous sharks like great whites that are normally not found in the warm regions of the South Pacific, and bull and tiger sharks that prefer waters closer to shore." "leaving the oceanic white tip as the primary suspect." "It seems reasonable to believe that these are the sharks responsible for most of the massacres of shipwreck victims that have occurred." "These disasters at sea, the sinking of the Indianapolis during World W ar II is the most famous one, but there've been a lot of cases of ships going down" "leaving a lot of people in the water, where after awhile sharks accumulated and began to feed on the victims and in a lot of cases probably most of the sharks involved were oceanic white tip sharks." "This is the realm of the oceanic white tip." "nine miles off Hawaii's Kona Coast, at a fish-aggregating buoy that" "lies anchored in several thousand feet of water." "the buoy is a hub for marine life, from small schooling fish to large game fish, and the sharks that prey upon them." "For underwater photographer Jim W att." "And photographer and author Doug Perrine, it is an ideal location to begin the challenging task of capturing the oceanic white tip on film." ""Basically, it works on the concept that marine life is attracted to floating objects, so a buoy like this will attract small fish, then again larger fish will prey on those fish." "it also attracts sharks because, uh, sharks are around to pick up the leavings." "In his 20-year career as a shark photographer," "Jim W att has had many close encounters with sharks," "including an incident when he was driven from the water by some over-aggressive oceanic white tips." ""I think my most interesting encounter with an oceanic white tip shark was 8, 10 years ago." "and I had one swimming right towards me, and all of a sudden a feeling said look down and I had another one coming from below me and shortly afterwards." "I was struck in the shoulder by a third one, so in the period of maybe 30 seconds we had 3 sharks coming from 3 different directions." "Doug Perrine is the author of a shark book, and like Jim W att, has had an extensive career as a shark photographer." "He has shared the water with tiger sharks, silky sharks, and Caribbean reef sharks, but for Doug, this will be his first experience with an oceanic white tip." ""I've seen a lot of pictures," "I've seen a lot of film, but I've never seen a real" "live oceanic white tip before, so, I'm closer but I wanna get in the water." "They're curious, they're bold." "It works in favor of the photographer because they get close enough for a nice picture." "It works against the shipwreck victim because the longer you're in the water with them the bolder they get, so if you don't have a way to get out of the water you could be in real trouble." "On this day, the buoy, aknown shark "hangout", is deserted." "Finding the oceanic white tip in a seemingly infinite seascape depends on understanding how animals adapt to life far from land." "Anything floating in this open ocean or " pelagic" environment," "like this massive Medussa Jellyfish, provides a "shelter" for marine creatures." "Small fishes that hide among its tentacles attract larger species, which in turn attract sharks." "In this vast liquid space the dolphin is the most acrobatic aquanaut." "Apod of nearly a thousand Pan" "Tropical Spotted dolphins has joined the photographer's boat for a game of wake jumping and bow riding." "Many members of the pod show signs of shark bite, but because of their speed and agility healthy dolphins do not normally fall prey to the oceanic white tip." "Like dolphins, pilot whales are often found in this very productive" "" pelagic" environment." "Large bulls, exceeding 20 feet," "lead the pod on short, but deep dives where the whales swallow mouthfuls of squid and cuttlefish." "For Doug and Jim, finding the pilot whales is a good sign." "the sharks may be close by." ""Looks like we've got some pilot whales back here, alot of times the oceanic sharks will be traveling with the pilot whales." "No one knows for sure what this relationship is, but it's thought that the sharks are there to pick up scraps that the pilot whales leave after feeding." "We don't know if the sharks follow them down to the depths while they feed or not, but they're definitely with them in the surface area of the water." "Though this behavior is rarely observed, experts believe oceanic white tip sharks and pilot whales are commonly found together, amysterious pairing that has baffled marine scientists." "This makes swimming with pilot whales a dangerous proposition." "Not only are the whales sometimes aggressive toward humans, but the sharks trailing behind are quick to investigate swimmers." "The sharks, meanwhile, have their own entourage." "Tiny black and white " pilot"" "fish often follow oceanics looking for left-overs from the sharks' meals." "The photographers must now attempt to divert the sharks' interest away from the whale pod." "Jim prepares a " bait bucket" filled with freshly minced fish to entice the predators." ""What's interesting about the oceanic white tip shark is they'll