Recently I had the amazing opportunity to join Joe and Lauren Romeiro on their boat the Warfish. They are both shark biologists and filmmakers, heavily involved in the filming and production of shark week in association with Discovery.
We set out in the early morning from Rhode Island, travelling far out to sea in the hopes of finding the elusive porbeagle shark. These sharks are quite rare and virtually unknown to the general public. Because of their shy nature it can also be extremely hard to find them alive. Few have actually seen them swimming at the surface.
After a long boat trip filled with seabirds, we finally arrived at the location where Joe thought we would have some luck finding porbeagles. Luckily, he was right. Within the first half an hour of chumming, a small porbeagle swam by, checked out the bait and moved on. Filled with hope, we kept chumming for hours but had little luck, moving locations every few hours in the hopes of finding a larger, more active shark. Finally, at 3AM a 6 foot porbeagle appeared on the surface. Smelling the bait from far below, the shark repeatedly made its way to the surface, chasing whatever bait we had out, and giving us some amazing views. Unfortunately, the shark had a box strap wrapped around its torso, showcasing the harsh impact humans are having on these sharks. After about an hour, we eventually had to turn back due to inclement weather, but it was amazing to see such a rare animal in the wild.
