Underwater Odyssey

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For his documentary series Sharkwater, wildlife photographer Rob Stewart filmed a 30ft. whale shark in the Galapagos.

AT FIRST, THE COMPARISON SEEMS right: Documentary filmmaker Rob
Stewart is a modern-day Ulysses fighting perils valiantly on the sea to
return home, undoubtedly enriched by his experiences. But in speaking
with Stewart, one realizes that his home is not the transitory
residences that he establishes in Montreal and Toronto. His true home
is the sea. It is the perils above water that he must combat to return
to the deep blue sanctuaries of the world, where his chosen companions
— sharks — always await him.

The shark, the perfect predator swimming ceaselessly in the depths
of our oceans' great unknown, has become the synthesis of our fears.
But for Stewart, the shark defines truth and beauty. It is an unusual
affinity, although perhaps a necessary one. For without human
intervention, Stewart claims, sharks may be on a fast track to
extinction.

“Shark populations worldwide are plummeting because of
practices like shark finning,” states Stewart. “Poachers
pull up the shark, cut off its fins, and throw the rest of the carcass
back, which wastes 95% of the animal. It started in Asia, but now it's
happening everywhere — word has gotten out that shark fin means
money.”

This sobering reality and a life-long love of sharks compelled
Stewart to begin his underwater odyssey Sharkwater. Through the
Sharkwater documentaries, Stewart explores ocean habitats and
highlights the struggles that he and others face protecting these
magnificent pelagic creatures.

Last spring, Stewart began shooting the first two documentaries in
the Sharkwater series with the assistance of the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society, an international nonprofit organization committed
to ending illegal-fishing activities. Stewart departed from Los Angeles
with a small crew and Panasonic's AJ-HDC27 camera aboard Sea Shepherd's
boat, Ocean Warrior.

Their quest was straightforward: By invitation, Sea Shepherd would
travel to Costa Rica, sign an agreement with the Costa Rican president
allowing them to enforce fishing laws at Cocos Island, and then move on
to Galapagos where they would similarly help Galapagos National Park
fight poachers. Stewart would get ample footage on land and on the boat
documenting Sea Shepherd activities, while also spending much of his
time shooting footage of sharks underwater.

But fate, flesh-eating disease, and the Taiwanese mafia
intervened.

On their way to Cocos Island, members of Sea Shepherd caught sight
of a Costa Rican fishing boat, the Veradero, illegally
long-lining off the coast of Guatemala. Knowing that this fishing
practice ravishes many species of marine life, including sharks, Sea
Shepherd radioed Guatemalan authorities, who asked the crew to arrest
the boat and promptly escort it to San Jose, Guatemala.

Sea Shepherd asked the fisherman to pull up their lines, release any
sharks, and follow them to shore, which they reluctantly did. About six
hours into the journey to mainland Guatemala, however, the boat
fled.

“Sea Shepherd is a very proactive organization,” notes
Stewart. “They never hurt anybody, but they have sunk many boats
at port. They've sunk a whole Norwegian whaling fleet and rammed
illegal drift netters in the China Sea. So when this little fishing
boat took off, we went straight for them.”

Shooting at 24fps with a Panasonic HD camera, videographer Rob Stewart caught on tape the conflict between the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and a Costa Rican boat illegally long-lining off the coast of Guatemala.

Stewart readied his Panasonic HD camera to capture the battle
footage, as Sea Shepherd prepared its high-power water canons, flares,
stink bombs, and “goo guns,” canons that fire pie filling
at uncooperative offenders. Shooting at 24fps, Stewart documented the
scene, as Sea Shepherd circled the smaller boat, using their
nondestructive, although highly chaotic tactics, to get the wayward
vessel to stop. “It was difficult to keep the camera dry,”
Stewart recalls, “because there were water cannons spraying
everywhere and the boats were rocking pretty intensely.” The sea
battle ended when the two boats collided, causing a massive crash,
although there was no real damage to either boat. Knowing that they
couldn't escape, the recalcitrant fishermen followed the Ocean
Warrior to port.

Two hours from the coast, the Ocean Warrior got a radio
message from Guatemalan Port Authority: They had just dispatched a gun
boat to arrest the members of Sea Shepherd, Stewart, and his crew.

Knowing that big trouble lay in store for them, Sea Shepherd fled to
the fishing village of Puntarenas, Costa Rica, where they would be safe
from Guatemalan arrest.

“It's the whole nature of the fishing industry in Latin
America,” says Stewart. “Everybody has a brother or uncle
or someone who is high up and who can pull strings. The fisherman on
the Veradero probably radioed in and somehow convinced the authorities
that we were trying to damage and sink their boat with them on it. It
didn't matter that we had footage of what really happened.”

Two days into their stay at Puntarenas, the Veradero and its
crew arrived, charging Sea Shepherd with seven counts of attempted
murder and damage to property. When the crew of the Veradero
brought their boat into port, it was destroyed. The bad publicity
caused the Costa Rican government to cancel the agreement that would
allow Sea Shepherd to protect Cocos Island, and the crew of the
Ocean Warrior was put under house arrest.

“During our first court case, we showed them my footage, which
made them realize that we didn't ram the boat or shoot shotguns at
them, and they dismissed the case,” says Stewart. “But then
the fisheries minister reinstated the case with a corrupt new judge and
prosecutor. I knew then that if I didn't get my footage out of Costa
Rica, they would confiscate it, and I'd never get it back.”

Stewart quickly captured the footage off his HD monitor with a Canon
XL1 digital camera to have a record of the incident to present at
court. He then FedExed the original footage to Canada. For the next two
weeks, he and Sea Shepherd fought the charges. In between court
battles, Stewart had to find something to do with his expensive camera
rental.

“I had heard that this Taiwanese shark-finning operation had
shark fins drying on their roof,” says Stewart. “So I got
an 18-wheeler truck, climbed on top, and then filmed down onto the roof
of the operation, where they had about 10,000 shark fins drying. As
soon as they saw me filming, about six people came out with guns, told
us to get out, and pushed the fins off the roof so I couldn't film
anymore.”

Undeterred by the tough guys and wanting to get a tripod on the roof
to obtain steadier footage, Stewart went back twice more. The third
time, he and his crew ended up speeding back to their boat with the
Taiwanese shark-fin “mafia” hot on their heels.

“The Taiwanese shark-fin mafia is a ring of super-high-powered
Taiwanese people who partner with Costa Rican fishing boats and crew
and then go out and fish illegally,” says Stewart. “Word
had gotten out that me and my film crew shouldn't show our faces around
town anymore because they were looking for us.”

With both the Taiwanese mafia and the Costa Rican judicial system
after them, Stewart and Sea Shepherd decided it was time to leave. They
put barbed wire around the perimeter of the Ocean Warrior to
prevent the Coast Guard from boarding and stormed to Panama.

In water near Cocos Island, Costa Rica, Rob Stewart filmed hundreds of hammerhead sharks swimming inches from the camera.

Sea Shepherd hoped to obtain the permits it needed to enter the
Galapagos in Panama and then continue on to the national park. But all
was not smooth sailing in Panama. Sea Shepherd did not get the
necessary permits, and Stewart contracted a Staphylococcus bacterial
infection while walking in polluted Panamanian waters. The disease
began consuming his flesh.

“I'd been out for months already and still had no underwater
footage, so I didn't want to sit around and wait,” says Stewart.
“But the Panamanian doctors explained that I could either be
hospitalized for seven days on a constant IV of medication, or they
could amputate my leg. So I stuck around.”

Three days before Stewart was released, the Sea Shepherd boat
departed for Galapagos. Stewart sent with them his crew member, Douglas
Braun, who shot much of the land and boat footage for the
documentaries.

The day Stewart left the hospital he flew to Galapagos, only to get
a satellite call from Braun saying that the Ocean Warrior's
engines and generator were broken and that they were temporarily
stranded. While Sea Shepherd worked to get power, Stewart worked to get
them a Galapagos permit. He only succeeded in landing a 15-day port
pass, which meant they would not be able to police the seas. When the
Ocean Warrior finally arrived, Sea Shepherd also failed at
securing an extended permit.

Stewart either had to find alternative transportation or return to
Canada without the underwater footage that he needed.