inspect everything." "and you being a new object in their environment, will readily swim over from the pilot whales to examine you or the boat you're in." "With sharks nearby," "Jim prepares a bait on a hook-less line." "The plan is to excite the shark with a potential meal, insuring it will stay with the boat and not rejoin the whales." ""Here we go, got'em, down deep though"" "Though all of the sharks' senses are well developed, it depends heavily on its eyes in the final stages of attack." "Nature has provided the thin, eye-covering membrane to insure if the prey fights back." "the sharks' precious eyesight is protected." "those nictitating membranes working to protect the sharks' eye when it lifts its snout out of the water trying to grab that piece of tuna." ""The oceanic white tip shark is a scavenger." "it'll feed on almost anything, we've observed 'em feeding on." "dead fish." "watched 'em chew on coconuts, one time when I was desperate, didn't have anything on board to keep a shark around we actually fed it a bag ofDorito chips, one by one." "At nearly 8 feet, and over 200 pounds, the shark is not camera shy, and makes a formidable photographic subject." "Coached by Jim," "Doug will spend several anxious moments preparing for his very first dive with a very agitated oceanic white tip." ""This is how you can tell somebody that's a little bit nervous about what they're doing it takes them a real long time to gear up and get in the water, so now having seen that shark" "beat that bait bucket around I've found that I'm a little bit slower gearing up than I normally would be." "The shark is quick to investigate Doug, approaching within inches," "but contrary to its "man-eating"" "reputation it shows no sign of attacking." "At first I was very nervous because it's quite intimidating to sit on the boat and watch this large powerful animal with big serrated teeth that are designed for hacking apart large pieces of prey." "gnawing on the bait cage, basically going into a frenzy and then you get into the water with it." "They're a shark that seems to have a lot of what you might call 'common sense' they don't just rush in and try to grab something." "They live in a very unforgiving environment." "They not only have to feed, but they also have to avoid being injured because they won't last very" "long if they are injured." "So they are very bold in investigating objects, especially floating objects in their environment, but they don't attack right away, they circle them, they make passes, and then they start bumping them." ""Of course that's the critical thing to have a long and happy life photographing sharks, is when one starts bumping you, you push it back, you let it know that you're not a piece of dead carrion floating in the water," "that you're something that might potentially injure it if tries to bite you and you make it wait a little longer and it investigates you some more while you take pictures." "And get out of the water before it concludes its investigation and realizes what a wimp you are." "and how defenseless humans really are." "T emporarily discouraged by" "Doug's defensive posture, the shark now turns its attention toward Jim." ""The sharks. are very bold, they examine any object in the water, and we've seen them over and over again bump, push, examine objects and then they'll bite." "I think one of the reasons we've never had a problem with the sharks attacking us is that we always keep a defensive posture when working with them." ""I sometimes use a camera to help fend off the sharks." "basically all you have to do is touch them with an object and they'll back off." "The important is." "to always keep an eye on the shark and not let them get behind you." "Great." "Nice shark." "Very calm most of the time." "Whenever it would get a big chunk of food it would start moving a lot faster get very excited" "looking for the next one." "When it didn't' find the next one it'd get a little frustrated, but after a while it would calm down again." "For hours the predator circles the photographers and their boat." "Then, perhaps lured away by the call of the pilot whales, it suddenly retreats into the blue." "For shark photographers Jim" "W att and Doug Perrine, encounters with the oceanic white tip are becoming increasingly rare." "Ironically, the notorious man-eater has itself become a victim of humans." "Unchecked commercial long" "line fishing in Hawaiian waters has decimated populations of oceanic white tips." "Victims of their own curiosity, the sharks often investigate fishing operations only to end up on the line." "Amazingly, this shark escaped with the hook still embedded in its j aw." ""I think in the last 10 years the population of oceanic white tip sharks has declined dramatically in these waters." "long line fishing boats catch them regularly as a by-product of trying to catch billfish and tuna." "they're really not targeted by the fishermen per se' but because they're scavengers and eat almost anything they're very prone to being caught by the long line fishermen." "I think the fate of the oceanic white tip is not a good