Jim Abernethy
My first interview in shark conservation as a journalist could not have been with a cooler human. Our biography covering Abernethy’s work is here, while a glimpse of his cinematography work is found on Netflix’s “Tales by Light: Misunderstood Predators.” I was delighted to speak to Jim over the phone. In the end, we spoke for over two hours over two days, and he provided plenty of inspirational content that has made writing this interview a lot of fun. We spoke again on Instagram-live, which can be seen here.
Credit: Jim Abernethy
Jim is an accomplished cinematographer whose peers speak highly of him. Eric Cheng, one of Abernethy’s best friends, claims that “Jim redefines eccentric”. According to Jim, it is “most definitely true in everything I do.” This description was evident from the first few minutes of the phone call, with Jim claiming “People interviewing me for the first time probably think that I’m regular shark conservationist just trying to save the sharks. That is actually true but in a much better way than you would think because my focus is not just sharks, it’s the whole planet.”
Would you like to briefly introduce yourself with a story to those unfamiliar?
“I grew up swimming in the ocean with sharks. I did not know that they were dangerous until I saw movies like Jaws. After seeing these movies I always thought, why did they do that sharks are not like that at all. I knew that my calling here on the planet was to show the world sharks true nature, with the hopes that they would fall in love with them and save them like I am. ”
“In the 80s (I am 62) I started running shark trips all over the Caribbean. In the early 90s, I learned how shark fin soup decimates shark populations worldwide”.
It was here that Jim had an epiphany.
“In the end, no one is gonna know I ran an ecotourism business, and I wanted a legacy where people would say ‘Wow, that guy was a great conservationist, who walked the walk’. Very few people actually walk the walk.
“Basically, at this point in the early 90s, I decided I needed to get serious about saving sharks. At the time, I was the only one that I knew saying that sharks aren’t dangerous at all and that you can swim with them every day without being eaten. In the late 90s, I evaluated my time and realized that I spent most of my time flying, preparing for diving with sharks. An extraordinarily small smidgen of my time was actually in the water with sharks. I figured I had to change that.”
In 1998, Jim purchased a live-aboard dive vessel with the hopes that he could get really serious about conservation and live with sharks at sea. Since then, Jim has spent 25 days a month running shark trips back-to-back.
“To this day there isn’t a single person on this planet that lives with sharks (even one year) yet I am here 24/7. I have more experience with sharks in the wild than literally anyone else.”
What was your plan to save the shark?
“I came up with a plan, my goal is to change the perception of sharks worldwide. I follow exactly what Jack Cousteau says ‘we only protect what we love’. If you know sharks as I do, you’ll love sharks and want to protect sharks.”
Jim’s inspirational plan originates in his ‘shotgun approach’.
“I am going to make a list of all the different things that I can do to change the perception of sharks worldwide, and then I’m gonna do all of them extremely well. I thought OK, I need to make a bunch of films, but the problem is the number one dive site for large predatory sharks is inaccessible. That problem was taken care of in 1998. I became the world’s first large-predatory-shark-cageless-encounters business. I have had no problems because sharks don’t eat people. Have we had mistakes? Yes. But if you add up the time that we’ve been in the water, 6-9 hours a day for 22 years, 25 days a month, shark diving is safe.”
“Using my shotgun approach, I became an author, a photographer, publisher, cinematographer, and conservationist whose images and films are represented by National Geographic.”
Jim has won multiple awards for all of these categories.
Being in the presence of an esteemed shark conservationist, I start with questions about sharks.
Sharks
Credit: Jim Abernethy
From living at sea all this time, is there anything you’ve discovered?
“Even after moving to the sea to swim with sharks daily, I never thought I would discover that sharks are sentient creatures. Sharks feel pain and pleasure. I use this knowledge to help convert shark enthusiasts into hardcore shark conservationists”.
“I do not know of a single person that teaches anyone how to make friends with any predator. Yet, I’m telling you that I do that every single day with groups of people on my trips to tiger beach, to the point that the new shark friend follows their new human friend around in order to get love and affection. I use love and affection, not fish, in order to teach divers this.”