Buoyed by his passion for sharks and a sheer determination to
complete the documentaries, Stewart decided to spend his own money to
secure private dive boats. Finally, he found himself at home in the
sea.

But even without the Taiwanese mafia and flesh-eating disease to
contend with, Stewart and his crew faced plenty of production
challenges. Pace Technologies of Los Angeles had outfitted the VariCam
with a modified Digital-Betacam housing so that Stewart could shoot
underwater. With this special housing, the camera was 3ft. long and
weighed over 100lbs.

“It was like having a kite underwater, especially in strong
currents,” notes Stewart.

On one occasion, while shooting playful silkie sharks in the raging
currents of northern Galapagos, Stewart got a bit carried away —
literally. “I swam out into the blue and shot the sharks for
about 20 minutes and then surfaced,” says Stewart, who shot
primarily at 60fps to best capture the fluid motion of the sharks
underwater. “Because I had been out in the current for so long, I
ended up really far from the island and I couldn't even see the boat.
We knew if we didn't do something, we'd end up in Tahiti, so we started
ditching gear and swimming toward the island.”

Stewart and his crew ended up abandoning everything but their masks,
fins, and the camera. Three hours later, a tiny dinghy came to their
aid.

“We were able to keep the footage from that day and didn't
lose a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of camera,” says
Stewart.

After a few other near-death experiences in Galapagos, Stewart
decided to sneak back into Costa Rica to get underwater footage near
Cocos Island. Stewart and his crew flew into Costa Rica and then kept a
low profile by taking tour buses around the perimeter of the country.
Slowly, they inched their way back to Puntarenas, where they were able
to secure dive boats.

The effort paid off. In the water near Cocos Island, Stewart got
great footage, including dramatic scenes in which hundreds of
hammerhead sharks materialize out of the blue and swim inches away from
the camera. While at peace underwater, he still occasionally had
problems with his scuba gear and equipment. After one particularly
harrowing day beneath the surface, during which his rebreather
malfunctioned and almost sent him into convulsions, Stewart decided to
come up for air.

Rob Stewart captured footage of white-tip sharks feeding at night near Cocos Island, Costa Rica, using a Panasonic AJ-HDC27 outfitted with Digital-Betacam housing.

“We got back onto the dive boat, which had the camera table
5ft. above ground,” he recalls. “As I took the HD camera
out of its housing, a wave hit the boat and knocked the camera off the
table and onto the lens. It stuck the focus, so I couldn't change the
focus for the rest of the trip. I had a big bill with Fuji for that,
but fortunately the camera was fine.”

Months after beginning his adventure and thousands of dollars over
budget, Stewart decided to return to Montreal.

At press time, Stewart was headquartered in Toronto, where he was
sorting through the 80 hours of footage that he managed to capture
during his amazing odyssey.

“I have a massive projector in my loft, so I can project the
footage on a 30ft. wall and feel like I'm there again,” he
says.

After this pre-edit, he plans to take the material to Stonehenge, a
Toronto postproduction house, for final editing.

Overall, Stewart liked the Panasonic camera because of its variable
frame-rate capability, which allowed him to shoot at 4fps for languid
“helicopter” shots from the boat, 24fps for other topside
footage, and 60fps for underwater footage. He also appreciated the fact
that the camera was progressive scan, which allowed him to freeze
frames and provide high-quality still images to stock agencies and
wildlife magazines without having to use a separate 35mm camera.

He also discovered why buying is better than renting. “When
you rent, you're always answering to someone else,” he says.
“There was a bit of saltwater corrosion on my matte box, so I
ended up paying $4,000 just because a few screws looked rusty. Next
time, I want to go out and shoot without time limits and without paying
thousands of dollars for extra rental time because amazing things
always come up.”

The inspiring experiences of being surrounded by sharks in the sea
far outweighed the obstacles that Stewart encountered. Still, the
political struggles bother him as he looks ahead to future conservation
efforts.

“It was so frustrating to be invited by the governments of
these two countries to protect their marine life and then to witness
how a little bit of corruption can really stop us,” says Stewart.
“My heart rate is so much lower with sharks than it is with
people.”

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