one." "Like many other species if it continues they'll just disappear." "Worldwide, an estimated 100 million sharks a year are pulled from the ocean." "Unlike many fishes, which reproduce rapidly and can bounce back from fishing pressure, sharks do not have the biological means to rebuild their populations." "leaving the future of the shark very much in doubt." "It's almost inevitable that it will be fished to commercial extinction because they're extremely vulnerable to long line fishing, and there's so much of that going on now, that they're just being taken by the thousands." "the consequences on the environment are unknown." "and on top of that they're apex predators." "As apex predators, nature has given the shark an important role in maintaining the ocean's healthy balance." "Without them, the effects on the ocean and ultimately humankind would be devastating." "Doug and Jim hope their role as shark photographers helps to save these remarkable creatures." "Their efforts, capturing the beauty and grace of the shark on film, may help to heighten public appreciation of these beautiful animals." "hopefully before they disappear from the "deep blue"." "On the Atlantic coast of the United States, fishing for sharks is big business." "Driven by the Asian demand for shark fins to make shark fin soup, the industry took off in the 1980's, prompting many," "like North Carolina's Glen Hopkins, to become commercial shark fishermen." "Primarily," "Itarget large coastal sharks." "our main number one shark that we target is the sandbar shark, might say my number two is the dusky shark and then we also catch blacktips, tiger sharks," "spinner sharks, bull sharks," "lemon sharks." "There's a good market in the Uni ted States for the meat itself, and then the fins are all shipped over to the orient, mostly China," "Hong Kong, so we actually have two markets, one for the meat and one for the fins." "For years the commercial fishery was lucrative." "But due to overfishing in the 1980s" "Many sharkspeaies are becoming increasinglyrave" "We have seen a crash in shark populations for instance in the sandbar and dusky of about 80% or larger now since the early 80's and late 70's." "The National Marine" "Fisheries Service responded by implementing a quota in 1993, but it was not enough." "By 1997 the quota was cut in half." "Fisherman saw it as the beginning of the end, as even more cuts loomed on the horizon." ""Its cut our season in half, basically cut my income in half, overnight." "There actually pushing for another 50% which in essence that will destroy the shark fishery commercial-wise." ""Populations have to be managed for the long run, not for immediate gratification." "When you allow fishermen to determine the fate of the fishery almost without exception we've seen failed fisheries because the fishermen are thinking only of how many fish they can" "Iand this year or next year, and not about the sustainability of the fishery, and its' the sustainability that's important." "T o get an accurate count of sharks populating the mid-Atlantic coast," "Jack Musick and his team from the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences use baited" "lines to capture the predators." "Though most are released after the census, those that do not survive capture become part of an on-going shark study." ""We've been monitoring populations of sharks off the" "Virginia coast here and down into North Carolina and up into Maryland waters." "since 1973." "We've used exactly the same methods." "We set 100 hooks of long-line gear at each station and we let those hooks fish for 4 hours." "And then we count the sharks, identify them, weigh them, measure them, dissect animals to see if they're reproductively active or not and to determine what they're eating." "They grow very slowly, and because they grow slowly they take many years to reach maturity." "When they do reach maturity they only have a small number of young relative to other kinds of fishes." "What this all means when you put the numbers together is that their ability to spring-back from any kind of overfishing or other excess mortality is very limited." "We've seen declines as high as 90% in some of the species." "We've seen some species that used to be very common like dusky sharks and sand tiger sharks almost disappear." "Still, the fisheremen remain unconvinced." "Many," "like Hopkins, believe the continued down-sizing of the quota is due to political pressure levied by environmentalist groups, eager to see the shark fishery put to an end." ""I'm seeing fish come back that they say are not there anymore." "and that's were I get angry." "I don't think there's as many sharks as when I first started in 1987, but I would say there's a lot more sharks than there was in 1991," "92 before they came on with the management plan." ""I have a family and I support my family by commercial fishing, that's where money for school comes from, to pay the house payments." "I would like to think that my youngest son who's two now, when he's 20 or 25 if he decided he wanted to go fishing for sharks would have the opportunity to do so." "The