known as one of the world’s top scuba
diving destinations Costa Rica’s cocos
island park boast a higher concentration
of sharks than perhaps any other place
on the planet earning it the nickname
shark island but even in this remote
refuge sharks are vulnerable to a
greater predator overfishing is
depleting ocean resources worldwide so
commercial fishermen travel from as far
away as Japan to fish near Coco’s some
venturing unlawfully inside protected
park waters most tragically to harvest
shark fins the enormous market for the
delicacy has decimated several shark
species and alarmed those protecting
Coco’s National Park at the invitation
of the Costa Rican government National
Geographic grantee bin Horton came to
Cocos Island to help with advocacy
efforts I went out there with my brother
to film a documentary for the Costa
Rican government and we saw the poaching
going on and decided that it was
something that we needed to get out into
the public’s eye
men is working alongside Park Rangers on
a documentary which will eventually
follow the illicit shark fin trade from
coke asylum to the Asian markets early
in the morning the Coast Guard gives
chase to an illegal fishing boat when
the driver refuses to stop a guard fires
a warning shot into the air
but the boat of age the authorities
eventually the pursuit is abandoned and
the poachers escape they catch one tuna
they’re set for a couple of months you
know it’s good money for them and that’s
kind of why they’ll fill fish in the
park that’s why they’ll risk it is
because the likelihood of them actually
getting something is so much greater
close to them close to cocos island so
even if the person has a ticket they’re
gonna be out fishing again the next day
when not patrolling the brothers immerse
themselves in the unfolding drama of an
underwater world I was at a place called
alcyon where the hammerheads were just
schooling around us and there were
hundreds of them and all of a sudden I’m
turning around i’m filming I’m
photographing my brother and he points
behind me and I turned just in time to
see you know a dozen or more hammerhead
just rush right at me it come over and
I’m shooting with a fisheye lens and
these things almost hit me right in the
face these predators are at the top of a
delicately balanced food chain
without them the fragile marine
ecosystem of Coco’s may crumble
signaling an even greater worldwide
crisis cocos islands probably the last
place you’re actually going to see the
Sharks disappearing because they come
from all over the ocean to congregate on
cocos island when we start seeing them
disappear from cocos island that’s when
we know that we’re really in the last
stages and they’re not going to be
around much longer sponsored by National
Geographic mission programs taking
science and exploration into the new
millennium
diving destinations Costa Rica’s cocos
island park boast a higher concentration
of sharks than perhaps any other place
on the planet earning it the nickname
shark island but even in this remote
refuge sharks are vulnerable to a
greater predator overfishing is
depleting ocean resources worldwide so
commercial fishermen travel from as far
away as Japan to fish near Coco’s some
venturing unlawfully inside protected
park waters most tragically to harvest
shark fins the enormous market for the
delicacy has decimated several shark
species and alarmed those protecting
Coco’s National Park at the invitation
of the Costa Rican government National
Geographic grantee bin Horton came to
Cocos Island to help with advocacy
efforts I went out there with my brother
to film a documentary for the Costa
Rican government and we saw the poaching
going on and decided that it was
something that we needed to get out into
the public’s eye
men is working alongside Park Rangers on
a documentary which will eventually
follow the illicit shark fin trade from
coke asylum to the Asian markets early
in the morning the Coast Guard gives
chase to an illegal fishing boat when
the driver refuses to stop a guard fires
a warning shot into the air
but the boat of age the authorities
eventually the pursuit is abandoned and
the poachers escape they catch one tuna
they’re set for a couple of months you
know it’s good money for them and that’s
kind of why they’ll fill fish in the
park that’s why they’ll risk it is
because the likelihood of them actually
getting something is so much greater
close to them close to cocos island so
even if the person has a ticket they’re
gonna be out fishing again the next day
when not patrolling the brothers immerse
themselves in the unfolding drama of an
underwater world I was at a place called
alcyon where the hammerheads were just
schooling around us and there were
hundreds of them and all of a sudden I’m
turning around i’m filming I’m
photographing my brother and he points
behind me and I turned just in time to
see you know a dozen or more hammerhead
just rush right at me it come over and
I’m shooting with a fisheye lens and
these things almost hit me right in the
face these predators are at the top of a
delicately balanced food chain
without them the fragile marine
ecosystem of Coco’s may crumble
signaling an even greater worldwide
crisis cocos islands probably the last
place you’re actually going to see the
Sharks disappearing because they come
from all over the ocean to congregate on
cocos island when we start seeing them
disappear from cocos island that’s when
we know that we’re really in the last
stages and they’re not going to be
around much longer sponsored by National
Geographic mission programs taking
science and exploration into the new
millennium
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