Film Brings Costa Rica Marine Life to the Big Screen
Written by Claire
Costa Rica Wildlife — Photo courtesy of Sharkwater
Sharkwater, a recently released documentary filmed with high-definition cameras in the Pacific Ocean near Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands and 13 other countries, is making waves in the movie industry and has already received 22 International Film awards.
Narrated and filmed by shark-lover Rob Stewart, the movie affords beautiful shots of the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with the goal of addressing the misconception of sharks as blood-thirsty, man-eating creatures. The story focuses on the little-addressed problem of “shark finning”, and other mass fishing processes that senselessly kill huge amounts of fish and sea life. Both practices lead to unbalanced eco-systems that could have even greater negative effects.
Stewart, a passionate 26-year-old Canadian, argues that no effort is made to protect the declining shark populations because of the negative reputation they have in society. While massive projects have been constructed to save other animals in danger of extinction, in the wake of a 90% decline in international shark populations, little to nothing has been done.
The film reports that 15,000 sharks will have been killed from the moment viewers start to watch it, until it finishes 89 minutes later. The reason for their value: soup. In many Asian countries, shark fin soup can be worth over $200, which makes ordering the flavorless meat a status symbol.
As the rest of a shark is invaluable in comparison to the fins, the fishermen will dispose of the rest of the shark in the ocean, where it is unable to swim and dies.
Despite laws against the practice, the movie uncovers a web of corruption linked to the Taiwanese mafia who has reportedly given upwards of $90 million to the city of Puntarenas, Costa Rica to turn a blind eye to the process. The movie also documents protests in the streets of Puntarenas to challenge this cruel practice that has serious consequences.
The crew get into more than they bargained for when they are held in a Costa Rican jail, charged with attempted murder and chased by a Guatemalean gun boat for harrassing illegal shark fishermen, and Stewart catches a flesh-eating disease. All of this added to their compeling effort to bring attention to this black market practice and make people see sharks as victims rather than senseless killers.
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Filed under: Costa Rican Wildlife on November 29th, 2007
[…] Part of the illegal fishing problem was highlighted in the recent controversial documentary, “Sharkwater”. This revealing film sparked a local and global movement which aims to stop shark finning. Other […]