by Michael Buckley

Sharkwater was narrated, written and directed by a remarkable Torontonian. Rob Stewart, 27, was driven by a strong passion for underwater exploration and marine conservation, especially for sharks. The resulting stunning documentary has been garnering prizes at every international film festival, 10 so far, easily beating out the big studios with their huge budgets.
The film is alarming in many ways: a wake-up call to what is going on in our oceans, totally unregulated. “Sharks are misunderstood,” says Stewart, interviewed in Toronto. “I want to reverse the decades of bad rap about these marine predators. Sharks are not mindless killers; they play a very important role in sustaining the marine ecosystem.”
By rough estimates, the world’s shark population has declined 90 percent over the last 50 years, a rapid demise that can be directly attributed to the cruel practice of shark finning, a multi-billion-dollar industry. A single pound of shark fin is worth more than $400. It is estimated that over 100 million sharks are killed each year for their fins. There is no world body to patrol or police international waters. Stewart is right at home in the marine realm. He has been diving since he was 12, and is a scuba diving trainer who has logged more than 3,000 hours underwater. In Costa Rica, he found secret dockyards hosting illegal Taiwanese operations linked to high-ranking officials. These are the modern-day pirates of the high seas: Shark fining is illegal in Costa Rica. To Stewart’s horror, there were thousands of shark fins drying on rooftops. At considerable personal risk, Stewart managed to shoot footage of the operation.
When Stewart returned to Costa Rica later, there was one ray of hope: In a port town, there was a demonstration with people rallying against illegal shark finning operations and the secret dockyards that facilitated them.

Sharkwater in theatres across Canada March 23.
www.sharkwater.com