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[man 1]
Good evening, a great white
shark has been hunted, caught

and killed after a horrifying
attack near Mandurah.

The shark was hooked
on drumlines off Falcon

and towed out to sea,

but there's no confirmation

it was the shark that
attacked the surfer.

[Eric Bana]
Our whole lives, we've
been taught to fear them.

Good evening,
two surfers have been injured.

-A shark attack.
-Multiple attacks.

-Bitten by a shark.
-Mauled by a shark.

[Bana] Monsters, murderers,
man-eaters.

-Shark attack.
-Shark attacks.

-A shark attack.
-Two shark attacks.

[man 1] Terror
in the shallows.

[Bana] But what if we've
been taught wrong?

What if the very thing
you were taught to fear

had more to fear from us?

-Great white...
-[man] Shark attack...

-A great white...
-Shark attack.

-[woman] Two shark attacks.
-Bitten by a shark.

[Bana]
What if we knew we had a
greater chance of being killed

by almost any other
animal on Earth

than by one of nature's oldest
and most evolved species?

-Bitten by [inaudible].
-Shark attack.

[indistinct conversations]

[Bana]
What if our ignorance
is about to wipe them out?

Not in 100 years,
not in 50 years.

This generation. Right now.

They can't speak
for themselves.

So we must be their envoy.

[mellow theme music playing]

[Layne Beachley]
I feel that one
of the greatest ways

that we can overcome
our fear of the unknown
is get to know it.

One of the greatest ways

I've been able to reduce
my fear of sharks,

is swimming with them.

Getting to understand
their gentle, curious nature,

it was one of the
most beautiful things

I ever had to do

was just actually
sit underneath a bull shark

and watch it gracefully glide
around over the top of me,

it was just so beautiful.

I never ever have experienced
a fear of a shark since then.

[Juan Oliphant]
So pretty much,
you know, raised in Hawaii

since I was two.

You know, I had seen them
as a lot as a kid, you know,
spearfishing,

and I still was really, really
kind of a afraid of them.

But it wasn't until
I had a really bad accident
where I broke my back.

And it left me paralyzed
for almost a good portion

of three or four months
and the remedy that really,

that made the healing process
get better was the diving.

And so now I was getting
engaged in diving,

like almost every day trying
to get my back to normal.

And the interactions
with sharks were a little
bit more consistent,

and they were far, far, far

from what I was told
what I saw on TV, you know,

and they were more scared
of me than I was of it

and that kind of like,
created this passion

and desire to want
to learn more.

It's that fear of the unknown,
you know, for most people,

and then you have other people
trying to fill in the gaps

with that lack of information.

[waves splashing]

So I think a lot of the
public fear all has to do
with fear of the unknown.

It's that dark basement,
or what you can't see
in the water,

and the more
we understand about sharks

and their motivations
and the behaviors,

the more that fear
just dissolves away.

I've been with HSI
for almost two years now,

I'm a marine biologist
and ocean campaigner.

There's been this massive
divide lately between science

and between
what's been accepted
or what's taken as fact.

And I think just as important
as pushing forward

our knowledge and continuing
to do science and research,

it's important to bridge
that gap.

There's something about,
you know, when you're
20 meters underwater,

and you're sitting there
with the sharks,
they come past you

and their eye swivels around
and definitely looks at you.

There's that awareness there.

And it's so calming
and quite lovely.

Part of my mission and
a lot of scientists out there

and conservationists,
and even people
who just love sharks

and just love talking
about the them,

is to really sell
the truth of it.

We've got over 320 odd species
of sharks

and Rays in Australia.

You know,
half of them aren't found
anywhere else in the world.

And the go to species
that everyone thinks of

are your tiger sharks,
great whites,

are your whale sharks,
which are amazing,

and incredibly beautiful
in their own right.

But there's also these other
species that were just...

the majority people
I don't think are aware of.

I grew up in the ocean,
and I got to see sharks

for what they naturally were,

which is absolutely
beautiful and fascinating.

And as I grew up, I realized
how important they were.

I went to school
for marine biology.

And as I traveled
around the world

and worked around the world,
I realized that people

had a very heavy damaging
misconception of them,

and that they're actually
the real victims

and the ones that have
something to fear.

I think for a very long time,

people didn't know
very much about sharks.

So it's very easy
to be afraid of them,

you're afraid naturally of
something that you don't know.

[Holly Richmond]
When you see sharks
under the water,

they're just so majestic

and actually
a lot more scared of us

than what you know what we
typically are of them as well.

So getting to know sharks
under the water

is probably the best way
to meet sharks

and understand them.

There was this moment
when I was about 15 years old,

and I was diving with
two really big tiger sharks.

And it was just amazing,
it was late in the afternoon,
the light was beautiful,

and then suddenly
they disappeared.

So there's
this is anticipation,

and all of a sudden out
of the corner of this

great hammerhead
swims through,

the middle
of the water column,

and its head was
as wide as I was tall.

And at first I thought it was
a whale, it was that big.

And this creature,
this massive creature

that I had been
kind of taught by society my
entire life to be scared of,

just passed through and didn't
even pay attention to me

and it was one
of the greatest things

I had ever seen
in my entire life.

[waves splashing]

I grew up on the Gold Coast
I've been here my entire life.

It's been home.

And I feel like
when I was a kid,

I was the only person
looking out to sea,

seeing the shark nets
and drum lines

and thinking what on earth
is going on here?

[Jonathan Clark]
When I got involved
in the chapter in Brisbane,

I didn't have
a lot of knowledge
about nets and drum lines.

I was probably typical
of a lot of the population.

[Tom Carroll]
I learned to surf
on this beach, in that water

starting around
seven years of age.

To be honest I've never even
thought about the shark nets.

I used to use the buoys
to paddle around

when we were doing
a lot of open ocean paddling.

[Holly]
I've been assisting
Humpback Whale Research

for the past four years,
and particularly on the
east coast of Australia,

humpback whales
are becoming entangled
in shark nets.

And that sparked
my interest with shark nets

and exactly what are they
and what are the aims

and the methods
of this program?

So I basically took the
initiative to go out there

and get a view
for myself of exactly

what's happening
beneath the surface.

The biggest misconception
that people have

towards the
Shark Control Program

is that a lot of people think

that it's a physical barrier
between them

and the open ocean.

People aren't aware that this
device is a fishing device,

it's there to capture
and to kill passing sharks

and I think a lot of people
are surprised

when they realize that
it's not a physical barrier

that is completely enclosed

or it doesn't touch
the bottom of the ocean.

[Bana]
Bright buoys visible
from the shore in the air,

draw a line through
the ocean,

between the comfort
of the shallows
and the mystery of the deep.

Not many people know
exactly what they are,

or how they work, just told
that it keeps them safe.

Even fewer people
know the truth.

[man 2]
Australian beaches renowned
for their long unbroken

surf line and
clean white gold sand

are among the
most beautiful in the world.

This lovely beach
is a typical example.

[Bana]
Shark nets were first
introduced off the east coast

of Australia in 1937,

with drumlines
following soon after.

It's the very same decade
Qantas first started flying

between Australia and London.

Flights could fit
just ten passengers,

had 21 stopovers,
and took a total of 12 days.

Our world has evolved beyond
recognition since then,

but shark nets
and drumlines have stayed
fundamentally the same.

Shark nets in Queensland are
186 meters wide by six meters,

hang from the surface, and
sit in water 12 meters deep.

Shark nets in New South Wales
are 150 meters by six meters

are anchored to the sea floor,
also in water 12 meters deep.

Both programs
cover only a tiny portion

of any given beach,

allowing sharks ample
opportunity to swim over,

under, around,
and towards beaches.

In fact,
a high percentage of sharks

are caught inside the nets.

