Every Shark Week, we're reminded that there are two types of people: those who would never dip as much as a toe in the water if a shark could be within a 30 mile radius, and those who avidly consume every shark video on the internet, dream of cage diving, and secretly long to see a dorsal fin swimming close to them (just me?). If you're the latter kind of person, the Discovery Channel's Shark Week—which turns 36 this year, making it the longest-running TV programming event in history— is probably your favorite week of the year.
One shark obsessive is Austin Gallagher, a Shark Week producer and presenter who's also a marine biologist known for his work on sharks. A Shark Week veteran, Gallagher has appeared on a total of seven seasons. This year, he returned for two episodes: one observing great white sharks in New Zealand using a whale carcass decoy, and another on the trail of monster hammerheads in Turks and Caicos.
It’s safe to say that there’s no one better to nerd out about sharks with, so we caught up with Gallagher to hear more about what it’s like filming the show, making actual eye contact with a great white shark, what to do if you ever see a shark in the wild, and more.
Shark Week has been running for 36 years and counting. Why are people so obsessed with sharks?
It's the ultimate pop culture icon and phenomenon. Ever since we're kids, we're told to be afraid of sharks. We're drawn to people who are pushing the boundaries and doing big things that are potentially dangerous. It’s the classic mixture of fear and fascination. There's an innate, almost cerebral level fascination of sharks in all of us.
You were a little boy when Shark Week began, and it's obviously come a long way in those 36 years. Do you have a sense of how the perception of sharks has changed in that time?
In the early days, we knew a lot less about the animals even than we did today. A lot of the shows were just very basic. Over time, as the research field has grown and our understanding of these animals and their behavior has grown, we've been able to develop new ideas and shows. There's also been an evolving conservation ethic that has come along with the shows.
Shark Week evolves with the zeitgeist of society and what we're interested in. Now, people really want to see science more than ever. Everybody knows what a big, great white shark coming up to a cage looks like. It's always going to be impressive. But people now don't want to be just thrilled. They want to be educated.
You're in two episodes this season of Shark Week—one about great white sharks in New Zealand and hammerheads in Turks and Caicos—what's the process for deciding what you want to focus on in an episode?
Ideas for shows sometimes come from production, sometimes from the network, or sometimes from scientists like myself. I usually have at least one show per year, which is featuring an ongoing research project that I'm involved with with my organization or with some of my colleagues. Sometimes there is a really interesting signal in data I’d love to explore more and can’t generate a scientific publication around yet, but I can generate an expedition and a show that will allow me to fill in the gaps and zoom into this cool concept a little bit more.
Last season, viewers were introduced to Earl, the whale carcass decoy you sat inside to observe great white sharks up close. He’s back and bigger than ever in this season. How did the idea for Earl come about?
I have very close relationships with a number of the production companies now that I've worked with over the years. Sometimes, you have a crazy idea for something like a whale carcass decoy. I remember being in Los Angeles and talking to some of the executives at Discovery and saying, "We really need to build a whale carcass decoy, because I've done research on white sharks and they’re so interested in whale carcasses. I've published a bunch of science on it, actually. It's a really important part of their ecology." And they said, "That's a really cool idea, but it's a big crazy idea." And they tabled it. And then all of a sudden, it came back two years later. Next thing I know, I'm inside one of these things floating off the coast of South Africa being circled by a 16-foot great white shark. So it's a little bit of push and pull.
How important are shows like Shark Week to scientific research and our understanding of sharks?
Shows like Shark Week can—and do—bring science projects forward. It's really important to demonstrate the fact that we are generating science. Since 2010, I've advanced over 130 published peer-reviewed scientific papers on oceans, but the majority of them are sharks. And since 2018, my rate of annual productions has actually increased exponentially. It demonstrates that you can do science and do media and do TV at the same time. We've collected scientific data that has resulted and appeared in scientific papers from probably five to six productions that I've been part of since 2018. Whether we're putting a camera on the species for the first time or collecting a bunch of fin clips for genetic studies, I feel very proud to stand behind and defend that level of productivity.
