Shark Week
Summary
Discovery ’s big - tootheddocumentaryeventShark Weekis back with6000 lb . Shark . The special focused on the lookup for the largest slap-up white sharks off the coast of New Zealand , and new attempts to weigh them more accurately than ever before . Utilizing newspaper clipping - boundary technology,6000 lb . Sharkaims to help discover just how wakeless a nifty white shark can become .
6000 lb . Sharkis leave byShark Weekstaple Tom “ The Blowfish ” Hird , whose previous contribution to the issue calendar week includeCocaine SharksandGreat White Fight Club . On6000 lb . Shark , Hird collaborated with marine life scientist Leigh de Necker to take in biologic samples from shark in their seek to get the best measurements of shark free weight yet . Also a instrumentalist , Hird is know as “ the reality ’s only heavy metallic element devil dog biologist ” , and bring that flair to his work as a presenter on the limited .
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With such a unmanageable task at hand , the making of thenature documentarywas not always an easy labor . While verbalise withScreen Rantabout the series , Hird ponder on swabbing a shark ’s rearward , unexpected difficulties , and the severe nature of his work . Hird also dish out on his shark dive playlist .
Tom Hird Details The Unique Challenges Of Making 6000lb. Shark
Screen Rant : In6000 lb . Shark , you ’re trying to figure out a new method acting to matter sharks and figure out how large they are . What is the time value in have sex that ?
Tom Hird : It ’s a compounding of lots and pot and lots of unlike matter that , when put together , are right smart more crucial than the note value of all the short parts . If we could have a really precise representation of the increase rates of sharks equate to their size , and the weight fluctuation of sharks throughout the year , that would give us a chance to better predict the effects of fishing or better auspicate the life history of sharks , which then can feed into other things such as inquiry in protect field , or knowing where they are on migrations and have a chance to protect them on that way .
Even though the weight of this animal is a very canonic concept , because they are so celestial in terms of the time we spend with them , and because trying to get one on the other scales is harder than get under one’s skin a pol to tell a truth , it ’s tricky . Yet , it is so , so worthful . So , something as simple as knowing the weight and being capable to correlate that with other factors founder us a skeletal frame samara into the out of sight life of the shark .
I was mess up forth by how you gathered this data , because you ’re using all these different variety of technology and measure methods . How severely is it to get any exact measurements ?
Tom Hird : Bloody difficult . The animal is always move , and you ’re always run as well . Then , you ’ve bring the added shenanigan of the fact that you are restricted in being in a cage . You ’ve also capture other physical restrictions in full term of the fact that you ’re diving and you ’ve got a limited amount of air . Everything is against you . That ’s why , if we can get to a position where we have enough information to take form a framework where you only need one clean shot and everything else will kind of fall into place , this becomes so , so vital .
The equipment that we used — the ultrasounds and the stereo camera — are so tricky and difficult , and realistically , we ’d desire them in a much more aseptic , scientific environs . But it does n’t always work like that . Sometimes putting together just a modest part of the puzzle could give up something bigger , and that ’s what we ’re looking to do with a mess of this clobber .
There were a stack of matter that I , as a viewer , had never look before . You ’ve drop so much clock time with sharks — how novel was this experience for you ?
Tom Hird : It was just brilliant . Really interesting . When I have done received sampling with sharks before , invariably it ’s working with very little species , usually there ’ll be inshore and benthic . They ’ll be thing like dogfish , catsharks , and small skates and rays , and these are animals that you’re able to take out of the H2O , quickly measure , and put back in .
Then , when I ’ve worked with slightly larger animate being , you ’re forge with them on the beach . You ’ll lend them up onto the gumption and you ’ve get to be quick . You ’re like a Formula One pit squad . But , again , you ’re on your own term . You ’re on land , so you’re able to get the tape measure criterion , you’re able to get the fin sampling … you’re able to get everything and then release it again .
With this , everything we did had to be qualify to go what we were trying to do , and we had to call up on our feet . [ It was like , ] “ If this does n’t work , we can try that , ” or “ We did n’t get this , but we did get that , so how can we use it ? ” It was such a unique experience , and such a difficult one for , as I said , getting something as dewy-eyed as the life-sustaining statistic of a expectant white shark .
Tom Hird Discusses The Special’s Wilder Moments
Have you been pooped on by shark before ?
Tom Hird : No . And that was manifestly the tricky thing as well . We ’re in the cage . We do n’t know what ’s happen . I ca n’t say for certain what ’s happened , because I did n’t see where it come from . It probably was , but I ca n’t say it definitely was . You get laid scientists — you acknowledge how we are . I have been ca-ca on by a wide multifariousness of beast , but not in this situation before .
First time for everything .
Tom Hird : And for once , I did n’t have to compensate for it either .
I do n’t desire to give too much forth of what I saw , but I am curious because of how much work you ’ve done , particularly for Shark Week . How many time has something gone wrong , where you ’ve been seriously concerned underwater ?
Tom Hird : Well , good dubiousness . I would like to point out that due to decisions made topside , I was not cognizant that anything had gone wrong . Ignorance was very much bliss in that special scenario . Perhaps , if I had been , I would have been a bit more concerned , but there ’s nothing that a ripe five or six pints of a strong IPA wo n’t help in condition of post - dive therapy .
But you ’re on a gravy holder . You ’ve got to be ready for everything . We ’ve got our nose dive briefings , and we know what we can and ca n’t do . And you ’ve got to think on your feet and be ready . [ I ’ll ] put it this way — I have n’t rushed in and done anything here without making certain that I could walk in good order first . I think a lot of the problems that people find are when they are … I think the fabulous term is [ that ] their self is writing tab that their body can not cash . That ’s when you get an issue , but when you ’re working with the veracious people in the veracious scenario , you ’re still more than welcome to get a little morsel flummoxed , a little bit red-hot under the pinch as it might be … but , partner , I ’m English . Stiff upper lip .
Hird Shares His Shark Dive Playlist
You are splendidly the world ’s only heavy metallic element marine biologist . What ’s on your shark dive playlist ?
Tom Hird : Well , you ’d have to have ( Deftones ’ ) “ My Own Summer ” on there , just because of the video for it . At the moment , there would probably be a good few Rammstein songs on there . Definitely Static - X — I’m a Brobdingnagian Static - X devotee . “ Destroyer ” by Static - X would be on there . And I ’m a monolithic Tool fan . Aside from the obvious classic , if you have something a niggling piece hard , like “ Vicarious ” or “ Sober ” or something just banging out . That would be top clam . But I would love to be capable to dive underwater with sharks while mind to Static - X. I envisage that would be pretty place - on .
About 6000lb. Shark
Marine Biologists Tom “ The Blowfish ” Hird and Leigh de Necker go search for the fattest Great White Sharks off the seacoast of New Zealand and endeavour to obtain their poop to study what they are consume . Using carving - bound science , they shoot for to matter a bully white accurately for the first sentence , unveil if they can reach a staggering 6000 pound .
check out back for our otherShark Weekinterviews :
6000 lb . SharkpremieresJuly 9 at 9 atomic number 61 on Discovery