They've already been
to the beach,

and are peacefully making
their way back out to sea.

Drumlines use a
large buoy on the surface

to suspend a baited industrial
fishing hook

dangling below
on heavy duty chains.

They chum the waters,
attracting sharks,

in the hopes of hooking them.

If anyone in a snorkel
and fins can navigate

around this technology,

why would we think
that sharks can't?

People think that
shark incidents are happening

at a higher rate
than what they really are.

Being bitten by a shark
is extremely unlikely.

Unfortunately, when there
is a shark bite incident,

the media jump onto this

and they report it
over and over again.

There's a rogue shark
out there,

the Jaws mentality, right?

That it's got to taste
for human blood,

and it's not gonna
stop until you know,

so it's just like
that kind of mentality,

it's so false,
and it's like a lie basically,

you know,
when it comes down to it.

[woman 1]
When I've seen or heard
on the news that there was

a shark attack,
my heart fully sinks

and it's a really terrible
feeling because

one, you know,
that someone's just been
through something traumatic

and the media
has taken advantage of that.

And two, you know that that
means bad news for sharks.

[woman 2]
Trauma and
sensationalism sells.

And so for generations now,
the media has capitalized off

of demonizing them.

[Dr. Leonardo Guida]
Drone footage
is now coming out,

particularly
from New South Wales,

and the photography
is awesome.

I mean, the colors,
shapes, and you see surfers

and you see the silhouette
of a shark in the water

and the headline
is "Shark stalks surfer".

And it's like, no, the sharks
just doing its thing.

It probably
hasn't even seen the surfer.

[Jonathan]
The number of times
that negative language

about sharks is repeated
for every shark bite incident.

The number of reports
is astounding.

The average is in the 30s.

[Lawrence Chlebeck]
But the media
will report on them

because these incidents
can be tragic.

They can be traumatic.

We hear words like
maul, man eater, attack,

but more accurately,

these interactions
are classified as just that,
interactions.

It's a bump
or an investigative bite.

We all understand that those
bites can be very tragic

and traumatic,
but it's very, very rarely,

and almost never,
an actual attack.

And that feeds into the public
psyche, of what they think.

They think the sharks
are out there hunting them.

And that's really not at all
what's happening.

[Ocean Ramsey]
The tolerance
that sharks show for humans

being such capable
predators as they are,

it never ceases to astonish me

and people don't give them
credit for that.

They swim past surfers,
swimmers, and divers

all day, every day.

And it's so rare
that they make a mistake.

You think about how many
mistakes humans make.

And it's just... I wish
that they got that credit,

and that made the news,

because that's something
that happens every day,

and not the extremely rare
mistaken identity bite.

I used to be
terrified of sharks.

Uh, I didn't really know
anything about them

except for what
the media told me

and that was always
gnashing teeth

and blood and fear.

And so I fed into that.

In 2005, I ended up passing
a selection course

for the Navy clearance divers

and started
a whole new career,

and I didn't just find
my dream job,

I found my dream life.

In 2009,

I had been a clearance diver
for about four years,

and every single time,
honestly, I got in the water,

I had sharks on the brain.

Even though sharks
terrified me,

I had a focus to get that
out of my mind.

I was swimming in the water
on the surface

right in Sydney Harbor,
right alongside the Navy base.

And I was on my back,
on the surface,

kicking my legs,
doing what we call finning.

I was facing
the other direction,

making sure I was headed
towards the warship

where I was supposed
to be going

and I felt this massive
whack in my leg.

And I turned back around
and came face to face

with a massive shark's head
and I didn't know what to do.

I'd never even seen a big,
dangerous shark before.

And then all of a sudden,
it's attached to me.

My survival instincts
kicked in.

I thought I've got
to get this thing off me.

But I couldn't move my arm

because my hand
was in its mouth.

And so I grabbed it
by the nose

and I tried to lever it
off my leg

but all that did was push
the teeth of the lower jaw

deeper into my leg.

So in a last ditch effort,

I cocked back
to punch it in the nose,

and it started to shake me

and I can't even tell you
how painful this was.

It took me underwater,

and I wasn't just in pain,
I was terrified.

This was my worst nightmare.
And I thought I was gonna die.

The shark's tail
splashed water into my face

and kind of shook me
back to reality.

And I realized,
"Oh, I'm not dead."

And I thought I've gotta
get back to the safety boat.

So my laser-like focus,

all that navy training
and army training kicked in.

My sole entire mission
was to get back to that boat.

As soon as the guys
pulled me into the boat,

I just relaxed.

Just for the simple fact
that I was safe,

my eyes rolled back
in my head and I passed out,

and my mate Tommo
sprang into action.

And his medical training
told him

that I was going
into cardiac arrest.

And so he straddled me
and started pummeling me
in the chest

trying to stimulate my heart
to wake me back up,

and it worked.

And I woke up,
and I looked over,

and my hand was gone.

And I looked up,

and Tommo was beating
the crap out of me.

And I just thought,
"Today sucks."

After the shark attack,

the media was coming to me

to talk about shark
interactions all around
Australia.

And so I had to learn,

so that I knew
what I was talking about.

I can give an educated opinion
instead of just an opinion.

And through doing
that research

and building that knowledge
on sharks,

I started to learn
about the plight of sharks,

about how much strife
they're in,

about what we do to them.

And the old adage goes,
knowledge dispels fear,

and that was so true for me.

[Jonathan]
The title of the program
in New South Wales

is the
Bather Protection Program.

There is the
underlying message,

"We're the government,

and we are keeping you safe
from this big, scary thing."

In Queensland,

we call it
the Shark Control Program.

I defy anyone
to control a shark.

How do you control

one of the greatest animals
in the ocean?

How do you do that?

[Dr. Leonardo]
So the Shark Control Program
in Queensland,

and I hate using
the word "Control",

because you cannot control
an animal.

But for the lack
of a better phrase,

the Shark Control Program
in Queensland as it stands,

its intention is
to kill sharks, to cull them.

My first time swimming
with a tiger shark

was on a drumline
on the Gold Coast,

and she was

literally taking her
last breaths in front of us.

She been hanging there
for quite some time.

Uh, probably early hours
in the morning

and she was suffocating
on this drumline

and I was able to get
really close to her

and I couldn't...

Looking at the details
of this animal was insane,

the patterns on their skin.

And people always refer
to shark's eyes

to be lifeless and soulless
and dark and black.

But looking at her eyes,
they were light colored brown

and they were
so beautiful and deep.

You could be looking
into the eyes of a turtle

or your own dog at home.

That moment really made me

feel connected
to these animals

and made me realize that...

they're just crying for help,

and we're just endlessly
killing them out there.

I've seen multiple tiger
sharks hooked on drumlines.

In fact, the first one
that I ever saw in Australia

was hooked on a drumline,

and it was very difficult
for me to film

because I got in the water
with it thinking it was dead,

but then its eye
was still moving,

so it was just this animal
that I'd always associated

with such power
and presence in the ocean.

And it was just like
laying there, dead.

It was like
going into your yard

and seeing your own pet dog
hooked up on a drumline.

Most people talk about
getting in the water
with sharks for the first time

and their hands are sweaty
and their heart's racing
and they're freaking out.

That's exactly how I felt
when I got out of the water

after filming a dead one.

My heart was racing,
my hands were sweating.

It was terrifying.

It was the only time I've been
in the water with a shark

that I was truly unable
to control my reaction.

Seeing that animal dead
on a drumline was really sad

and really horrific.

And the saddest thing
about all of it

is living in a country

where people kind of
rooted that on

and wanted that to happen,

and in their eyes,
that was a good thing.

[Bana]
For 83 years and counting,

we've been running the world's
longest marine cull.

