Outside of the cage with great white sharks, part 1

It’s a mysterious monster.

We know less about great white sharks yet fear them more than any other creature.

“It all started with ‘Jaws’ really and we all go back to that ‘Jaws’ mentality where people think that great whites are going to attack everything,” said Dr. Alex Antoniou, a shark scientist. “Now I don’t want to mislead a person to say that they’re not dangerous animals, that’s why you have to understand their behavior.”

Used to being portrayed as the villain, every year they are increasingly becoming the victim to people’s appetite.

“The slaughter of sharks is just astronomical. The latest estimate is 80-100 million sharks are being slaughtered every year, primarily for their fins,” Antoniou said.

Shark fin soup is a delicacy in Asia and a status symbol. A single bowl can cost over a $100.

“What you have is a product that makes people feel important,” Antoniou said. “About 20 years ago when the Asian middle class started to boom, the demand for shark fins also started to boom.”

A thousand miles and a mile above the nearest ocean, Antoniou has based his nonprofit shark conservation organization Fins Attached, in Colorado Springs.

“The shark research conservation has been my passion now for 19 years, so when I moved to Colorado 10 years ago my passion continued,” Antoniou said.

Founded in 2010, Fins Attached isn’t based in as unlikely of a location as you may think. Some estimates show Colorado has more certified divers than any other state.

Underwater Connection in Colorado Springs alone certifies over 1,000 divers every year.

“I think it’s just there tends to be a more outdoorsy, athletic, whatever you want to call it type of people gravitate here,” said Underwater Connection instructor Bill Erbach.

“Every time I tell somebody that I’m diving in Colorado they’re like, what? Is there any water around there? I’m like, there’s a pool we practice,” said dive student Chris Hall.

But pools are just where divers go to get certified, not why.

“I love seeing the tropical fish,” said dive student Stephanie Fike.

It’s that reason Antoniou partners with Underwater Connection and other dive shops around the state. He brings divers from the mountains to get a view of the top of the food chain.

“I’ve always believed if divers don’t care about the marine environment, then who will?” Antoniou said.

Divers pay several thousand dollars to go on research trips with Fins Attached. One of the most popular locations is 12-hundred miles away at Guadalupe Island, Mexico.

Fins Attached has the only necessary permits necessary to conduct research on great whites there.

“Guadalupe Island is the best place in the world to encounter great white sharks,” Antoniou said. “Great whites come here specifically to feed.”

The larger sharks target prey with high concentrations of fat like northern elephant seals and California sea lions. The younger, smaller sharks still feed primarily on fish like yellow fin tuna.

Dr. Mauricio Hoyos is Antoniou’s research partner who lives on the sparsely populated island for three months a year.

“We have found that on the west coast of Baja California there is a very important nursery ground for this species,” Hoyos said.

Scientists still haven’t discovered basic facts about great white sharks, like where they mate or give birth.

Part of the research done on the island is tagging the sharks.

“These sharks are going to be like spies,” Hoyos said. “We want to see what the sharks are doing when they are away from Guadalupe. We want to know if they are gathering in one place that is called the ‘Great White Caf’ which is between Hawaii and Guadalupe Island.”

“The more we can understand and learn about these sharks, then hopefully that would lead to better management plans for different countries,” Antoniou said.

But both scientists agree what may be as important as the science is the education.

“Part of our goal is to further educate people that even great whites aren’t out to get us,” Antoniou said.

Exactly how Antoniou does that would make most people shake their head know and leave some just shaking in fear. Antoniou leads dives out of the cage to interact with great white sharks in open water.

“How else are you going to show and tell people that sharks don’t just bite everything that they see in the water?” Antoniou said. “Bringing divers with us to experience firsthand the research and the conservation efforts that we’re involved in goes a long way in educating everyone about the true nature of sharks.”

Worldwide, Antoniou estimates fewer than 1,000 divers have swam fin-to-fin with great white sharks. While on assignment for this special report, along with a handful of other divers from Colorado and across the country, I join that exclusive club.

It’s one thing to say we’re not on the sharks’ menu. It’s another thing to prove it.