3.Is spear fishing common among marine conservationists?
Some wouldn't condone it but I see it as a way to engage with the environment and respect the animal I'm harvesting. Spear fishing is hard. You're not just dropping hooks. You have to be fit and use all your knowledge and skills. You only take one fish and you fully utilise every part of it. I love to share my catch so people get a taste of what is so cool about the marine ecosystem. I think we've disengaged with our emotional connection to nature, which will be to our demise.
4.Should we eat fish from the supermarket?
I don't. Globally we're fishing too hard right now and in the wrong ways like trawling. Science suggests there will be no fish left by 2048.
5.What tips do you give people free diving with sharks?
Don't do it without a professional! But eye contact is the number one rule. Sharks are an ambush predator so looking at them takes away that element of surprise. Clear water is important for visibility and the third thing is remaining calm and not acting like prey. I've swum with over 39 species including great whites, tiger sharks and bull sharks. They've been commercially free diving with sharks in Fiji for the last 10-15 years and no one's been eaten - likewise in Hawaii and South Africa. It's a really strong conservation tool because you take away this Jaws mentality of sharks as mindless killers.
6.Growing up in Hamilton, did you always want to be a scientist?
I was always the "nature boy" in my family. They're very academic - Dad's a doctor, mum was a laboratory technician, my sister and brothers are lawyers and doctors. I'd be the one catching lizards in the gully. I said I'd never work in an office. Ironically scientists spend a lot of time in the office so I'm trying to craft a career where I get to communicate the fun stuff out in the field.
7.When did you decide to study sharks?
When I was studying dolphins in Fiordland, I was scuba diving alone when out of the depth a shark swam straight up at me. I shat myself and boosted to the surface, breaking all the rules, then laughed as this harmless 1m school shark swam past. I was curious about where that fear came from so I took an internship to study great whites in South Africa.
8.Why do sharks need protecting?
Ninety per cent of the global shark population has been removed in the last 30 years. Sharks are apex predators and we need lots of them to keep our fisheries and marine ecosystem healthy. People used to think the ocean was a food triangle with little fish at the bottom, some bigger fish and a few big guys at the top. Science has shown it's actually the opposite. You need lots of sharks to force smaller fish to reproduce quickly so only the strong survive. More sharks actually mean more fish.
9.What's the answer?
We need to follow Fiji and make sharks worth more alive than dead. Ecotourism provides $10 million a year in Palau where all commercial fishing was banned. The fish population is overflowing.
10.How did you come to be the face of New Zealand's anti-shark finning campaign?
During my PhD research into blue sharks I discovered New Zealand was one of the world's top 10 exporters of shark fins. We were chopping the fins off 80,000 blue sharks a year and dumping their bodies back in the sea. I needed to act quickly before there were no more sharks left. Very few people read scientific articles - they get their information from TV and social media. A group of like-minded people formed the NZ Shark Alliance and I was one of their scientific voices in the media. As soon as Kiwis had the facts, they were all over it.
11.Shark finning was banned in New Zealand last year. Has it made a difference?
We'll have to wait and see. It's like the Wild West out there. What happens offshore stays offshore. Blue shark are the major by-catch of the tuna fishery - almost every second hook has a blue shark on it. Right now fishermen can pull that shark on board, kill it just to get the hook back and throw the dead shark back in the ocean. We're saying the lines should be cut outside the boat so the shark can survive. But losing every second hook will cost a fisherman time and money. The Government should subsidise that loss. It's not that much money. We're talking a hundred grand to improve the health of the fishery.
12.What's your ultimate goal?
I want to develop an institute in NZ that uses eco-tourism to fund intern-driven conservation research aligned with NZ universities. Such a dream requires big corporates to get involved. South Africa's Oceans Research Station, where I worked, educates thousands of internationals a year, and cage diving in SA injects $100 million a year to the local economy. People are more likely to protect sharks if they have an emotional connection to them.
Shark Man is on Choice TV, Saturdays at 7pm or on demand.
Riley Elliott speaks at the Tauranga Arts Festival on October 24 and 25 - taurangafestival.co.nz
