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Rodney Winston Fox (born 9 November 1940) is an Australian film maker, conservationist, survivor of an attack by a great white shark, and one of the world's foremost authorities on that species. [1] [2] He was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2007. [3] He was born in Adelaide. [4]
On 8 December 1963, whilst participating in the 1963 South Australia Spearfishing Championship at Aldinga Beach, Fox was attacked by a great white shark, and badly bitten around the chest and arm. His story of the attack and escape has been published many times. He is regarded as a miracle survivor of one of the world's worst non-fatal shark attacks. [5]
In the attack, Fox's abdomen was fully exposed and all his ribs were broken on his left hand side. His diaphragm was punctured, his lung was ripped open, his scapula was pierced, [6] his spleen was uncovered, his artery was exposed, and he was minutes away from his veins collapsing due to the loss of large amounts of blood. [7] The tendons, fingers, and thumb in his right hand were all cut and to this day he has part of a shark tooth embedded in his wrist. His wounds required 462 stitches after the attack. [8] [9]
Fox went on to design and build the first underwater observation cage to dive with the great white shark, and for over 40 years has led major expeditions to film and study his attacker. [10] He arranged and hosted the very first great white shark expedition to welcome sport divers, and has run hundreds of expeditions in the thirty years since.
Fox is regarded as a world authority on the great white shark and has a great reputation as an expedition leader and producer of shark documentaries. He has been involved in some way with most great white shark films made in the 20th century. He has hosted expeditions for over 100 major feature and documentary films with film makers and shark researchers from 16 different countries. Disney, Universal, IMAX, Cousteau Society, and National Geographic have enlisted his help and have filmed and studied the great white shark from his cages.
Fox's life since the attack has involved consulting and co-ordinating film crews and arranging and guiding ecotourism adventure trips and expeditions specialising in great white sharks and other marine creatures. He also travels the world giving talks to people about his experiences with sharks and the need for conservation efforts to continue. His talks and films on the great white shark have educated swimmers and divers to the realistic potential of a shark attack. He delivers a firm message that "sharks are not all that bad, we have very few confrontations with them and we should look after all our fishes especially the great white". He positions it as an important "keystone predator" directly controlling the diversity and abundance of other species in the great web of life.
Fox has a large private collection of displays and items from 40 years film making on the ocean which are on tour around Australia and the world. They feature great white shark models, shark proof cages from the film Jaws (which he was one of the consultants for along with Ron Taylor and Valerie Taylor), giant and ancient fossil shark teeth, plus photos and video highlights from many films that he has been involved in.
Fox, along with his son, Andrew, after more than 40 years, still continue to run Rodney Fox Great White Shark Expeditions, a shark cage diving operation to view great white sharks in the wild off Southern Australia. This operation also acts as a platform for much needed further research of great white sharks as well as encouraging quality natural history documentaries on the species.
Fox and Andrew, along with shark researcher Dr. Rachel Robbins, founded the Fox Shark Research Foundation (FSRF) which is devoted to the study and conservation of the great white shark.
The great white shark is listed by the IUCN as a vulnerable species. The Fox Shark Research Foundation is endeavouring to expand our understanding of great white sharks, using the latest technologies and methods of research and working in collaboration with other scientific institutions.
Fox currently strives to further raise public awareness of the plight of all shark species through his dive operation and research foundation, via publications, public speaking, and the films his operations facilitate.
In 2009, Fox was nominated for the 2010 Indianapolis Prize, the world's largest individual monetary award for animal species conservation.
The Rodney Fox Shark museum is in Mile End, South Australia. [11]
The great white shark, also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is the only known surviving species of its genus Carcharodon. The great white shark is notable for its size, with the largest preserved female specimen measuring 5.83 m (19.1 ft) in length and around 2,000 kg (4,410 lb) in weight at maturity. However, most are smaller; males measure 3.4 to 4.0 m, and females measure 4.6 to 4.9 m on average. According to a 2014 study, the lifespan of great white sharks is estimated to be as long as 70 years or more, well above previous estimates, making it one of the longest lived cartilaginous fishes currently known. According to the same study, male great white sharks take 26 years to reach sexual maturity, while the females take 33 years to be ready to produce offspring. Great white sharks can swim at speeds of 25 km/h (16 mph) for short bursts and to depths of 1,200 m (3,900 ft).
Spearfishing is fishing using handheld elongated, sharp-pointed tools such as a spear, gig, or harpoon, to impaling the fish in the body. It was one of the earliest fishing techniques used by mankind, and has been deployed in artisanal fishing throughout the world for millennia. Early civilizations were familiar with the custom of spearing fish from rivers and streams using sharpened sticks.
A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and horror fiction and films such as the Jaws series. Out of more than 500 shark species, only three of them are responsible for a double-digit number of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger, and bull. The oceanic whitetip has probably killed many more shipwreck and plane crash survivors, but these are not recorded in the statistics. Humans are not part of a shark's normal diet. Sharks usually feed on small fish and invertebrates, seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals. A Shark attack will usually accur if the shark feels curious or confused.
Diving activities are the things people do while diving underwater. People may dive for various reasons, both personal and professional. While a newly qualified recreational diver may dive purely for the experience of diving, most divers have some additional reason for being underwater. Recreational diving is purely for enjoyment and has several specialisations and technical disciplines to provide more scope for varied activities for which specialist training can be offered, such as cave diving, wreck diving, ice diving and deep diving. Several underwater sports are available for exercise and competition.
The Neptune Islands consist of two groups of islands located close to the entrance to Spencer Gulf in South Australia. They are well known as a venue for great white shark tourism.