So how do you balance the entertainment factor of what makes good TV vs. educational storytelling?
It really just comes back to the notion that you can do both. You can make a show very entertaining because the sharks are big and dangerous. We just should let the animals show themselves as the most genuine version of themselves as predators. The excitement should also come from the people who are studying them like myself and the others, because we're really passionate people. We didn't fall into this field by accident. When I'm popping up from a night dive off the coast of New Zealand after being swarmed by a bunch of white sharks and I'm just talking to the GoPro—it’s raw Blair Witch style. It’s those little moments that make the shows really entertaining and help you avoid needing to rely on cheaper thrills.
Do you ever have conversations around the ethics of what the limits are in the ways that you can interact with these animals for the sake of entertainment?
We have to always be striking a balance with anything we do, whether it's a Shark Week show or a research expedition. Anything we do is going to cast a shadow, from the fuel we put in the boats to the bait that we're using to attract the sharks. The biggest thing is really relying on the guidelines that are put forth in front of us. As researchers, we are often visitors in other nation's waters, so we try to collaborate with local researchers, experts, things like that. But regardless of where you're working, you need a research permit if you're going to be collecting scientific data.
And then obviously no one's going to be doing anything to harm the sharks. It never really comes down to that. It's really about, well, how much bait should we put in the water today? Or is this going to create a situation that could be dangerous for the divers or for the sharks? And I've definitely had situations that I've had to say, "Guys, we're done. We're going to call this. It's too sketchy. This doesn't feel right." And having that compass is always really important.
What are some of the precautions that you generally take for you and your team's safety, but also the sharks' safety? What are the things you think about when you're getting in the water?
It's really about paying attention. When I get on the boat, I'm always paying attention to everything going on that day. If it's four or five days into a shoot and we haven't really gotten the shots that we want or the science that we need, sometimes people can get anxious and they start wanting to push the boundary. That's when you can actually get into those sketchy situations.
But the most important thing is really the weather. When the wind kicks up, it makes getting in and out of the boats difficult. If it's shallow water, it can make the visibility drop and it becomes harder to see what you're doing. And if it's deep water, there can be a lot of current. And when the weather's crappier, the sharks are more hyped up. As predators, they get more excited about energy in the water and things getting mixed up and tossed around. Prey items become vulnerable, animals become vulnerable oftentimes when the weather and the environment changes.
You've had perspectives that most people will never have in their lifetime and being inside a whale carcass decoy allowed you to observe Great Whites more intimately than cage diving. What did you notice about their behavior?
They behave so differently than around a cage. They're very natural. The last two years, with the whale decoy on Shark Week, I had mind-blowing observations that no one else has ever seen before. Last year, off of South Africa, there was this probably 10-12ft preteen white shark that came up to the whale decoy. I'm in this plexiglass capsule watching everything and the animal didn't notice I was there for a while. And then, it moves its eyes and is looking right at me. It focuses and I saw its pupil almost dilate. All of a sudden, the shark just kind of opened its jaw, like its jaw dropped. Sharks don't stop moving, but this shark did. I had never seen a shark stop in its tracks like that, which really speaks to the real time cognition or the mental processing.
What do Great Whites look like up close?
These animals are inherently rare, they take a long time to reach those sizes. They don't reach maturity until 20 feet long, and they can get much bigger than that even, and they can live to maybe a hundred years old. So they see a lot of things and they're warriors. It's almost like they have their own fashion sense because some of them have scars, some of them have parasites, some of them are very bold, have different colorations and markings, and they really... It's funny because a lot of those things that we see on their skin and their body are really reflected in their personalities too. So the sharks that are the most bold and aggressive and risk taking and most feral are the ones that look feral and the ones that are scratched up and have a million parasites on them.
Is there anything that you think audiences would be surprised to learn about what it's like filming for Shark Week?
