a friend of mine told me about a new movie that is currently in our cinemas. i just copy & paste a summary which i found at wikipedia:
Sharkwater is a 2007 Canadian film written and directed by Rob Stewart, who also plays the lead role. The documentary covers the lives of sharks, how the media portrays them, and how they are treated today.
Stewart debunks historical myths 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 high definition video, Sharkwater explores the densest shark populations in 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.
Stewart teams up with Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and reports on his mission of protecting sharks. The documentary shows the conflicts between the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing Stewart and Watson to flee for their lives. Later Stewart miraculously recovers from a flesh-eating disease.Stewart discovers that sharks have gone from predator to prey, and how despite surviving the earth’s history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years.
The film has been attacked by the sharking industry, including on this wikipedia entry. They claim that it is „full of misinformation and effectively silences the first world sharking industry who abide by strict government laws and maintain perfectly legal and sustainable businesses.“ Although it is true that sharking is handled much better in some countries than in others, sharks remain under threat in all areas where they live and practices such as finning (cutting off the shark’s and throwing it back in to bleed to death) are still legal in many „first world“ area, including the United States.
and here is the trailer: