Shark Week
Summary
Discovery ’s 2024Shark Weekslate is an exciting blend of newdocumentaryprogramming and retort front-runner likeAlien shark : touch of Japan . With each loop , Alien Sharkscontinues to introduce viewers to some of the weirdest and most unparalleled sharks on the planet , and heading to Japan has permit the series to go big than ever . Japan is home to a huge mixture of shark species , andAlien Sharks : Ghosts of Japanshowcases many as it focuses on the hunt for one in particular — the Nipponese angelshark .
Wildlife biologistForrest Galantereturns to hostAlien Sharks : Ghost of Japan , leading the hunting for the elusive Pisces the Fishes by strapping on SCUBA gear and exploring Japanese weewee himself . Of of course , he had avail , enlist local fishers and scientist Christine de Silva to assist in his quest . While look for for the angelshark , Galante and his team found themselves in the middle of multiple unforgettable moment like a shark birth and what could be a first - ever deportment observation of a rarefied species .
There are many great nature documentary , but only a few deserve to be seen as the best , as the drug user of Reddit have helpfully pointed out .
speak withScreen Ranttied to the handout of this up-to-the-minute entry in the field ofshark documentaries , Forrest Galante reflected on the mental process of makingAlien Sharks : ghostwriter of Japan . He detailed the surprisingly long time it took to make the special and explained why Japan was a aspiration location as a life scientist . The adventurer also revealed his favourite moments from making the special and dished on his plans for watching the premiere .
Forrest Galante Talks Going To His “Bucket List” Destination Of Japan
Screen Rant : I do it that this was set in Japan , and we get to see all the unequalled species there , and how beautiful Mt. Fuji and Suruga Bay are . I know you ’re all over the cosmos all the clock time , but how was this experience for you ?
Forrest Galante : Japan has been high up on my bucket tilt for years and old age . I was absolutely thrilled to go there , and not for the regular reasons of sushi , tech travel and all the things that come with Japan , but for the fact that Japan has the highest storey of sharp indigenousness in the world , mean species that occur there and nowhere else on the satellite .
This trip was actually six years in the planning . We ’ve been working on this with citizenry in Japan for six years . [ For ] most Shark Weeks , it ’s like [ you ] come up with the idea in August , sell it in September , shoot it in January , and deliver it in June . This has been a six - class programme for us .
Discovery ’s going to hate that I ’m tell you this , but we started a joke at the beginning of the show . We said , “ Every time we oversee to slip Mount Fuji into the show , everybody ’s got to take a shot when we do the premier party . ” I ’ve been cultivate with the same group of guys for 10 days — my married woman calls it “ the traveling fraternity”—but every metre I looked at them , they were trying to frame up Mount Fuji with their cameras , jazz how the premiere party is go to go . So , there was a lot of Mount Fuji , that ’s for trusted .
Fishers & Other Hunters Can Be Crucial In Locating Endangered Species
It was interesting to see that you were collaborating with fishers to find this shark who has been overfished . How often in your argumentation of work do you terminate up work with people who may not share your goals ?
Forrest Galante : Yeah , well , you have to . The realism is that the best scientists globally for any specie [ that is ] critically expose or on the edge of defunctness are experimental scientist . [ they ’re ] masses that interact with , look for , and oftentimes target to kill the animal in motion .
I can go talk to the populace ’s leading angelshark expert in some office in Tokyo or San Francisco or whatever , and the realness is that that person is going to have a fraction of the experience and knowledge of the species as the person that targets them to down them every individual Clarence Shepard Day Jr. because [ that person is ] in the flying field looking for them .
What ’s maybe misrepresented is , we do n’t have a different finish . At the end of the day we have the same destination , which is for that mintage to stay , [ though ] for different understanding . His is so that they can target them and obliterate them and eat them . Mine is so that I can see them expand in the ecosystem and be healthy . Regardless , we actually have the same goal , myself and the fisher , which is to see that metal money and carry on to be .
