SEPTEMBER 29, 2007—Forget Jaws. Director Rob Stewart has a different shark tale to tell.

With the award-winning documentary Sharkwater, Stewart attempts to shatter the myth that the shark is an frenzied monster with a taste for human flesh. Indeed, the underwater photographer portrays the shark as the hunted. Man kills the shark out of irrational fear or just plain greed, Stewart argues with unparalleled passion.

At first you think Sharkwater is just about Stewart climbing into his wet suit and swimming with his subjects in an effort to prove that sharks rarely attack humans unless provoked. But Sharkwater quickly enters Michael Moore territory when Stewart and activists with the Sea Shepherd Conversation Society thwart an illegal fishing operation in Costa Rican waters that was connected to the Taiwanese mafia. Stewart et al. must then flee Costa Rica to avoid the attempt murder charges filed against them stemming from their showdown with the poachers.

Film South Florida spoke with the Toronto-born Stewart—who spent much of his childhood on Sanibel Island—about why he made Sharkwater, the importance of the shark in our ecosystem, and what can be done to protect certain species of shark from dying of extinction.

Film South Florida: Why open Sharkwater in Florida weeks in advance of its national release in November?

Rob Stewart: Because Florida’s the shark-bite capital of the world. We want to change the public perception of sharks—if we can get the shark-bite capital of the world onboard, then the rest of the world will come onboard.

Film South Florida: The version of Sharkwater that won Best Documentary at last year’s Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival is reportedly different from the version now in theaters. How so?

Stewart: It’s a different version than the one we show at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. We hit the film festival circuit and won 20 awards, which is more than any other documentary this year. We released that version in March in Canada, where we did very well. We broke box office records—we made more money than any other documentary, with the exception of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Super Size Me. It also gave some general perspective of the film, so we looked at it again to see what was it if that would turn people off, so we did a slight edit to make it more commercial for [U.S. audiences].

Film South Florida: What inspired you to make Sharkwater?

Stewart: I was a wildlife photographer. I took a trip to the Galapagos Islands to photograph sharks. What I found was 60 miles of illegally set fishing lines [that caught many sharks]. That opened my eyes. I tried to bring attention to this by doing magazine articles, but after six months I had not made much of an impact. No one cared that sharks were dying. Elephants kill 100 people a year. Sharks kill five. I wanted to give people another perspective of the shark. People come to defense of the elephant and the panda. No one comes to the defense of the shark.

Film South Florida: How many sharks have died?

Stewart: The shark population has declined by 90 percent. One hundred million sharks die every year.

Film South Florida: How long have you had a passion for sharks?

Stewart: When I was a kid. I got a goldfish. And ever since I can remember, I’ve liked fish.

Film South Florida: So Jaws didn’t you give any nightmares?

Stewart: Jaws did a great disservice to the shark. It’s a great film, but it maligned the shark. People soon after started killing sharks around the world because they thought they would be saving men and women from this great beast.

Film South Florida: Are you ever nervous about interacting with sharks?

Stewart: When you interact with any wild animal, you have to be careful. And I’m very careful. I spent 200 days [filming] underwater and I never had a problem. I’ve been diving with sharks since I was a kid.

Film South Florida: So you were probably more in fear of the illegal fishermen you encountered than the shark you’re seen holding at the start of Sharkwater.

Stewart: Life in the ocean is predictable. Fish feed and swim. There are no ulterior motives. Human do have ulterior motives. They’re far scarier.

Film South Florida: You ended up in hospital during the filming of Sharkwater, but not because you received a bite from one of your subjects.

Stewart: That was terrible. I got a flesh-eating disease in my lymphatic system in my left leg…. But I’m fully recovered now. My immune system is a little shot—I can’t bounce back [from sickness] like I used to.

Film South Florida: What, for you, is the most important reason to conserve the ocean’s shark population?

Stewart: Sharks sit at the top of the oceanic food chain, so killing the shark would hurt the ecosystem. There’s only life on earth because it crawls out of the ocean. And the ocean is the biggest consumer of carbon dioxide [which slows global warming]. You can’t mess with the ocean. Our life depends on the life in the ocean. It’s very much a part of us.

Film South Florida: How can you achieve your goal through Sharkwater?

Stewart: The most important thing is to try to turn the situation around. We have to start by raising awareness of the issue. Twenty percent of the shark population is endangered, so we must challenge legislation. Then things may change.

Film South Florida: What one change could make a difference?

Stewart: We need to push for a global ban on shark finning and to curb the demand for soup fin soup. The main consumption of shark fin soup is in China. It’s a delicacy there. China’s beginning to do more to stop the consumption—the government is very sensitive to public concern. It won’t be served at the [2008] Olympics.

Film South Florida: What do you plan to do after Sharkwater opens nationally in November?

Stewart: I can’t figure out what exactly I’m going to do next until 2008—I’m going to one big PR tour for Sharkwater that will eventually take me to Australia and Asia. I want to create a broad-based conversation about this issue, but I also have to make the conversation cool to listen to. If it’s just about nerdy science, but kids aren’t going to become more of the movement. If the kids think it’s cool, then we will get somewhere.

Film South Florida: So you don’t have plans for another documentary?

Stewart: I have two documentaries and a reality TV show in the works. The show’s called The Blue Movement. It will be about 15 good-looking conservationists on a ship. They sleep with over and stab each other in the back. The plan is to hook the viewers and then hit them over the head with the [pro-conservation] message when they least expect it.

Sharkwater opened September 28. Click here for more information.