way it looks right now to me there probably won't be a shark fishery just mainly and that to me is sad." "we're about to face an umitigated biological disaster with shark populations around the world now." "It's not without reason that some of these local populations or species that have restricted ranges could be fished into extinction." "We don't know what critical population sizes are in sharks." "In other words you could still have some individuals left in the population, but are there enough of them to find one another to breed." "Questions like that are completely unanswered and they make me very uneasy." "While many shark species teeter on the brink of extinction one species continues to demonstrate its resiliency." "The blue shark is a survivor." "This wide-ranging predator roams the deep waters of oceans worldwide, and though its numbers have certainly declined, it is one of the shark world's only success stories." "Blues have had a reprieve from commercial fisheries:" "they are not directly targeted." "But in some places," "like the coast of New England, they have become a favorite of sports-fishermen, aconcern for Massachusetts's state shark biologist," "Greg Skomal." ""Here in New England off the coast of Massachusetts, the primary shark species that we're talking about is the blue shark." "There was several thousand blue sharks caught by recreational anglers every year, and well over 95 percent of them are released." ""The shark is not considered marketable, it's not considered palatable and its just not kept by a lot of fishermen." "Therefore we see a lot of blue sharks being released every year by fishermen in this state." "In a study that began in 1993," "Skomal is working to determine the fate of the thousands of blue sharks caught and released in these waters each year." "Do they survive the stress of capture?" "Working several miles off Martha's Vineyard," "Skomal and his crew use baits to attract the blues in from deep water, and keep them close to the boat for testing." ""The blue shark is, in the North Atlantic at" "least if not in the world, probably the most abundant" "large pelagic shark." "it's fast growing and matures probably between 4 and 5 years of age." "It is productive as well in terms of its reproductive capability relative to other sharks, giving birth every year to up to 80 if not over a hundred young." "The blue shark is widespread, it migrates into New England waters primarily in the late spring, into the summer and early fall and then migrates far off shore to the east as well as down south again into warmer waters." "Its large size and fearsome fighting ability are what attracts sport anglers to the blue shark." "Though it is easy to find and hook, it is not necessarily easy to catch, and will often wage a struggle to the point of complete exhaustion." "How often this becomes a "fight to the death"" "is what Skomal hopes to determine, and like any other angler he will use rod and reel to catch the sharks and conduct his tests." ""He's working really hard and that's what they do when they fight on hook and line, and the objective of this study is to determine, given this level of physical exhaustion," "what the physiological status, what the health of the animal is after you've fought it, after its exhausted itself, and more importantly," "does the animal survive." "In the blue shark, total fatigue is characterized by slow, deliberate swimming and twisting." "The shark appears physically spent, but it stores small bursts of energy in reserve to fuel last-ditch escapes." "These unpredictable spurts of power can make handling the shark equally exhausting for the biologist and his crew." ""We have some of the largest blue sharks in the North Atlantic right off our coastline this time of year." "It poses a slight problem for us because we have to take blood samples from these large creatures and they struggle quite a bit and its very difficult." "I'm only a hundred a fifty pounds, and these blue sharks are twice my size." "Our only advantage is getting their tail out of the water and being able to control them that way, it just takes a little bit more effort." ""This is about a 225 pound blue shark." "It's a large one, we usually don't sample 'em this big." "He's twisting so much he snapped the syringe right off." "By taking blood from the shark," "Skomal can measure its stress level by monitoring P." "H. and lactate levels found in the blood." "These levels are crucial in determining whether or not sharks survive these types of ordeals." "The next step is attaching an acoustic transmitter to the animal." "This device will allow Skomal to track the shark after release, recording what it does and where it goes." ""He motored away, that's a great observation, he's doing allright, considering he was on the" "line an hour an and a half." "He was pretty exhausted," "I know I am." "Using an on board receiver." "connected to a hydraphone below the water which "hears" the acoustic transmitter, the crew is then able to follow the sharks' every move." ""Once the animal is released we then." "we record the location of the