“So, isn’t it strange how the animal that people are the most afraid of is the one being used as the first predator that you can make friends with? You can befriend a shark in less than a day. Isn’t that ironic?”
Why do sharks ignore human blood?
“No species of shark on planet earth look at humans as a food source, nor do they target humans as a food source, and they most definitely do not alter their behavior in any way around human blood”.
“I say this confidently because I was bitten very badly while I was in the water with 12 guests. And got out of the water with a lot of my blood in the water, and the shark behavior did not change at all.”
“In fact, some of the open-mouthed lemon shark shots I’ve taken included the use of fresh bleeding fish. One drop of fish blood sends sharks into a minor frenzy, they can feel the electrical stimulus and the vibration. I use this so the shark will open its mouth maybe 20 times a minute. Without it, I am blessed if a shark opens its mouth once a minute”
In your opinion, what is the main role of sharks?
“The main role of the sharks in the ecosystem is to keep the ocean healthy and in balance. Sharks do this by eating eat the dead, the dying, the diseased, and for-lack-of-a-better-term the dumb. You could be a brilliant parrotfish, but if you scratch yourself against the coral you made a stupid mistake of cutting yourself and sharks will take you out.”
“Therefore, the role of the shark in the ecosystem is to remove the animals that could cause infections and sicken other reef fish. Shark feeding behavior is similar to vultures and other decomposers on land.”
“Considering that over 50% of the air we breath and 75% of the protein we eat comes from or indirectly from the ocean, it is imperative that we let these animals do their job”.
Are sharks dangerous?
“Yes! They are, their meat contains high levels of mercury.”
“Contrary to the misconception of sharks in popular culture, there is no such thing as a shark attack, it doesn’t exist. Rather, what happens is a shark mistake. The proof is in what happens: If it was an attack, the predator would have finished the prey, and that simply isn’t happening.”
“It is true, over the last 30 years, that roughly just under seven people die per year from that individual bite. However, the unlucky encounter is always a case of bite and release. Therefore, the shark attack files are actually misnamed, they should be called the shark mistake files.”
“If you look at the statistics, sharks bite an average of roughly 80 people per year worldwide. Domestic dogs bite people in the United States every 40 seconds, resulting in 16-20 deaths per year. The cow kills 20 people per year in the United States. The wild deer kills 135 people per year. 1,600 people per year get bitten by other people in the state of New York (insurance claims).”
“Sharks are one of the safest animals to be with because they quite simply do not target humans as a food source”.
Are Hammerheads the most evolved hunters?
“My analogy for the hammerhead shark is the most highly sophisticated fighter jet, the F-22 raptor. The hammerhead is the most highly evolved, highly sophisticated shark on the planet. Tied for second-longest predatory shark, at 7 meters (the great white shark), is the great hammerhead shark. Hammerheads are one of the most recent sharks relatively, appearing 20 million years ago.”
“To me, when I brief my guests, I explain that the hammerhead is the smartest of all sharks, in my opinion. The good and the bad of that is that the photographers that want an up-close picture, your lens will not be wide enough. The sharks will be much closer than you are anticipating because they are not afraid of anything. They are incredibly intelligent and know that humans are not food to them.”
What is your favorite shark species?
“My answer to this question is going to be different than any other shark person because while they would name species, I will name an individual. This is because any other shark person doesn’t know a shark well enough to label them. I know probably 100 sharks by name”.
Many of Jim’s friends were in ‘Tales by Light: Misunderstood Predators’ Unfortunately Emma the tiger shark, his favorite individual, was not around.
What are the keys to understanding shark personalities?
“Maximum time in the water, being non-confrontational and becoming part of their ecosystem. Spend enough time in the water so the sharks ignore you.”
“In other words, when you initially jump into the water, the shark is naturally afraid of you. It takes quite a bit of time for a shark to relax and not worry about you. Imagine if you could reverse the roles, and suddenly a vertical shark in scuba gear smashes into your living room. You are an alien to sharks.”
