A PLEA FOR PREY – 4.5 stars

When passion meets film, it can be a remarkable thing. Such is the case with Sharkwater, director and star Rob Stewart’s heartfelt plea to save the world’s sharks.
Gorgeously filmed using HD technology, wildlife photographer and biologist Stewart takes the viewer below the surface of the world’s oceans to reveal its beauty and to dispute the reputation of one of man’s most feared animals-the shark.

Despite their “man-eating” tag, Stewart argues sharks are key to maintaining the sea’s ecological balance and our own survival as a species.

Stewart spent more than four years diving with sharks, documenting their dwindling numbers at the hands of illegal fishermen. The animals, are often still alive and tossed back into the sea—all for their fins which are used in shark-fin soup, a high-priced Asian delicacy.

The footage of the slaughter is distressing and eye-opening and enough to make a viewer take up the cause to join Stewart’s efforts to protect them. But this spectacular study of an endangered species is more than a visually-stunning nature film, it is a high-action drama filled with edge-of-your-seat tense moments: including a stand-off with a shark fishing boat in Costa Rica that leads to Stewart’s arrest as well as his own brush with death when he is diagnosed with flesh-eating disease.

This is a truly powerful film and a must-see for anyone concerned with the plight of the oceans, and our world.