These culling programs
off Australian shores

add to the millions of sharks
killed globally each year.

However,
unlike the fishing industry,

these culling programs
specifically aim

to kill some endangered
and protected species.

Like the Great White.

Unlike regular fishing,

there are no size limits
in these culls.

Making juveniles, who haven't
reached breeding age yet,

fair game,

decimating an already
threatened population

in the name of safety.

[Paul] I understand
that parents and surfers

and everyone that frequents
the beach in Australia

wants to remain safe.

I don't want anyone
to get attacked either.
Trust me, it hurts.

I don't want
anyone getting hurt.

I don't want anyone dying.

The problem that I have

with the culling of sharks
around Australia is that...

it's not a solution
by any means.

It's a false sense
of security at best,

which is only lulling people
more into the ocean

to risk their lives.

The nets that they have
around Australia,

especially Queensland
and New South Wales,

they don't go to the bottom
of the ocean,

they don't go
to the top of the water,

they don't span
the whole beach.

The sharks can swim around it,
over it, and under it,

and there's nothing
stopping them

from getting to the beach.

Now I understand
they've put them in there

to maybe take out
a few of the sharks

that are hanging around,

but sharks don't domesticate
one area, they migrate.

These sharks that are swimming
through Australian waters,

especially the Great Whites
that we're killing,

they don't belong
to Australia.

They'll swim...
They've been known to swim
all the way to Hawaii.

They swim all the way
down the coast,

all the way down
to New Zealand.

They interbreed down there.

They swim back up the coast,
they follow the whales,

they follow the fish.

They're the ocean sharks.
They're the world's sharks.

They're not Australia's
property to kill.

And this is what happens

when you have
government ministers

running departments

that they have
no education in,

no background in,

and don't know
what they're doing.

They just pander to the
loudest common denominator.

And that's usually the people

calling for the death
of animals, especially sharks.

So anecdotally, what you hear
from a lot of people

that are out on the water
a lot, from fishermen,
and such,

is that sharks
are in plague proportions.

And what we need to remember
that these are very
intelligent animals

that have an ecological
feeding plasticity

that can change their behavior
and follow this salmon
run here

or go over here
when they need to.

They've been around
for 350 million years

perfecting the ability
to change their behavior

for high success
feeding opportunities.

And now fishermen
and fishing boats

provide that high success
feeding opportunity.

So the fact that there's
a massive decline of sharks

and that fishermen
are seeing many of them
around their boats

are not mutually exclusive.

Fishermen can see many,
many sharks around their boats

because they know
that this is where
they can get an easy feed.

However, shark scientists
everywhere around the world,

including the east coast
of Australia,

will tell you
that sharks are dwindling.

Sharks are in major decline
and have been

for about the last
50 to 60 years.

[Jonathan]
We know that the general
population of sharks

has been in great decline,

and there is science
absolutely backing that.

We know that tiger sharks
on the Queensland coast

since 1962,

the science is saying
around about 73% decline,

which is absolutely massive.

Hearing numbers
like 70 to 100 million sharks
are killed every year.

And the big one that got me
was that in 30 years,

we've killed 90-95%

of the world's shark
population.

In 30 years, like...

What's gonna happen
in another 30 years?

They're gone, right?

You know, when you hear
those kind of numbers,

you're like, "Whoa, what?
You know, rewind."

[Bana]
Programs like this
are a global anomaly.

Only two other countries
on earth

operate culling programs,
South Africa and France.

That's it.

Everywhere else in the world,
it's understood.

Their home, your risk.

There's another chain
of islands

all alone in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean

that is confronted by these
very same challenges.

A paradise where sharks

carry a strong
cultural significance,

held sacred by many families

as their ancestral
spirit guides.

Traditionally respected
but not feared.

Hawaii.

It's so sad and unfortunate

that even in Hawaii, um,
multiple decades ago,

they actually culled sharks,

some of the methods
being nets or drumlines.

And it was scientifically
documented in study

to show that it does nothing
to reduce the number

of adverse interactions.

And so we've scientifically
proven that culling
is not effective

and can actually attract
sharks closer to shore.

[Juan] Back in '91,
there was a series
of mistaken identity bites,

so about seven.

And no fatalities,

but it was within,
like, a three-month span.

So the community,
especially here
on the North Shore of Oahu,

was really concerned,

and it kind of sparked a cull,
you know, and...

I was just a kid at the time,
but it was a scary time.

It was just the fear
throughout the community,

and it's probably similar
to in certain parts

what's going on
in Australia right now,

but it was really sad.

I mean, they killed...

I think that estimated
at the time
that they were done

in that year period,
they killed
over 500 tiger sharks.

So it was really bad.

The really nice thing
about that period though,

a scientist named Carl Meyers
was doing a study on it.

And he proved that culling
was actually not effective.

And in fact, when you take out
a large apex predator

like a tiger shark,

which is a very
territorial animal
and nomadic species,

you're actually
reducing that area

to allow more smaller
juvenile sharks.

And the larger sharks
are actually a lot more
knowledgeable

about what's a food source,
what's not a food source.

So in essence,
you're bringing
these teenagers in

that are still trying
to figure out what's going on.

And those are the ones
making the mistakes,

not these big, large,
beautiful females
or adult tiger sharks,

and so it was making
the situation worse

by killing the large sharks.

So growing up with that fear,

it's so interesting to see
where I'm at today,

you know, and my whole life
kind of feels like

it's been about protecting
an animal that I grew up

so petrified of.

[Ocean]
And so we've used
that research

to try and push,
and more so the community
and conservation efforts,

to push, to ban the purposeful
killing of sharks and rays.

And, um,
in the last few years,

this push for protection
for sharks

has been met
by some opposition

at different levels.

The first level
was financially.

Could they actually
enforce the law?

We address that
through support,

through ecotourism.

And so actually taking
a very small percentage
of money

from people who want
to go see a live shark

and that could easily
fund that bill.

So it's really...

It's tough working
in the political systems,

but it is possible,
and every year,

the number of people
in support of these bills
is growing.

[Bana] Until now,
these programs have operated
under a veil of secrecy.

They have successfully
avoided intense scrutiny
from the public eye.

Some politicians are adamant

that these programs
keep swimmers safe,

citing the low number
of fatalities at beaches
where culling occurs.

But has it really
saved human lives

by killing hundreds
of thousands of sharks?

The Great Barrier Reef.
An Australian icon.

So remarkable
you can see it from space.

The jewel in our marine crown.

It is the world's largest
coral reef ecosystem,

home to thousands
of unique species.

It's one of the best known
natural wonders of the world,

already under threat

from warming
and acidifying oceans.

It's important to know
how critical sharks are

to keeping this fragile
ecosystem alive

and just how dangerous
it could be to remove them.

[Dr. Leonardo]
Austrians love
the Great Barrier Reef.

I mean, intuitively,
instinctively.

You know you can feel it.
I'm thinking it right now.

I just say Great Barrier Reef
and I'm like,

"Yes, Australia."

But how to articulate
that into words...

I think that's actually
the beauty of it.

The fact that you can't
really articulate it.

It's magical and mystical.

I think that's why people
love the Great Barrier Reef,

and when you do get
a chance to see it,

I mean, aside from pictures
and videos...

When you do get
a chance to see it,

it's mind blowing.

The Great Barrier Reef
Outlook Report 2019

is a report that's done
every five years.

And it assesses the health
of the Great Barrier Reef,

uh, the pressures,
the challenges it faces,

the gaps in our knowledge,

and also it gives
a bit of a projection
of its likely future.

Unfortunately,

the latest report
has downgraded
the Great Barrier Reef

from being in poor health
to very poor health.

It identified as a key threat

to the resilience
and health of the reef

uh, the removal of predators,
top-level predators,

and that includes your sharks,

and there's an issue
with some species

uh, that are under
considerable threat.