“How long does it take for a shark to lower its guard? Well, that comes with trust.”
Trust is universal in the animal kingdom, and it takes time to develop.
What is your opinion on catatonic immobility?
“In the early days, maybe 30 years ago-25 years ago, I did use catatonic immobility to remove hooks. This technique is very good for removing shark hooks. However, I stopped doing catatonic immobility because I saw my friends, who were watching me, trying it themselves.”
“One of my friends nearly got bit so I figured it isn’t worth it. Adrenaline junkies are going to try to learn how to do this, they’re going to get bit, and then improperly the media will proclaim ‘Shark Attack’ rather than ‘Stupid Human Attempts to Caress Shark Mouth’, pushing back years of shark conservation progress”.
Amen.
Conservation
Credit: Jim Abernethy
In which ocean regions could shark populations use more attention?
“Without question, all of them. 99% of all the large sharks are gone, ⅓ are listed with some type of endangered status.”
“Realistically, we never had a count of what we once had. I can tell you that I have seen entire populations of shark disappear from where they used to be.”
Scalloped hammerhead sharks: “I used to see from the surface to the bottom in the winter months here in Palm Beach County, I haven’t seen that in 40 years.”
Sand tiger sharks: “We used to have 50 to 100 on every shipwreck. I haven’t seen that in 40 years.”
Bull sharks: “I used to see from the surface to the bottom in winter months, I haven’t seen that in 40 years.”
Oceanic white-tip: “I call this species the poster-boy for shark conservation, today, no ocean boasts 1% of their population”.
Your local coast will have access to sharks that need your help.
If you were to obtain a research grant from a university right this second, how would you use it?
Jim interestingly started this answer by explaining what he would not do with grant money. His answer was so interesting that Sharkophile will be investigating his details further and publishing future articles on this matter. There is a lot of science that Jim believes is not worthy, such as killing sharks to find out how old they are.
“Firstly, I would make a list of all the shark conservation organizations that are actually making good progress-that walk the walk. PEW Charitable trusts are a good example, they do amazing things for sharks. PEW does what they want, rather than trying to keep their followers up”.
“Next, once I have a nonprofit working to make legislative change in my corner, I make scientific reports for their fight”.
What facts about sharks actually matter when legislation is involved?
“Congressmen and legislators are only interested in one thing, money. So let’s look at money: in Florida, shark fishing brings in $160K a year. The shark diving industry in Florida brings in 220 million dollars a year.”
“So as a legislator, who is theoretically trying to be more productive in letting people make money. What we should do is stop killing the resource that brings 220 million dollars annually to solely the state of Florida”.
Jim’s advice is in line with our article on ecotourism, with academic sources supporting his claim.
What does a conservationist do with a bill they drafted in their free time?
“We gather support, create a force to pass the bill with smaller nonprofits to help drive a change by creating education and awareness.”
Nonprofit organizations actively working in Washington will have a good idea of the shark science needed to pass legislation protecting sharks. A good way to set up a study is to team up with an organization dedicated to marine conservation.
What is your biggest advice to undergraduate students pursuing careers in conservation, especially when getting past certain shark scientists eager to shift the mindset away from the shark fin trade?
“My first thought of what I wanted to do, turned out to not be what I wanted to do at all. Getting my business degree and working in a dive shop for six months, I realized that this was not my dream. I don’t want to work in a dive shop, I want to be at sea!”
“So basically, here the advice: write on a piece of paper exactly what you want to do. Make a list of the skillset that would be advantageous for that job. Make a list of the skills you currently possess. Acquire all the necessary skills that you need. Always follow your dreams, and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t. That’s my advice.”
I thought that quote was the perfect way to end the interview. Huge thanks to Jim for an outstanding conversation, and for providing all of the pictures to this article. This was an exemplary first shark conservation interview here at Sharkophile, the first of hopefully many.