Sharks are the most badass creatures the planet has ever seen. Rob Stewart, Activist and award-winning Sharkwater filmmaker talks about saving sharks. Guardians of our oceans, they manage every creature that lives in the ocean today... keeping coral reefs safe, and plants from being overgrazed by sea life. Sharks protect our oceans. We need sharks for ocean health. Oceans give us 60% of our oxygen, absorb carbon that causes global warming, absorbs our excess heat and feed a billion of us humans... and to top it off, they make millions in shark tourism. Yet, we kill up to 150 Million of them every year. We all can be heroes and make the world a better place. Save the Sharks.
Watch filmmaker Rob Stewart explain why we need sharks as a keystone species and how you can help.
Ways to Help Sharks
Thank you for your passion and support! You can help save sharks by telling everyone you know to watch Sharkwater and spread the word. We need to give sharks a new image and make ocean conservation a part of our daily lives.
Learn more about sharks and educate your friends and family
One of the main obstacles in shark conservation is the perception that sharks are people-eating killing monsters. Teach people how important they are to ocean ecosystems and to the planet as a whole. Let everyone know that shark bites are extremely rare. You’re more likely to be killed by cows, lightning, and vending machines than from a shark bite. Do a presentation about sharks, or show them the movies, Sharkwater, Revolution and/or Sharkwater Extinction. You can download the free study guides, print images and look through our shark database.
Do Not Use Shark Products - #SharkFree
Sharks are sold to consumers under a vast number of fake names such as rock salmon, whitefish, and flake. Sharks are also found in cosmetics, pet food, ‘natural’ fertilizer’ and even leather products. Read labels to make sure you’re not accidentally supporting shark fishing.
Shark liver oil is often used as a moisturizer in cosmetics, called squalene or squalane on the label. Don’t buy these products unless you know they are from a vegetable source. Deep-sea sharks are being fished to extinction for their livers, 90 percent of which goes into cosmetics and personal care products.
To learn more about the Shark Free movement, please visit sharkwater.com.
Stop Seafood Consumption
Accidental bycatch also causes shark mortality. The tuna industry, as well as any industrial fishing boats that uses purse seines, trawls, or gill nets, kill millions of sharks a year. Decreasing the demand for seafood will decrease shark bycatch.
Support conservation-focused ecotourism
All around the world organizations are protecting sharks by showing that ecotourism is more valuable than shark fishing. Dive with sharks and fall in love with them the same way Rob Stewart fell in love with them. The more shark ecotourism grows, the more incentives local communities will have to protect their sharks.
Donate Now!Ways to get involved:
- Watch and tell your friends to see Sharkwater, Revolution and Sharkwater Extinction. Find out more at sharkwater.com.
- Tell teachers and students to watch Sharkwater, Revolution and Sharkwater Extinction, then download the study guides at sharkwater.com for info and photos about shark conservation.
- Don't eat shark fin soup—refuse to eat at restaurants that serve it; encourage others to do the same.
- Dive and snorkel with sharks. The more money that goes into shark tourism the more people will realize the value of keeping sharks alive..
- Find out if your country is one of the 27 countries that have banned shark finning. If not, write your local government official asking them to ban shark finning.
- Demand that your country stop the sale/importation of shark fins.
- Click here if you would like to volunteer your product, service or talents at some future date.
- Start a letter writing campaign to the Secretary General of the UN requesting international bans on shark finning and the importation of fins. Click here to send a letter.
- Visit seashepherd.org and similar organizations such as www.oceana.org and humanesociety.org/animals/sharks, to take action to save sharks.
- You can donate to help save sharks at RobStewartSharkwaterFoundation.org.
Thank you!
The Movies
Sharkwater
For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. It turned into a beautiful and dangerous life journey, discovering the balance of life on earth.
Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.
Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world’s shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
Watch Now
Sharkwater: Extinction
Sharkwater: Extinction (2018) is a thrilling and inspiring action packed journey that follows filmmaker Rob Stewart as he exposes the massive illegal shark fin industry and the political corruption behind it — a conspiracy that is leading to the extinction of sharks.
From West Africa, Spain, Panama, Costa Rica, France, and even in our own backyard, Stewart’s third film dives into the often violent underworld of the pirate fishing trade to expose a multi-billion dollar industry.
Shark finning is still rampant, shark fin soup is still being consumed on an enormous scale, and endangered sharks are now also being used to make products for human consumption. Stewart’s mission is to save the sharks and oceans before it’s too late.
But exposing illegal activities isn’t easy; protecting sharks has earned him some powerful enemies.
Sharkwater, Rob’s first film, brought the devastating issue of shark finning used in shark fin soup to the world stage. His multi award-winning film changed laws and public policy worldwide, created hundreds of conservation groups. Today more than 90 countries have banned shark finning or the trade of shark products. Even so, Stewart finds sharks are still being fished to extinction.
Watch Now
REVOLUTION
In this highly anticipated follow up to the hit Sharkwater, filmmaker Rob Stewart brings us on an adventure 3.5 billion years in the making – from the evolution of life to the revolution underway to save us. Filmed over four years in 15 countries, Revolution captures some of the most remarkable wildlife spectacles ever recorded, and gives audiences a firsthand look into the biggest battle ever fought.
Discovering that it’s not just sharks that are in jeopardy – but us – Stewart looks to the evolution of life and past revolutions in order to uncover the secrets necessary to save our world. Joining the activists and youth fighting to save their future, Stewart’s journey of hope is startling, beautiful and provocative, revealing this crisis as an opportunity for everyone to become a hero.
Revolution has won numerous awards at top film festivals around the world.
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Facts About Sharks:
- Sharks have been around for more than 400 million years
- There are 375 shark species
- Sharks are intelligent and can be trained
- § Up to 150 million sharks are killed each year for their fins
- The largest shark is the Whale shark, averaging 9 metres (30 feet) in length—the size of a large bus
- Whale sharks are not aggressive. They eat zooplankton, small fish and squid.
- When a shark loses a tooth, a new one grows in its place
- Mako and Blue sharks are the fastest swimming sharks
- Sharks can take hours or even days to die after being finned
- Sharks are a critical part of marine ecosystems