[Holly]
Sharks play a vital role
in an ecosystem.

And by taking out sharks
off the Great Barrier Reef,

we're gonna see
dramatic effects

so we're gonna see impacts

on even the lowest
of levels with corals

and the amount of algae
that grows on the corals.

[Dr. Leonardo]
If we take out the sharks,

your middle fish
explode in numbers,

and these middle fish
are sometimes herbivores,

so they might eat
the algae off coral,

munch on the coral
or animals around the coral.

And if their numbers
essentially grow unchecked,

then all of a sudden,
the coral is experiencing

a lot of pressure
it otherwise wasn't under.

Then, the herbivores
have got nothing left to eat,

and then
they kind of fall apart.

The sharks actually perform

more than just
a predatory role.

Uh, it's quite complex
how they work

for an ecosystem.

Um, Sharks also modify

the behavior of other animals
in the system.

So a great example,

looking at tiger sharks
and dugongs,

what the tiger shark does
is it comes into an area.

The dugong is happily
munching away on seagrass

around a reef ecosystem,
a coastal ecosystem,

a seagrass meadow or wherever.

It's happily munching away,

getting its fill,
not a care in the world.

The moment
it senses or notices

a tiger shark in the area,

all of a sudden
it's on its toes.

Um, it stops eating,

and it might dart off
somewhere else

and eat a little bit there,

'cause it's now more concerned
about being eaten itself

than eating seagrass.

So seagrass actually stores
more carbon than rainforests.

What the tiger shark is doing

by modifying or changing
the behavior of the dugong,

one, it's looking
after the little guys,

so these fish can grow up

and venture out
into the ocean,

and two, it's helping us
fight climate change.

So the tiger shark
protecting the seagrass,

it's ensuring that we have
a good carbon store.

[Holly]
We can't just take
one species

or one type of animal
out of an ecosystem

and expect the rest
to function normally.

It all interlinks
with each other

and taking the sharks out,

you're actually gonna have
a really big impact

on the coral reef
and that impacts
our tourism in Australia.

We have a lot of people

that wanna see
the Great Barrier Reef,

but by taking sharks out
of that ecosystem,

it's not gonna be the same.

[Dr. Leonardo]
We've had some studies
come out that show

that having sharks on the reef

boosts not only the kinds
of fish you find there

but just the absolute
numbers of fish

by having sharks there.

And it's one of the reasons
why reef areas

are particularly
popular with fishers,

both commercial
and recreational,

'cause there are
a lot of fish,

and the sizes of fish
are reasonably decent.

And to have that support
on a reef ecosystem,

you need sharks.

[Madison Stewart]
So when I was
about 12 years old,

I did my first ever trip
to the Great Barrier Reef.

And there was this one spot
where my dad and I

would get in the water
for a night dive.

And we'd wait
for the divers to leave

and we'd stay under the boats
'cause the boats
had these big floodlights

that would bring
all the little fish around

and then all the sharks
would come around
to eat these little fish.

So there was
about 20 to 30 little
Grey Reef Sharks

behind the back of the boat.

And I used to do this thing
where I would breathe

really heavy
in my SCUBA equipment

and accelerate my heart rate.

And the sharks
would pick up on that,

and they would come in
and start, like, buzzing me
and getting all excited.

And that was like
this little game
I played with them.

It was the first time
that I really had an amazing
connection with sharks.

But the very next year,
I came back to that same spot,

the same reef, the same dive,
same time of year,

and there were
no sharks there.

There was like one shark
in the distance

too scared to come close
to the light.

And that for me
kind of woke me up
a little bit.

And when I turned 14,

I really started
to focus on things

that were happening
in my own backyard,

which was
the Great Barrier Reef
where I grew up diving,

and I had no idea
that there were things

threatening
what I always thought
was a Marine Park.

Queensland...

They're just killing sharks.

They've got drumlines

in the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park.

One of the seven natural
wonders of the world.

We're not just fishing it
and wiping it out.

We're not just
coral bleaching it

and wiping it out.

We're killing the doctors
of the reef.

The animals that keep
the whole ecosystem
in check.

Now what does that tell you

about the future
of our Great Barrier Reef

in our Australian waters?

[Bana] As politicians
debate human lives
versus shark lives,

protecting our ocean
versus tourism dollars,

there is something
we've all been missing.

One simple question
in this whole culling debate

that has only
very recently been asked.

Is it even legal?

[Lawrence Chlebeck]
So a few years back,

the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Authority
issued a permit

for Queensland's
Agriculture and Fisheries

to operate
173 lethal drumlines

within the boundaries
of the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park.

So we had a look
at that permit and we realized

that allowing the lethal take
of apex predators

within a World Heritage Area,

Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park,

was in direct violation

of the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park's mandate

to protect the ecological
viability of the reef.

We had a look at that permit,
and we're trying to
investigate

if there was any legal
recourse we could take
to challenge that.

So we called our good friends,
the Environmental
Defenders Office,

we attempted to find
a middle ground

with Queensland Fisheries
and were unable to do so.

And that's when we learned

that within the bounds
of the Administrative Appeals
Tribunal,

we would be able
to challenge that permit.

In court,
we built our argument
around two facets.

The first of which is that
removing apex predators

from a World Heritage Area
and protected ecosystem

is not a good way to protect
that ecosystem.

And second of all,
and probably most importantly,

is that shark culling
has no impact
on swimmer safety.

The Queensland Department
of Agriculture and Fisheries'

own expert witness
admitted on the stand

that if the lethal component

of the Shark Control Program
was ended tomorrow,

it would have no impact
on swimmer safety.

We got a ten minute heads-up
from our lawyers

that the decision
was coming down.

And so it's ten minutes
of stressful waiting,

and then, when we finally
get the document
and we're reading through it,

not completely understanding
the technical jargon,

and then we're all coming
at the same time slowly
to this realization,

holy [inaudible],
we won.

Sharks caught on drumlines
will no longer be killed

but tagged and released

following a significant
court win

by environmentalists.

While the ruling is limited
to the Great Barrier Reef
for now,

experts want
the decision expanded.

[Lawrence] The tribunal
found the evidence

that shark culling
had no scientific basis

and had no proof
to be reducing the risk
of shark bite,

and that this program

was negatively
impacting the health
of the Great Barrier Reef.

They found evidence
to those points to be,
quote, "Overwhelming".

And in any other circumstance,

this would have been
a Hollywood mic drop,

end-of-the-movie moment.

[Dr. Leonardo] The Queensland
government's reaction,

I don't know
how to describe it.

It seemed very odd.

There's an opportunity
to move forward, and...

they stalled.

We need to ensure
that we're putting people
before sharks.

[man 1] The government
agrees, announcing
its plans to appeal.

[man 2] We will always
put human life first.

The community
expectations, uh,

that their beaches are kept
as safe as possible.

Since 1962,

there has been one fatality,
that says it all to me.

So Queensland
had this golden opportunity

to take this decision

and really implement
some sweeping changes
across the program

that were better gonna
protect the public,

better protect the ocean,
better protect the reef.

But instead,
they really doubled down
on their position,

and I guess
this is just indicative

of what we see all over
the world in politics today.

Politicians are doubling down

on what they said
in the beginning and digging
themselves in holes

further and further.

And shark culling
is no stranger to this.

And it'll be so important,
this federal appeal,

as in if we can win that,
we'll really give them
no other option.

[Bana] Inspite of all this,

the Queensland Government
continues to refuse

to follow the overwhelming
evidence uncovered
in this case.

Instead, simply moving
every single drumline

they were forced to remove
from the Marine Park

to just outside its borders.