It's often a lot harder to get the sharks to come to the boat or to show up sometimes than people think. In many cases you have only a seven, maybe eight-day window to mobilize an entire production team with scientists, film crew, audio, directors, safety, first aid, production, boats. And you need the animals to show up to make it all come together. So sometimes it takes a long time, days, for the animals to show up. You see these awesome sequences and a beautiful five act story unfold on the screen, but it's usually 1-1.5 days where most of the good stuff gets shot that makes it into the show.
What’s the biggest or coolest discovery you've made in your career?
The biggest discovery that I've made is also the coolest, which was partnering with tiger sharks to discover the largest underwater meadow of grass that's known as seagrass. And it ended up being the ocean's largest carbon sink. So these plants trap and store massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. We put cameras on the tiger sharks and they helped us make this discovery and it was hiding in plain sight all along. So if we hadn't partnered and collaborated with the sharks themselves, we probably would've never seen it.
What’s life is like as a modern-day shark scientist?
Being a modern-day shark scientist is awesome because there's never been a greater set of tools and opportunities out there to connect with people digitally around what we're doing. And it really gives me the chance to be myself. Of course I'm a scientist, but I'm a pretty normal person just like anybody else.
Are we seeing an increase in shark attacks globally? If so, why?
It appears as if shark attacks are increasing. And it makes sense, because, in many cases, off of both coasts here in America, particularly the East Coast off of North America, shark populations are either largely stable, or slightly increasing as well. Conservation efforts have created protections that have allowed sharks to, in some cases, replenish their populations, so there's more of them. And it's taken 5, 7, 10, 15 years for some species, but now there are more of them, and they're coming in contact with an increasing human population. More people, more sharks, more social media, more phones. It creates a formula that will definitely increase the encounters, and the reporting of the encounters.
What should you do if you encounter a shark in the wild?
You should actually be excited, because it's not the most common thing. Sharks don't really like people, but they sometimes do swim by to take a look at what you are. You shouldn't approach the shark. Keep your distance and let the animal decide what it wants to do. You don't have to change your behavior to then let the shark change its behavior, just let it kind of run the show.
If an animal is showing signs of real interest, aggression or boldness, at that point, you definitely want to leave. The number one thing is: don't look like a prey item. This would be something that is splashing or moving away quickly. And I know that sounds insane, because the fight or flight response will kick in and make you want to run away quickly. But it's always better to move away slowly and keep eye contact on the animal.
And what if, god forbid, you’re attacked?
You really just have to focus on the front of a shark there, and the gills, the eyes, obviously those are pretty sensitive spots. If you hit those places, the animal might be more willing to let go. The reality is the animals don't usually hang on and they don't really consume people. They usually bite and let go. Sometimes that can have fatal consequences, but except in ultra-rare situations, the animals aren't going to be continuously chomping on you.
Talking of ocean attire and fashion, what do you think about when choosing wetsuits for diving with sharks?
When you're in the water with sharks, it's really all about neutral colors, and avoiding things that are very contrast-y and pop out in the water. Sharks can't really see color like we can, but they can distinguish contrast and shades with their visual system. So things that are really light colored are typically something you should avoid. Things that are usually white in the water are dying and diseased tissue, fish, mammals, so you don't want to look like that. I'm a big fan of dark colors in my clothing—classic blues and blacks is really everything I wear anyway. But in the water, it's the most effective, because you blend in as a kind of shadow. There's really nothing that the animal can see that sticks out from its environment, and so I think that's always the best move.
The movie Jaws turns 50 next year and a lot has changed since then. What do you hope would be true for sharks, and shark science, in the next 50 years?
We’d have made a suite of new discoveries around the adaptations that these animals have, and it's allowed for new therapies for people, more efficient manufacturing processes. And with that, has come more significance to the ecological role that these animals play. The fact that they need to just be kept around, and left alone in many cases. And that we've finally understood that, as a species, it's morally wrong to kill top predators. I'd love to see robust, healthy populations of sharks all over the world. And a human population that's figured out how to coexist with these animals. We have not figured that out yet, but maybe we will in 50 years.