Humans only protect what they love. So how could we expect people to rally behind a campaign to save these widely feared and misunderstood creatures from the brink of extinction?
In recent years, it has been estimated that as many as one million mako sharks are caught every year by these largely unmanaged, and sometimes illegal, fisheries.
Churning up waves around our small boat, the sharks came in hard and fast, all teeth and adrenaline.
This imposing creature was not a mindless man-eater. She was intelligent, highly evolved, and selective.
Until this encounter, in over two decades of investigative storytelling, with countless hours filming sharks across all of the oceans, I had never once encountered a single live mako shark.
We needed to reveal the true nature of these magnificent creatures and the unique connection between human and shark, and to raise a rallying cry that would highlight the urgency to protect them.
Unsettling images I had photographed too many times flashed through my mind: the fins laid out, thousands upon thousands, across so many blood-soaked market floors.
I jumped with joy as tears of relief ran down my face. “WE DID IT!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
Mako are just one of countless animals facing an existential threat. Unbelievably, right now, we are losing more than 200 species every single day.