animal as well as the depth of the animal." "and follow the animals for several hours." "If the animal was to go to the bottom for example and stay there and not move then we know that the fight probably caused the animal to die." "Fortunately, we have not had that happen." "The recovery period for the blue shark lasts several hours." "It will make a series of deep dives before stabilizing, and in most cases resuming its normal behavior." ""Our real objective in this study was to look at post-release survivorship for one reason." "If we're releasing a whole bunch of fish every year on the order of several thousand and a certain a percentage are dying because of the stress that they undergo, then we have to consider managing the species a little bit differently." "Luckily, we're finding the opposite to be true, is that these animals are capable of recovering, and that's great, that's great for managers and for fishermen and for utilizers of the resource." "Though the blue shark has shown the resiliency to survive being caught and released, the fate of many species, now under siege from commercial fishing, is uncertain." "Unfortunately for the shark, its "man-eating" reputation, and a lack of public sympathy for its protection, have contributed heavily to the creatures' rapid decline." "Sharks and humans have waged a battle for supremacy of the sea for decades." "Armed with a variety of shark repellents, intrepid divers have offered themselves up as " bait" in the name of science, hoping, ultimately to find a way to repel sharks and prevent attacks." "An array of chemicals, electronic fields and steel mesh suits have all been tried, yet no shark repellent has ever been proven very practical or effective." "Now, ascientist from south" "Florida is developing a new and perhaps improved method of discouraging aggressive sharks." "Using his " body language" as a defense, he is able to swim with sharks without fear of attack." "these body language experiments use bull sharks, proven "man-eaters" possibly" "According to Doctor Erich Ritter, these are not tests of courage, out a "hands-on" way of discovering why sharks may attack." ""What we doing out here is." "in the sole name for science." "There's no reason to jump in and prove something to anybody." "What we learn the last couple of years is that it does not make sense to collect any more shark attack data and then just analyze these data over and over." "What we need is, once we think there is an idea why these shark bite, we have to go into the field and we have to test it, and that's exactly what we're doing." "T o conduct his tests," "Doctor Ritter has chosen the tiny island of" "W alker's Key in the Bahamas, aplace known for its abundance of sharks, including large adult bulls." "Fishermen here have used this rocky point as a dumping ground, attracting bull sharks that often appear daily in search of an easy meal." "Enticed by the fish scraps, the sharks move to within inches of shore to compete for food," "creating a dangerous frenzy in the shallows." "The bull shark not only favors the shallows, it is also one of the few species capable of adapting to fresh water." "These factors combine to make it an extremely dangerous species of shark," "believed responsible for many attacks on humans." "from India's Ganges River, to lakes in Nicaragua, to estuaries and river mouths in South Africa and Australia." ""Bull sharks like to swim in very, very shallow waters, they even like to swim in estuaries, river mouths and go even up rivers into fresh water, areas where normally human beings like to go swimming." "Bull sharks swim up the" "Mississippi and there is some evidence that have been found up as far as Illinois, bull sharks have been found" "3000 kilometers up the Amazon." "Experts have speculated that the bull sharks' aggressive nature may be due in part to high levels of testosterone found in its blood." "This " aggression" hormone has been measured in bull sharks at higher levels than in mating adult bull elephants." "putting the bull shark high on many experts' "most dangerous" list." ""I would say it's probably the most notorious shark there is." "I would consider them definitely more dangerous than a white shark, but then again the probability that you get bitten by one of these guys is so slim, but I don't really believe in this, who's dangerous thing," "but overall I would say these are the guys." ""Bull sharks have a very bad reputation, due to the possible facts that they have attacked human beings, but it's overrated." "Sharks have absolutely no idea what a human being is." "no a shark has to find out what we are." "They're curious animals." "and that's why sharks approach us." "Despite the bull's aggressive reputation," "Ritter has found they will not approach him without the lure of bait." "Before he can swim with them he will often spend hours hand feeding the sharks until they overcome their shyness." ""What I try to do now is" "I try to go a little closer step by step." "And the idea is I don't wan't to scare him off," "I want to make him comfortable with my presence." "Normally, the