While I do n’t agree with longline sportfishing or trawling , or overharvest , or any of that , collaborate with those the great unwashed who in reality fuck where the animals are , target them , and work to catch them is the only path that I ’m go to succeed . There is no elbow room that I can go in there and be like , “ I ’ll count on this out without talking to people who have spent their life direct them . ”
Galante Details How Data From Shows Like This Goes On To Help Conservation
countenance ’s say you find a species that you ’re looking for . What is the next step in terms of making sure that it prosper ?
Forrest Galante : That always depends on the situation . I used to , in my early twenty-four hours , try and get massively demand with the on-going conservation of the mintage that we point and find . It ’s not naturalistic or possible to really do that sitting in my office in Santa Barbara , California while the metal money is in Japan and I have no control condition over it . So , what we do — and this obviously did n’t make the show — is take the datum and hand it over to local in - land scientists and conservationists who are much more capable than I am .
I ’m really just like your mercenary . It ’s like , “ Come in , receive the thing , do what you need with it , ” and then I turn over that information off to in - nation scientists , medical specialist , and conservationist who then go , “ Okay , how do we make to make legislative variety ? How do we work to protect an area ? How do we work to conserve this species ? What are the fishing practices that need to change ? ”
So , I do n’t have much of a character in the ongoing conservation , to be honest . But without that catalyst of retrieve it , documenting it , and collect data from it , conservation can never begin . It sound chesty and airheaded , but I just hail in as that hide - and - seek whiz and go , “ Let me find your critter for you , ” and then hand it off .
On Stumbling Into A Shark Orgy & Other Favorite Moments
Do you have a favorite moment from the motion-picture photography of this ?
Forrest Galante : It maybe did n’t come across on camera as spectacular as it was , but being in that debauch of houndsharks . They were all just all over , they ’re fray , they ’re couple , and they ’re twitch me on the brain … we did the ‘ seventy pornography music in there in there to try and sell it and make it more fun , but that moment was so awe - inspiring . I was just surrounded by sharks . They were rubbing against me , there were red stingray getting involve — it was crazy what was going on there . There ’s so much in the show that peradventure that does n’t suffer out to your mediocre someone , but that was really spectacular .
The other matter was the shark birth . The sharks were giving nativity , literally , in my hand . If you had asked me to lean a million things I would do with sharks in my life , I would n’t have listed “ Become a shark accoucheuse . ” That never would have made the list . I ’m getting horripilation believe about it . It was n’t until after the fact that it hit me how peculiar and singular that import was , but when it did , I was like , “ Holy poop . We just birth a bunch of sharks . ” That was pretty mind - blowing in hindsight .
Galante Teases The Future Of Alien Sharks
Is there anywhere you have it away you want to takeAlien Sharksnext ?
Forrest Galante : Always . There are always architectural plan . My specialty is not the big tiger sharks and handsome slap-up snowy sharks that jump out of the water that everybody else does . Mine is adjudicate to bring exposure and media to the underrepresented , incredibly coolheaded , and unique species . for do that , I have to go to places with ace high levels of diversity and autochthony . California , where I live , is one of them . Australia is another one — South Australia has an incredible variety of sharks that are massively underrepresented in the medium . And the list go on . I wo n’t give away too many , but I ’ve got many , many architectural plan for the future of this franchise .
About Alien Sharks: Ghosts Of Japan
Japan ’s water are home to the bombastic multifariousness of shark species on the planet , most of which take otherworldly contour . Wildlife biologist Forrest Galante , along with cryptical - ocean marine scientist Christina de Silva and mysterious - weewee surveyors , track down and canvas these foreign shark in their deputation to uncover whether the critically queer Angel Shark remains in Japan ’s waters . Along the way , Forrest will uncover 17 unlike and unique coinage and witness the births of little - known Velvet Dogfish shark .
Check back for our otherShark Week2024 interview :
Alien Sharks : Ghosts of Japanpremieres Wednesday , July 10 at 10 postmortem examination on Discovery .