At the turn of the millennium,

the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act

was introduced,

requiring any activities
harming protected species,

like the culling of great
whites, to seek approval.

Due to a loophole in the Act,
anything lawful taking place

prior to the introduction
of the Act can continue,

free from any formal
approval process,

so long as it doesn't expand.

New South Wales have held
their end of the bargain,

keeping their program
the same size,

51 beaches,
since the year 2000.

But Queensland
continues to push its luck

with the law.

They have expanded
and intensified

the Shark Control Program
significantly

in the past 20 years,

breaching the very loophole

they used to avoid
needing official approval.

And they are suffering
zero consequences.

This could well be
the next legal challenge
to culling.

[man 1 speaking indistinctly]

[man 2]
Just come back here
with that camera for a minute,

please, I haven't finished.

[man 1]
She's got certain...

[overlapping chatter]

[man 1] ...concerns about
the safety of the operation.

[man 2]
Oh, I want that camera.

[o overlapping chatter]

[man 1]
So we'll just get your names
and addresses at this stage.

And we'll get the full details
from the lady on board
the boat, okay?

[Migah Lester] Back in 1992,
on Easter Monday,

myself and two kids
from the neighborhood
were hanging out all day.

One of them,
his name was Paul Rogers.

And it was a typical hot day

in the Easter holidays
on the Gold Coast.

So we asked our parents
if we could go surfing.

They said, "Yes,"
as long as we surf

right next
to the patrol flags.

I had been surfing
the previous two weeks,

so I knew
that there was a drumline
that had been washed in.

I paddled out,

and I noticed my two friends
didn't get out of the back.

And I was a little bit older,
I was 11,

so I was thinking, "Oh, maybe
they're just struggling

to get through the little
white waters,

to get out the back."

But I drifted
into the patrol flags

where we're not allowed
to surf and I thought,

"Okay, instead of paddling
against the current,

I'll run around and see
if they're in the shore break
and I'll join them."

As I got to the beach,
I was running on the sand

and I'd seen a bunch
of lifeguards

bringing Paul in,
carrying him in.

My immediate thought
was, "Oh, wow.

Paul is helping them
with their training."

They put him down
on the ground,

and the second
they put him on the ground,
they started CPR.

The first thing I noticed was,
when I looked down at Paul,

I could see his ankle
had these

really deep, intense...

rope or cable marks

that looked like it was
wrapped around his ankle.

His eyes were open,

and the guys who were
doing CPR were crying,

and it all kind of,
like, sunk in, you know.

We're just little kids
and it's like, "Oh, my God."

It was the next morning
when I was heading
to the hospital to see him,

and he was in intensive care,
and then on the radio,

it came on
that he didn't make it.

That's something
that I'll never forget,

that I've always lived with.

I just don't...
I don't know, man. I just...

The audacity of that
Shark Control Program
or the people that run it,

to use Paul as a way
to bring in a ruling to
protect their own interests,

for them to use
his death as an excuse

to just try and stop people
investigating what's going on.

Do you know your negligence

is directly responsible
for my friend's death?

Like, directly responsible.

There's no other way
to cut it.

You put an object
in the water, it washed in,

it was there for two weeks,
and you didn't remove it.

You pass the blame
on to other people,

you pass the responsibility
to the lifeguards,

to the Surf Lifesaving Club.
You didn't get it out.

And you know, this equipment,

when it gets washed in
and buried,

you can't get your
Shark Control boats in there.

And you don't go and cut them,

like, why the hell
aren't you cutting them
and removing them?

Why are they even there
in the first place?

It just shows
where their intent lies,

it shows it's not there
for protection,

it's there
for their own intent.

I'd love to know the response

from the actual people
that are in the water.

I'd love to hear
their opinions of it,

instead of a fisherman
whose job is to go out
and kill stuff.

But what about all the rest
of us, you know?

We don't want marine animals

being caught on hooks
and wrapped in nets

off where we're surfing
and swimming.

It's like, the person
who's doing this, like,
where's your morals?

Like, where's your
heart in this?

You say you're there
to protect us, but you're not.

You're probably sitting
in an office.

You're not the one
in the lineups,

you're not the one
whose kid is surfing there.

Have you even taken
into consideration
how his mum feels?

No. She's, like,
an amazing woman
with an amazing kid.

Like, Paul was the nicest kid
you could ever meet.

And you took that away.
He'd be 38 today.

And now 22 years later,
you wanna bring a rule in
that just protects yourself.

It has no interest
in protecting anyone else.

So it really shows
what your true colors are.

[man 1]
A teenager is, tonight,
counting his lucky stars,

after coming
within centimeters
of the jaws of a shark.

He'd been surfing
off Bribie Island,
when the predator struck.

[man 2] 18 drumlines
along Bribie Island

keep the public
relatively safe,

but they can't stop
every shark.

[man 3] In Queensland,
history shows us,

and the CSIRO
has published data,

to show that in the 1930s,

there were
a considerable number
of shark bite incidences

on the Queensland coast,
including the Gold Coast.

In the 1930s, the 1940s,
the numbers were quite high.

And then the numbers
started dropping off
in the '50s and the '60s.

And since then, the numbers
have remained flat.

So the numbers
have remained flat

from before the Shark Control
Program equipment

has been deployed.

And so you can't
put a causal link
between the low numbers

and the Shark Control
Program equipment.

[Paul] More people die from
drowning around Australia.

So many more people die from
drowning around Australia

than die from sharks.

And yet, there's no
attention being brought
to the drowning problem,

only killing of sharks.

[Dr. Leonardo] When you look
at shark mitigation, you know,

just because you've been doing
something for so many years,

doesn't mean
it's the right way.

I mean, societies have changed

over a variety of issues
because cultures change,
perceptions change,

technology changes,
knowledge changes.

So when you look
at shark mitigation,

if we use the analogy
of road safety,

60 years ago, the road toll
was a lot higher.

Since then,
we've gotten better
with car technology,

ABS braking, airbags,
road education,

people getting their licenses
has improved.

We've improved our road laws,

and we've reduced
the road toll.

And guess what? We didn't
take cars off the road.

So why would shark control
be any different?

Why would we say,

"No, let's stick
to what we've been doing
for the past 60 years,

let's not move with the times,

let's not move
with technology,

let's not move with education,

let's not move
with the knowledge we get,

and still go, "Oh, yeah,
but everything's fine?"

It does not make sense.

[Jonathan] On our Gold Coast,
they're all for killing
animals in the ocean,

in the name
of their tourism industry,

'cause they seem
to be scared down there

of the day when the sharks
are going to walk out

on their fins,

on the beach,
and start biting people.

It's more discouraging
here in Australia

than it is, for example,
in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, I work with men

that spend weeks offshore
killing hundreds of sharks.

And I have more respect
for them,

because they're doing that
to feed their families.

Whereas here, we're doing it
for a false sense of comfort.

We have absolutely
no right and no excuse

to be treating our wildlife
the way that we do,

other than blind ignorance
and selfishness.

So it's far harder to respect

things that are occurring
in my own country,

and to see it
from their perspective.

We react to sharks
like they're terrorists.

When I'm in America
and someone's been
bitten by a shark,

and when I lived in Hawaii,
and someone was bitten
by a shark,

everybody's like,
"Oh, well, he knew the risks.

And this is their home,
not ours."

But in Australia,
it's so different. It's like,

"We're out for blood now.
Revenge time."

Our biggest mistake,
being public Australians

that interact with these
animals every day,

is putting our faith
in the government
to protect us,

because that is not
their goal.

And so far, they've not been
successful with that.

[Bana] Sharks aren't the
only victims of the cull.

At some beaches,
up to 97% of animals
caught in the nets

are made up of other
innocent marine life.

Whales, dolphins,
rays, turtles.