presence of blood in the water would make a bull shark even more of a threat." "but for Ritter, exciting the sharks to the point of frenzy is insurance the animals will not leave before he can conduct his experiments." "The key for safely diving with sharks, according to Ritter, is controlling his own heartrate." "By using a heart rate monitor" "Ritter prepares himself for a swim few people would dare to attempt." ""We found out that if you have a really high heart beat, you tend to be nervous and then you make some additional movements in the waters you would normally not do when you're really calm, and we found out that sharks" "don't really like high heart rate." "I dive with the heart rate monitor to control myself, sometimes I get very excited, you know my heart rate go through the roof because wow you know there's a bull shark and it's great." "but then my heart rate is way too high to do the experiments" "I want to do and then I have to calm down, so I have to control myself." "so I have to stay as cool as possible, between 40-50 beats per minute, that's about the best you can get and that's how I try to do all my experiments." "Ritter has found by staying calm in the water, he can keep the sharks calm, making them less likely to attack." "But this is not always the scientists' goal." "T o learn why a shark may bite a human, he must push the animal to the brink of attack." ""When I swim with a shark" "I try to get a reaction from the shark," "I wanna see how he react if I swim towards him, if I swim away from him." "so I try to trigger a reaction in these animals." "Itry to lure in the sharks, so I try every stupid thing" "I can to get them in and create something that may actually lead to a bite, because then we know why a shark bites." ""I've been nipped by some sharks, and uhm it's not as bad as it sounds they just grab you and shake you a little and let go, and they don't necessarily have to use their teeth," "sometimes they just use there gums, because sometimes they just want to warn you." ""The reason why I've been nipped, well actually more than once is because sometimes I try to push a shark to the limit." "I try really to push the animal." "I poke him," "I push him away," "I hit him, knowing that sooner or later he will snap." "And I just I want to see how far I can go, and actually you can go very, very far before he really turns on you." "Ritter believes like humans, sharks need their "space"." "It is his job to invade that space, or what he terms " personal distance"" "in order to determine just how far a shark can be pushed before it turns on a human." ""What we have here right now are 4 bull sharks, pretty good size, what I can say for sure all of them are males and mature males and what I will do now is I try to swim parallel to these bull sharks," "I want to check their reaction." "what we call their personal distance to see how much it takes for them to feel comfortable with my presence in the water." "T o measure the shark's' personal distance," "Ritter swims in patterns above and alongside the animal while carefully observing its' " body language"." "Rapid and irregular swimming, arched back and pointed pectoral fins have been observed in the gray reef shark prior to attack." "Species like the bull shark may give off more subtle clues when they feel threatened." ""Each species has a different body language, and sometimes you have juveniles have a different language compared to males and female of the same species, so it's very important to learn all these dialects of the different body languages." "Many shark attacks, according to Ritter, are accidents resulting from a sharks' curiosity about humans in the water." "Though sharks are usually cautious and will avoid human activity," ""splashing sounds" may fuel the sharks' curiosity." ""Many of these accidents" "I believe just happen because the shark doesn't know what's going on, he bites out of curiosity." ""A person should avoid while swimming with a bull shark is splashing, bull sharks like splashing and it's not that a shark would bite because of splashing, he just gets more curious, what is that thing at the water surface" "that does these weird sounds." "As an investigator for the global shark attack file," "Ritter has found choice of wardrobe may also play a significant role in shark and human interaction." "T o test his theory, he will present himself to the sharks as a "shorts-clad" swimmer." "" So what I try now is I try to simulate a regular swimmer" "I'm only wearing my shorts here," "Ihave a cameraman in the water and he'll film me and the shark and we'll see what will happen." "Many experts believe sharks may be attracted by contrast and bright colors, speculating the predators may mistake an uneven tan, shiny jewelry or colorful bathing suits for fish." "Though these theories may be true," "Ritter believes a swimmers' body language is also a factor." "Body language that can be dramatically affected by what the swimmer is wearing." "Without his wetsuit and fins," "Ritter's body is exposed to the bull sharks." "His swimming motion is jerky and less confident, and as