Shark cage diving is underwater diving or snorkeling where the observer remains inside a protective cage designed to prevent sharks from making contact with the divers. Shark cage diving is used for scientific observation, underwater cinematography, and as a tourist activity. Sharks may be attracted to the vicinity of the cage by the use of bait, in a procedure known as chumming, which has attracted some controversy as it is claimed to potentially alter the natural behaviour of sharks in the vicinity of swimmers.
Fabien Cousteau is an aquanaut, ocean conservationist, and documentary filmmaker. As the first grandson of Jacques Cousteau, Fabien spent his early years aboard his grandfather's ships Calypso and Alcyone, and learned how to scuba dive on his fourth birthday. From 2000 to 2002, he was Explorer-at-Large for National Geographic and collaborated on a television special aimed at changing public attitudes about sharks called "Attack of the Mystery Shark". From 2003 to 2006, he produced the documentary "Mind of a Demon" that aired on CBS. With the help of a large crew, he created a 14-foot, 1,200-pound, lifelike shark submarine called "Troy" that enabled him to immerse himself inside the shark world.
The 1992 cageless shark-diving expedition was the world's first recorded intentionally cageless dive with great white sharks, contributing to a change in public opinions about the supposed ferocity of these animals.
Ron Josiah Taylor, AM was a prominent Australian shark expert, as is his widow, Valerie Taylor. They were credited with being pioneers in several areas, including being the first people to film great white sharks without the protection of a cage. Their expertise has been called upon for films such as Jaws, Orca and Sky Pirates.
Benjamin Cropp AM is an Australian documentary filmmaker, conservationist and a former six-time Open Australian spearfishing champion. Formerly a shark hunter, Cropp retired from that trade in 1962 to pursue oceanic documentary filmmaking and conservation efforts. One of his efforts for The Disney Channel, The Young Adventurers, was nominated for an Emmy award.
One of the first shark species to be protected was the grey nurse shark. The biology, distribution and conservation of this species are dealt with in the following paragraphs with a main focus on Australia as it was here it first became protected.
Shark tourism is a form of eco-tourism that allows people to dive with sharks in their natural environment. This benefits local shark populations by educating tourists and through funds raised by the shark tourism industry. Communities that previously relied on shark finning to make their livelihoods are able to make a larger profit from diving tours while protecting the local environment. People can get close to the sharks by free- or scuba diving or by entering the water in a protective cage for more aggressive species. Many of these dives are done by private companies and are often baited to ensure shark sightings, a practice which is highly controversial and under review in many areas.
Peter R. Gimbel was an American filmmaker and underwater photojournalist.
Stephan Swanson came to prominence as a marine researcher when he successfully placed the satellite transmitter on the famous Great white shark Nicole, the first great white shark ever to be tracked on a 20,000 kilometer migration from South Africa to Australia and back. Due to his ability to handle large marine predators, such as the great white shark, he was contracted as an expedition biologist to travel to Guadeloupe and place satellite transmitters on the dorsal fins of Great Whites. His historical capture and release of a 5m long, 1800 kilogram great white shark is documented in the National Geographic Marine Special "Ultimate Shark".
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sharks:
A total of 23 people have been killed by sharks in South Australian waters since the establishment of the colony in 1836. Prior to 2014, there had been 82 recorded shark attacks in South Australia. 20 of those have involved a single fatality. Victims were involved in a range of aquatic activities, including surfing, diving, spear-fishing, snorkeling, boating and swimming. Six of the fatalities occurred off the coast of greater metropolitan Adelaide, with the remainder distributed across South Australia's extensive coastline. Many of the fatal attacks have been attributed to great white sharks.
Winifred "Wendy" Benchley is a marine and environmental conservation advocate and former councilwoman from New Jersey. She is known for co-founding various environmental organizations and for being the wife of author Peter Benchley.
Valerie May Taylor AM is an Australian conservationist, photographer and filmmaker, and an inaugural member of the diving hall-of-fame. With her husband Ron Taylor, she made documentaries about sharks, and filmed sequences for films including Jaws (1975).
Open Water 3: Cage Dive is a 2017 Australian found footage survival horror film directed and written by Gerald Rascionato and released by Lionsgate as part of the Open Water film series, although the film is a stand-alone sequel and only connects to the other films in theme, not continuity. It follows a trio of Americans on vacation in Australia who are also filming an audition tape for an extreme reality TV show on a cage diving excursion. Before they know it, a rogue wave capsizes and sinks their boat leaving them stranded in the ocean. The film is presented as a mockumentary and perpetuated as true events; though most of the film is first person footage from the characters with time stamps throughout the film, in the vein of Paranormal Activity. The film bears similarities to another 2017 shark attack survival film featuring a cage dive excursion gone wrong, 47 Meters Down. The method of "cage dive disaster" in each film differs with Open Water 3: Cage Dive involving a rogue wave capsizing the boat while the former film sees a rusty winch break, trapping the protagonists underwater within the cage. The notable difference between these two films is that Cage Dive does not keep its protagonists within the cage, but rather leaves them in the open water among hungry sharks.
Deep Blue is a female great white shark that is estimated to be 6.1 m (20 ft) long or bigger and is now sixty years old. She is believed to be one of the biggest ever recorded in history. The shark was first spotted in Mexico by researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla. Deep Blue was featured on the Discovery Channel's Shark Week. The shark was spotted by marine biologists studying tiger sharks near the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Various videos show the shark as calm and non-aggressive around humans and even dolphins.
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