Animals that are loved
all around the world.

Animals that are on the
endangered species list.

Animals that are supposed
to be protected in our waters.

Shark culling has many
destructive, unintended
consequences

and it's mostly coming
from by-catch.

Um, whales, dolphins,
turtles, rays,

and all of these animals
are incredibly vital

to these ocean ecosystems

that are already
under so much stress.

[Madison]
So the very first time
I went out to the shark nets

was on this dodgy little
dinghy with a friend of mine

in really rough weather,
and I saw
three dead stingrays,

and it was just
this huge wake-up call of,

how on earth
is this happening

and how are people
ignoring it?

I think that the whales
being caught

is probably the only thing
that really makes the public
look at them and think,

"Oh, wow, that's terrible."

And since then,
I've had the opportunity

to go out there and see
the damage they're doing

off our coastline a lot more.

So it's been one
of the hardest things

that I've ever had to come up
against in conservation
as well,

because you're dealing
with something people think
protects them.

If you could see
all the other stuff
caught in them,

it's insane.

[groaning]

[squeaking and grunting]

[squeaking and grunting
continue]

[Holly] The day that I found
a humpback whale

caught in a shark net

was possibly one
of the worst days of my life.

To see this animal
that we see on our coastlines,

breaching and slapping
and playing,

and to see one
physically wrapped in a net

in just silence there, um,

doing a behavior
that obviously
I've never seen before,

it was just,

it was hopeless,
and it was just sitting there,

um, just able to breathe
on the surface.

So getting in the water
with that whale

was the first time
I've ever swam with a whale.

And it was just still,

and it would just
come up for breaths
every now and then.

And I remember
the rope just being

entangled around its face,
rubbing on its eye,

and there was nothing
I could have done.

It was physically exhausted.

You could see,
along the dorsal fin,
along the spine,

it was cut in, bleeding.

And just looking
at its face as well,

just being completely
entangled in that net,
was really horrible to see.

And it was one
of those moments

where you wanted
to get closer
to look at it more,

but at the same time,
this animal is
highly stressed.

Humpback whales will migrate
past this coastline

every year during winter.

And they basically will go up

to the Northern Great
Barrier Reef,

give birth to their young
and migrate down south,

and they're doing this
on a limited budget of energy.

So there's no food sources

along this coastline
for these guys.

And it's very important
for them

to use their energy wisely

and if they are
entangled in a net,

that takes a lot of energy,
a lot of stress.

We never found our target
species in the shark nets.

And the rest
were all by-catch.

That takes a toll on you
as well,

because you're in the water
filming these animals.

We're mentally prepared
for the by-catch,

but nowhere near as much
as what we actually found.

So that was something
that really sort of hit home,

is realizing that
we were finding animals

that we didn't think
that we would find.

I've had the experience
of listening to the
footage afterwards

where I've, uh,

I've been the captain
on the boat.

I was managing the operation.

I have this dedicated crew
of people who,

by the nature
of what we're doing,

these are people
who care deeply
about everything that we do

and about every one
of those individual animals.

And, um...

I've had to listen
to the responses of my divers.

[diver crying]

When I look
at that footage afterwards,

I might not know
what's going on underwater,

except for what I'm told.

But when I listen to a diver
crying underwater, um...

When I listened to a diver
spontaneously apologize

to the animals under there,

it gets me

when I'm sitting there
in my living room,
watching it on a computer,

to try and get
that message out.

How do we do that,
uh, effectively?

Uh, and how do I
look after my crew

when we're doing that?

And we're not just
doing it once.

We're doing it again
and again and again.

[Bana] By baiting and trapping
marine animals

with only
intermittent checking,

nets and drumlines

are creating
a floating seafood buffet

for our apex predators.

There's evidence to show
that because of this,

these measures are luring
large sharks closer to shore

for an easy meal.

Given the proven
ineffectiveness

of these measures

in the first place,

logic tells us
that we have to question

how safe
this is really keeping us.

There's always a bigger,
hungrier fish out there.

Do we really want to be
enticing them to our beaches?

[Holly] Through our findings,
we found animals

that were there
for more than a week,

that had fully started
to decompose.

The chemicals and the smells
are leeching into the water

from the entanglements,

and same goes
for the baited drumlines.

You're gonna be luring sharks
closer to shore.

[man] So let's go back
to putting baited hooks

just off the surf break,
just off the swimming beaches.

Does that actually make sense?

[Paul] I've actually worked
with the DPI

in New South Wales
on their SMART drumlines

for a very brief period
of time.

And these drumlines
are attracting sharks in.

Now, they said they wouldn't,

but when I was
out there on the boat,

we caught two great whites
on the same hook

within a matter of minutes.

And this was half a kilometer
from a popular swimming beach.

So what does that tell you

about what these drumlines
are attracting

to their baited hooks?

[Holly] Not only is it
the deceased animals

that are luring sharks
close to shore.

The stressed animals,
sharks can sense that.

They can sense
the vibrations and pulses

through their sensory system,
that there is an animal
in distress

that could potentially
be a prey item.

So if it's dead or alive,

any animal
caught in a shark net,

a shark passing by

is most likely
going to come over

and be curious
about what's in this net.

And through the entanglement
that I witnessed at Noosa
the other day,

those beaches are not cleared.

Now I'll tell you,
at Noosa,

we know that there was
a large shark under that net.

And of course,

an injured, stressed animal
is going to be an attractant
for that predator.

Was the beach cleared?
No, it wasn't.

When that wire was left
at Bilinga Beach,

on the sea floor
after it died,
were the beaches cleared?

Was there an education program
put in place?

No, there wasn't.

Uh, there was one particular
time where we found

a shovelnose ray
caught in the bottom

of the Surfers Paradise net
on the Gold Coast.

And this ray had humongous
bite marks out of it.

So this large shovelnose ray
was about two to three meters.

We checked all the nets
on the Gold Coast that day

and there was no shark
in any of the shark nets,

and that raises the question

that this animal
was caught in this net,

the shark had managed
to maneuver around the net

without becoming
entangled in it.

[man] A monster shark
measuring more than
five meters

is lurking
off North Stradbroke Island.

The Bligh government's
released photos

showing how it mauled
another large white pointer.

[woman] Like a bit of bait
on a hook,

the predator,
which became a meal

for an even bigger shark,

after being caught
on a drumline

about half an hour
from where Sarah Whiley

was killed by a shark
at Amity,

the state government's
take on it

is that we should be happy
the Shark Control Program's
doing its job,

catching the smaller shark
in the first place.

But what about the monster
which feasted on it?

When you tell people
that an area is safer,

when you haven't indeed
made it safer,

that leads human beings
to make decisions,

to do things
they feel confident
there's less risk in,

and there may be more risk.

It leads people
to take extra risk.

I learned to surf
just there, at Manly Beach,

right there
in the southern corner
in front of the surf club.

My dad was a clubbie
at Manly Surf Club.

My older brother Jason
is a surfer.

Any girl that grows up
with an older brother surfing,

they wanna do it
with them, too.

I can honestly say
I do it a little bit better
than my brother.

[Tom]
So the ocean is kind of
like a spiritual home for me.

My mother gave me a surfboard
just before she passed away.

So in essence, that surfboard
took me into the ocean,

so the ocean has been
kind of holding me

and the surfboard's been
holding me since,

in a way, that, um...

Yeah, I don't know.
It's hard to explain it.

It's definitely
an on-the-moment thing,

that the ocean just tells us

how to actually
be really present with her.

And I think that's why
I kind of go back to her,

because she just absolutely
demands all my attention.

[Layne] When I'm out here
at Freshwater, for example,

and I talk to local surfers,
and I ask them,

"What's your position
on sharks

and shark mitigation,"

one of them said to me today,

"See no evil, hear no evil,
speak no evil."