he predicted the sharks appear more willing to investigate him." ""A person that wears just a bathing suit is much, much less confident in the water than someone that wears dive equipment gears, he feels safe he feels protected, so it's actually the person that creates the scenario." "so that the shark just reacts to what he sees." "He acts differently but it's because of us, because we swim differently if we have a bathing suit or a full dive suit." "For Ritter, simulating the role of a nervous swimmer in the company of bull sharks is an extremely hazardous part of his experiment." "He cautions that It should never be attempted by a novice." ""My ultimate goal is to demystify this monster from hell." "Sharks are not as dangerous as people may think." "We do not have." "shark attacks, we have shark accidents." "So, Iwant to show why." "it's safe to swim with sharks if you follow certain rules." "We have to stop the killing of sharks and one of the best ways is to change people's attitudes, that these sharks are not as bad as people think." ""There's about 4 bull sharks right under me and." "they were very curious they came up you know, started a little nosing and then they backed off, its really awesome." "So this is very important that we can show these kind of things what really goes on when the shark comes close when a swimmer is in the water, so that's actually great." "Night descends on the small Bahamian island, with the hungry bull sharks giving no indication they have had enough to eat." "The lights needed for filming penetrate the darkness only a few feet, turning the shallows into a murky arena where uncountable sharks suddenly appear." "drawn by the lights and food, then quickly retreat out of view." "Another predator has joined the buffet." "the lemon shark." "Anocturnal hunter, the lemon can grow as" "large as the bull shark, and its reputation for biting without provocation has caused many shark experts to rank it high on the danger scale." "The combination of these two large species," "lemon and bull, has made the sharks more competitive and less cautious." "No one can predict if the addition of artificial lighting might add to the sharks' aggression." "Ritter is vulnerable, but he must remain calm." "knowing the only thing separating these hungry sharks from their food is his outstretched hand." "" She's looking, you see she's looking now she's coming, you see." "We just do not move." "Just do not move." "And this is very nice, now she came very close, she will sense my presence but I was not a threat to them," "I did not move my foot." "If I would have moved my foot she would have taken off right away." "And these are lemon sharks that can seriously bite if they really will be, but as we can see they don't care, they don't care that we're here, so if we follow certain rules it's a pretty controllable situation." "Though the risk of being attacked by a shark is extremely minimal in any situation, most experts agree that swimming at night in known shark habitats increases the odds of an encounter." "Many species, are known to prefer deep water during the day, and are believed to move in shore at dusk to feed in the shallows." ""Look at this," "Look at this, ahhh isn't she awesome?" "The questions Ritter hopes to answer is how these sharks, docile all day, will react to a swimmer at night." "And how will the scenario change with the addition of several large and somewhat skittish lemon sharks." ""They definitely have a harder time to see us, so we want to see how they approach us now when it's dark." "Lemons are kinda unpredictable how they behave, one day they're in a really good mood, the other day they're very spooky, they don't hardly come close, so it's definitely a different scenario if we're trying it during the night." "In darkness, the swimmer is a vulnerable target." "Though he can barely see the sharks in the murk, he knows they are close by feeling the wash of their powerful tails." "For several minutes the sharks circle just beyond the reach of his flashlight, yet they will not approach." "these so-called "man-eaters"" "once again chose to avoid the swimmer and concentrate on the bait." ""The next time a person encounters a shark he should learn to enjoy the animal." "Don't be afraid or scared of them, just enjoy." "Probably it's the only time you will ever see a shark in your life and most likely you're the first person the shark has seen, so enjoy it." "For many, the shark will always represent a nightmarish stalker of the deep, ahated and indiscriminate eating machine, hell-bent on devouring humans." "For advocates of the shark, changing attitudes, erasing the myths, and calming the irrational fears is an uphill battle that cannot be won simply with words." "Overhauling the shark's image, exposing its true nature, and learning to peacefully co-exist with it, can only be accomplished by those willing to meet the shark face to face." "Perhaps a new generation, armed with knowledge gained in these up-close encounters will look to the shark not as a source of fear, but as a symbol of the thrill and beauty of the deep blue."