Rob Stewart "Sharkwater" Filmmaker missing off Florida coast

When I was growing up there were sharks everywhere along the Gulf Coast and during my College days the Oregon reaserch vessel was dragging an experimental turtle excluder device(TED) along the bottom and my Anatomy and Physiology professor got me a job on the ship baby-sitting the TED on the bottom. The amount of sharks were unbelievable.

Fast forward after the Vietnam war....The area Catholics sponsored 1000s of families from Vietnam, and most of those became commercial fisherman and shrimpers with 90 ft boats. From that point in time, the shark population in the area declined sharply or the sharks totally relocated elsewhere.

I don't believe it was a simple coincidence.

I'm not a big fan of sharks especially when they get between me and the boat however it is a shame to see their numbers decline so drastically.

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Originally Posted by skypilot

When I was growing up there were sharks everywhere along the Gulf Coast and during my College days the Oregon reaserch vessel was dragging an experimental turtle excluder device(TED) along the bottom and my Anatomy and Physiology professor got me a job on the ship baby-sitting the TED on the bottom. The amount of sharks were unbelievable.

Fast forward after the Vietnam war....The area Catholics sponsored 1000s of families from Vietnam, and most of those became commercial fisherman and shrimpers with 90 ft boats. From that point in time, the shark population in the area declined sharply or the sharks totally relocated elsewhere.

I don't believe it was a simple coincidence.

I'm not a big fan of sharks especially when they get between me and the boat however it is a shame to see their numbers decline so drastically.

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Shark fin soup is quite a delicacy in Asia.

https://www.outsideonline.com/215462...ewart-obituary

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

Shallow water blackout? Ascent embolism? Possibly,especially,if they were using re-breathers. Those damn things are dangerous. I learned all about them from OPP USRU divers enough to steer clear of them for sport diving. Apparently,after following his career,he was a very experienced diver. Very telling,too,is the fact his partner collapsed shortly after surfacing. I can understand using that type of equipment if stalking dangerous fish for filming because bubbles and the ensuing sound attract the attention of Sharks and Orcas. It's definitely a high risk pursuit. Tempt fate long enough and the Law of Averages will even things out. Too bad to lose such a talented person. Again,sincerest condolences to the family.

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Rebreathers, cave diving.... both are like rolling a dice it seems. The one diver I know showed me a National Geographic from a couple years before of some cave diving, he was the only one that was still alive from the group that reached that cave he said.

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

Shark fin soup is quite a delicacy in Asia.

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Commercial fishing for shark meat is common too and it is a good meat. Shark fin soup is a giant waste of good meat and I think should only be allowed it they are processing the entire shark but disgustingly many don't and that should be stopped!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/157920/...-shark-steaks/
http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-car...mako-shark.asp
http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes...ark-to-die-for

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Originally Posted by TroutSlayer

https://www.outsideonline.com/215462...ewart-obituary

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A couple things trouble me about the about the obituary, the experience level sounds like he didn't have much on the rebreather and the dive profile of 3 deep dives in the same day. I only recommend Naui and CMAS/YMCA classes to anyone that asks me. I once had the diveshop stick my usual pair with a third for a three tank charter at Tobermory, not an unusual thing. However when we did our dive charts to plan the bottom and surface interval times boy did he come up with different times. He was PADI trained using a PADI card (which is different from DCIEM) and doing the intervals wrong. When we showed him how to properly do it he commented about having already been bent in the hands. The two points about 3 deepest dives in one day (too short a time) and being new to a rebreather seem problematic to me.


Anyway.
My sincerest condolences to the family and friends.