The sharkophile staff is happy to announce that a new interview with a shark legend is releasing this week. Jim Abernethy: award-winning author, photographer, cinematographer, and conservationist who pioneered shark encounters without a cage, will speak to our editor in California-Nathan Perisic.
From a young age, scuba diving is Abernethy’s inspiration for his life’s work as a conservationist. For decades now, Abernethy leads photography/videography expeditions to engage people with the world’s most massive predatory sharks. He hosts day & night cage-free dive expeditions with tiger, great hammerheads, oceanic whitetips, bull, and lemon sharks. However, he is best known as an extremely passionate crusader for the protection of sharks. Abernethy has endowed numerous awards for his lifelong dedication as a marine life conservationist. Here is a video of him hanging out with a 14-foot tiger shark, Tiger Shark Love – Tarantino.
Personally, my senior thesis cites this work Abernethy did with PEW charitable trusts. While Abernethy is a well-accomplished photographer and passionate conservationist, he is also hailed for his unique ability to bring divers close to some of the ocean’s largest predatory sharks. His clients, in turn, are often inspired to become ambassadors for sharks and their seas. This Sharkophile biography would be incomplete, however, without a spotlight encompassing Jim’s illustrious career with sharks.
Conservation: Jim’s relentless efforts around conservation include the creation of two non-profits: WildlifeVOICE and Operation Blue Pride. Operation Blue Pride works to save both veterans and marine wildlife through in-water activities, wildlife encounters, education, and collaboration. WildlifeVOICE seeks to engage and educate the youth, as well as physically challenged people (Project Seahorse & Rising Tide – Shark Pride) by introducing them to the oceans and inspiring them to become “ocean ambassadors.”
Cinematography: Abernethy’s award-winning marine life images feature in a multitude of the world’s top nature magazines. Additionally, his expedition clients include many top nature filmmakers and magazines such as Imax, National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Animal Planet, and Discovery Channel. The “Marine Life Art Gallery” in West Palm Beach, Florida, boasts captivating images and educational books on display and available for purchase. On land, Jim usually pilots his ultra-light, “Oversear,” to capture marine wilderness with his lens from a birds-eye-view. Abernethy is also famous for his work on This Is Your Ocean: Sharks (2011), Cosmic Futurist, and Sharks of War: Truth, Tales, and Terror (2015).
Jim mostly lives at sea, in the Bahamas, running shark expeditions and wild dolphin encounters year-round on his boat, “Shear Water,” but is often booked for educational presentations when he’s spending time on land. His dive business, Jim Abernethy’s Scuba Adventures Inc., is based in West Palm Beach, FL.
Jim Abernethy’s mission: to save the planet’s ocean creatures, starting with sharks, through his photography, books, films, and presentation strikes a chord with us at the only shark-specific news outlet on many platforms. The interview will release this week on Sharkophile, while Nathan will be talking to Jim on Instagram Live on Sunday 7:30 pm EST through Abernethy’s Instagram account @jim_abernethy