Eye Of The Tiger

Photo: Hannah Gabrielson

I couldn't tell you the number of times I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to dive with sharks these past few years. I've only ever seen sharks in Hawaii while actively looking for them and in that time I've only see five tiger sharks. Three alive and two dead.

The first one we ended up naming Toni. It was only my second time diving with sharks and I was still really scared around any shark, let alone a tiger. She swam up behind us and the second we turned around she halted her approach and turned off. Seeing all of her stripes down the side of her body, that unquestionable confirmation of her species, made me feel nothing but fear. Up until that point I'd been taught by Shark Week and news media outlets that the tiger shark is the second most dangerous shark in the world and "if you're in the way you're going to get mauled." That's of course inaccurate and it ended up being one of the most amazing experiences I am sure I will ever have. She swam with us for a few hours before it began to get stormy and we went back to shore. She was smaller but plump and curious, she never showed us any signs of aggressive or territorial behavior, things I didn't learn how to properly recognize until later.

The next two I only saw for a moment each. By now I had learned that tiger sharks were surprisingly timid, too. A lot of the time, at least where we dive, they'll circle the boat and stay in the area for hours, just on the outskirts of where you can see their silhouette and are too afraid to actually come in for a look. The most recent one I saw, nearly two years ago now, taught me why. She's been nicknamed Roxy. I saw her for a moment, half a breath, before she submissively dipped down her head like a scolded dog and swam off diagonally down into the blue. Her jaw was torn in half, hanging permanently open on one side, most likely from being caught on a hook. Somehow she managed to escape, breaking her own jaw in the process, and successfully manages to feed herself and get by. She's been seen many times over the past years, even recently wrapped up in fishing line that our friend Juan Oliphant successfully removed.

Since Roxy, I haven't seen any other live tiger sharks and in only the past six months we've found the bodies of two tiger sharks washed up on shore.

Both animals were caught by fishermen, one chained to a buoy offshore and left to hang dead as a "warning to other sharks capable of stealing this fisherman's catch" (before a storm dislodged the weight holding it and brought the body to shore), and another only a little longer than my arm, most likely caught as bycatch and left to die on the beach.

The first one the Water Inspired team dissected with the students of Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) as an opportunity to teach them more about the amazing biology and abilities of sharks, the only silver lining of her death. We drove far offshore to put the pieces of her body back in the sea where they would provide important nutrients to other animals, rather than letting her body go even further to waste in a landfill. Our friend Kayleigh made an incredible touching on the spot speech and we spread plumerias in the water with her body. We all were quiet, frustrated, and sad.

For the second, a few samples were gathered before he was briefly named Sunny. Ocean removed the circle hook from his face so no other animals would ingest it. It was larger than his entire mouth. He looked so young and vulnerable, his poor little mangled body. It felt violating even taking photos, but we knew that they could be impactful to others and got some shots before, as the sun rose, we let his body slip off the side of the boat and sink to the bottom.

Swimming with sharks had made a shark lover out of me, and I'm the last person on earth I would have ever expected to get over a fear of sharks. I hope that others begin to, if not see them for how they truly are, see them for how truly IMPORTANT they are to all life on earth, including our's, before it's too late.