I'm seven times
world champion surfer

and chair
of Surfing Australia,

and I completely understand

that the minute
I immerse myself in the water,

I'm immersing myself
into their environment,
their domain,

and you have to accept
that they're a predator.

I feel that that mentality
is widely respected

around the world
in most surfers.

I can't speak
on behalf of every surfer,

but I know from
my individual perspective,

I recognize that there is
an inherent risk

every time I enter the water.

I do what I can
to mitigate that risk,

but I'm also willing
to take that risk.

My desire to surf
is unwavering,

irrespective of whether
there's nets there or not.

Having traveled the world
as a professional surfer,

I've surfed
in countless oceans

and countless surf spots
where I know there aren't nets

and that has never affected
my choice to go surfing

or my decision to go surfing.

[Tom] I take personal
responsibility anytime.

I think that's our...

I hope that's our culture
here in Australia, you know.

I hope to think
every Australian
can think like this.

To be honest,
I've been surfing

for, what, 51 years now.

And while surfing,
I may have seen...

five sharks.

Not just surfing part-time.
[laughs]

That's surfing a lot.

In remote areas
around this country

where you're gonna see sharks.

When we look at the shark,

which has been around here
for millions of years,

it's literally a dinosaur,

it may appear to us to be
a really dangerous creature

and bring up a lot of fear.

I've had first-hand
experience with that.

I looked him straight
in the eye. Big sharks.

And they've had, uh, a kind
of response to me like,

"Hmm, that person's
a predator, too."

[Layne]
There's a very low chance
of being bitten by a shark.

Like, the chances
are very slim, very slender.

You have a higher incidence
of being hit by a car

or stung by a bee
and dying from that

than you do a shark attack.

I'm a believer and an advocate
for coexisting.

Uh, we know, as ocean lovers,

that once we immerse
ourselves in the ocean,

we're going
into a shark domain,

and we have to recognize
that that is one of the risks

that we're willing to accept.

Given we know
what we know today,

it is absolutely archaic

that we're relying
on a program

that was devised in 1930.

When I think
about culling programs,

I just think it must come
from a lack of education

and a cultural belief.

So if you really wanna
truly educate yourself,

get off your board
and dive underneath

and spend some time
on the bottom.

[Tom] We're
sophisticating ourselves

in so many areas now.

We've got a lot
of great technologies

and they just
keep on evolving.

We've got to tap into that,

and so we can live with nature
because we are nature.

If we can use technology

to actually create
that scenario,

I think that's ideal.

[water splashing]

I think New South Wales,

the shark management
program here

and the shark
management strategy

is in very much
a transition phase.

And it has been
for probably a decade now,

where it's moving away
from lethal controls

like shark nets
and lethal drumlines.

So SMART drumlines have been
used for a few years down here

in New South Wales.

A SMART drumline
is very similar

to a traditional drumline.

It's a baited hook
on a floating buoy

about 500 meters off shore.

The differences is that
this has a GPS transceiver

that sends a message
to a satellite

once an animal is hooked,

that sends another message
down to the contractor,

who can race out there,

uh, preferably or hopefully
within about 30 minutes

of an animal being caught.

Um, if it's a
non-target animal,

it's released
on the spot immediately.

And if it is a target shark,

um, it can be tagged
and relocated.

So there's a smartphone app
along with Shark Smart

that will send people
a message, who have the app,

when a tagged shark
comes within the vicinity
of a listening station.

What it does is
it's changing attitudes.

It's allowing people
the option,

who want to choose a place
to bring their family,

or for them
to enjoy the ocean,

it allows them
to look on their phone,

see if there's a shark
sighted in that area,

and it allows them to make
that decision independently

and bring some of that
responsibility home.

And I think that change
of attitude

is very, very important
for us to start

not relying so much
on the government

making decisions for us,
but providing information

so that we can make those
informed decisions on our own.

We are still concerned about
animal welfare of sharks

and other animals being caught
on the SMART drumlines

and how healthy they are
once they're released.

[Madison] We're not the only
country with this issue.

There are countries
all around the world

that are tackling
it differently.

And when you look
at those systems,

it's insane to think
that we haven't started
doing that here yet.

There are systems getting
worked on in Australia

and all around the world
to protect people

against this very issue
of shark attacks,

and some of them
are far more effective,

provenly effective

than what we have here
right now.

[Bana] Right here
in Australia,

and in other places
around the world,

we are developing
less destructive

and more effective technology

to protect us
while enjoying our oceans.

Solutions that actually
protect people

and have no unintended
side effects,

establishing a safer future
for both humans

and sharks to coexist.

So we started out
very early on

in a lot of the New South
Wales Government trials,

and just seeing if drones
could actually be used

to spot sharks
and how we could
use that for mitigation.

So from very early phases
through to working out,

like, if it could be used

to developing standard
operating procedures,
at what heights,

um, and what we could
actually see,

then we've sort of developed
with that program.

Lifeguards literally have them
on the beach now as a tool,

so helping develop
their training packages

and their procedures
in there as well.

Just after a few months
of starting,

I noticed, starting
to read comments online

like, "Oh, we should to go
to this beach.

They have drone shark
surveillance and lifeguards."

There's definitely
different technologies
that are coming along.

There's a few different
companies working with it.

Australia is definitely
leading the way in this.

I think drone
technology is here.

Like right now,
let's just use it.

Look, the way
the technology works

is actually
ridiculously simple.

Um, sharks
have the same senses
that we have to find food.

So sight, sound, and smell,

but they also have
these little electrical
receptors in their snout

called Ampullae of Lorenzini,

they're little
gel-filled sacs.

Now every living creature
gives off an electric field.

And so you might see
in a nature video

a stingray swimming
along the sandy bottom

and then digging down
and finding a crab.

They found that crab

because of the electrical
field coming off the crab.

So you can see how sensitive
these things are.

And so what you do
is you get two electrodes,

you run a current
between the two electrodes,

and it creates
an electrical field

that's thousands
of times stronger

than what the shark
would expect to experience.

The shark comes near it,

causes the gel-filled sacs
to spasm, turns away.

Exactly the same
as if I shine a bright light

in your face, in your eyes,
you would just take turn away.

The eyes are over sensitized.

So it doesn't harm the shark.
The shark can leave the area.

So the University
of Western Australia,

what they did is they got
the diving product.

They put a bait canister
on the device,

they took it to South Africa,

they had 322 interactions
with the bait.

43 different
great white sharks,

and only one shark
bumped the bait

when it was on.

When it was turned off,
the sharks would come in

and bite the bait
all the time.

So, amazingly successful.

So the diving product

is the one that's
been around the longest.

It was developed in the '90s.

The surfboard product
is on generation number two,

and it's been around
for quite a while as well now.

[Juan] For me,
as a surfer,

I would utilize
every type of device

that I could
to make it safer for me.

When you're going
to extreme areas

where you know there
is predators, uh,

hunting in that area,
it's use what you can.

[Dr. Sara Andreotti]
The Shark Safe Barrier
is a new technology

that is designed
to simply keep large sharks

separated from people.

We've been observing
white sharks

hunting around
thick forest of kelp

for quite a while in Gansbaai
in South Africa,

and Cape fur seals
are actually utilizing

the thick kelp to hide
from shark's predation.

The Shark Safe Barrier
comes from the combination

of two very well-known
shark deterrents.

One is the visual appearance
of a thick forest of kelp

that have been proved
to be avoided by large sharks.

We suspect that is
because they want to prevent

getting entangled in,
uh, thick forest of kelp.

So by presenting the shark

with something that they
naturally recognize
as a barrier

is a big plus.

They know
they have to avoid it.

Then the second part
of the technology

that is a shark deterrent
are large ceramic magnets.

The magnetism overwhelms
the sixth sense of the shark

and acts as a deterrent.

We tested it by putting chum
on one side of the barrier,

a food source that the shark
can recognize as such,

to try and convince
the shark to swim through it.

But none of the experiments
we did,

any of the sharks
actually crossed the pipes.

It is shark-specific.

Every other marine animal
can just swim through it,

and it is designed
to protect surfers.

There are other
eco-friendly systems

that can keep swimmers
separated from sharks,

but compared
to the Shark Safe,

they have the limitation
of being deployable only

in very calm weather.

While the Shark Safe Barrier,
once it's installed,

it's designed to stay there.

We can put it in deep water,
we can put it behind surfers,

to protect their back
as they're surfing.

We are really, really trying
as hard as we can

to have a minimal impact
to the environment

by providing
a solution that is safe

for both the marine life

and the people
using the beach.

[Jonathan]
We could trail these
technologies concurrently

with the current Shark Control
Program over a season,

learn how to operate it,

give people the reassurance
that we're putting in
these non-lethals,

monitor, do the science
on the non-lethals

while you're doing it.

You know, for example,

have the drone technology

and record how often
you see sharks,

how often you make people
safer by bringing them in

to the beach,

and then tracking shark
and knowing when
you put them back out.

Let's do that science.

Do it while the nets
and drumlines are still
there for a season.

There is a political answer
for you

that gives us a transition

to a non-lethal
shark control program,

which I've gotta tell you,

if we are concerned
about tourism in this state,

progressive
and positive messages

about the way we treat
our wildlife

is going to be paramount.

[Madison]
The way that we treat
animals off our coastline,

the way that we walk around
like we own the ocean here,

most countries
would be absolutely ecstatic

to have the kind
of wildlife that we do,

and we just abuse
that privilege so much.

We ignore it as well.

And I always remember
being in school

and we had people come
talk to us about snakes,

we had people come
talk to us about drugs,

and we had people
come talk to us about
all kinds of things.

We had surf life savers
come talk to us about rips.

But nobody taught us
about sharks.

[Layne]
Education is key.

And if we're uneducated,

then we tend
to just be ignorant.

And then we just go
with what we're told.

And unfortunately,
we're being told lies,

we're being told...

We're actually
being fed bullshit

around what is feasible,

what's a feasible way
to mitigate the risk.

There are wonderful
alternatives to culling,

and I think that that starts

with education
in the community

on what they
as individual citizens can do

to avoid an adverse
interaction,

and educating them about

where it might be
safer to swim,

maybe employing
more lifesavers

who would actually
save a lot more lives

than these culling practices,

which are probably
more endangering lives.

As a surfer, swimmer,
diver, and ocean-goer,

there are things
that you can do to avoid
an adverse interaction,

reduce your chances
of encountering a shark.

And that's looking around
and being aware.

Actually turning
your body around.

And factoring in
environmental conditions

like your proximity to other
marine animals, runoff,

rivers, stream outlets,
fishermen, fishing harbors,

and minimizing splashing
on the surface,

and bright fluorescent colors
that make you stand out

amongst everything else.

The Shark Control Program,
or basically stopping culling,

is one thing that we can do
relatively quick,

that will reduce
some of the pressure

that sharks face.

In order to, I suppose,
formally make a decision

and then enact that decision,
um, that in itself takes time.

But we're hoping that sooner
rather than later, especially,

you know, for people
who do use the water,

sooner rather than later,

effective safety measures
are put in place.

[Lawrence] So there are shark
advocates everywhere.

I think anyone who's fortunate
enough, as I have been,

to be able to spend
sometime in the water

with some of these animals,

they'll all tell you what
a spiritual experience it is.

And you see their behavior,

and you see the thoughtfulness
behind their eyes.

And anyone that's been
able to experience that

immediately becomes
a shark advocate.

You just cannot help it.

[Juan] Kind of turning
that fear into a fascination

and that fascination
into, like, a healthy respect

to wanna do something
to help protect them.

Especially once
you hear the information.

And I'm hoping that
can be an infective thing,

where other people
will do the same thing

that I did, basically.

And that's what I'm trying
to do with my photography.

It's just showing
that we can coexist,

that we can share the same
waters with these animals

and that we need
these animals.

Like, most people
just don't know the truth.

And if they did,
I have to feel like

they would make changes

in the way that
they consume things

and the way
that they would actually

vote with their dollar
or even just with a voice,

just speaking up
for these animals.

They need it now
more than ever.

I mean, if those studies
are even remotely close,

and 5% of the world's shark
population is all we got left,

then there's never
a more important time
to act than right now.

Every time
we enter the ocean,

we're taking
our life in our hands,

because it is not
our backyard swimming pool.

Everything we do
to control nature

has a domino effect
that ripples down onto us.

So we have to take care
of this environment,

we have to treasure our sharks

and understand exactly
what it is they do

to keep their ecosystem
in check.

I hope that more people's
eyes will be open

to the importance
of sharks, their plight,

and that people
will join together

and do something
to help protect them.

Just like what was done
for the protection of whales

and many marine animals
and cetaceans

and even turtles
around the world.

And I think that
I see the change already,

especially with
the influence of media

and different companies
getting on board
and getting involved.

Your voice matters,
you know,

especially 'cause
you don't know

what kind of chain reaction
it's gonna have.

You don't know what kind
of seed it's gonna plant,

and, you know, the politicians
and the big businesses

will listen to the masses.

Start. Don't think that
you can't make a difference
because you can.

[Madison] The shark nets
are the one thing

that I have never
successfully dented.

It's just an insane enemy
to be up against.

So I've always been
at war with them

throughout my entire life.

It's probably one
of the biggest wars

in shark conservation

because it is such
a delicate issue.

It is just off our coastline,

but it's so hidden
from the public.

Making that awareness
possible is really difficult.

And dealing
with people's mentalities
is really difficult.

So I don't know.

It's always been
a huge challenge to me,

and I feel pretty confident
in what I've been able to do

for sharks around the world,

but here,
it's one of those things

that I think I'll be battling
for the rest of my life.

[Bana] Humans have shared
the oceans with these animals

for a mere fraction of their
450-million-year existence.

Sharks are the ultimate
apex predators.

They have survived and
adapted throughout ice ages,

heat waves,
and mass extinctions,

to be the perfectly
evolved creatures

we share our oceans
with today.

But there is one
mass extinction

they are struggling
to survive.

The one our arrogance,
entitlement, and fear
is fueling.

There are positive
changes being made,

driven by a dedicated few,
but we need more voices.

At this point in our history,

we know that we must
protect them,

not just for them to survive,
but for our own survival.

Sharks will survive
just fine without us,

but we cannot survive
without them.

For their future and ours,

we must become their envoy.

[dramatic music playing]

-Save the sharks.
-Save the sharks.

[man] Thousands held
protests in Melbourne
and Perth on Saturday.

They called on the
Western Australian Government

to abandon
the shark culling plan

announced last month.

Six people have been
killed by sharks

and several more attacked
in the local waters

since September 2011.

That's gonna target
large sharks

including, uh, the vulnerable
great white shark,

and we believe it's 2014
and we're beyond that now.

[man] Under the plan,
baited drumlines would be
set off local beaches

to catch great white sharks,

tiger, and bull sharks
bigger than three meters.

Protesters claim
killing sharks

would devastate
the marine ecosystem.

[woman] The protests grew
from hundreds to thousands.

It's their water!

[all] Stop the slaughter!

Please just change
the policy.

[woman] Some protesters
went too far

with death threats
against the premier
and fisheries minister

and abuse
for contract fishermen.

But even shark victims
didn't like the drumlines.

Killing animals
isn't the greatest idea.