National Geographic Shark Movers Deadly Cargo

Narrator: In this tropical pacific paradise,

Two species are in conflict.

Humans.

And sharks.

It's a dark cloud that's already claimed lives.

Man: A school!

Narrator: One team must try to stop this brewing storm.

Laurent: We have a dangerous situation.

Narrator: French marine biologist dr. Laurent vigliola

Investigates the role sharks play in the health of coral reefs.

Will: That's a good size shark, that one.

Narrator: Australian shark scientist dr. Will robbins

Studies interactions between sharks and humans.

They've worked together for years.

Narrator: But now, with untested equipment.

Will: What could possibly go wrong?

Narrator: And an experimental plan.

Man: Let's lift her.

Man: Ok.

Narrator: They have only five days to train up a local team,

And target as many sharks as they can.

Man: Pull the harness in!

Narrator: For operation: Sharklift.

Over 700 miles off australia's east coast

Lies the main the island of new caledonia.

The coral reefs of this remote french territory are over

900 miles long, second only to australia's great barrier reef.

It's one of the world's most diverse and pristine reef

Systems, with thousands of species of fish, coral,

And other animals.

Making it the perfect habitat for a super predator: Sharks.

Tiger sharks, reef sharks, hammerheads, makos,

Great whites, and bull sharks.

People here don't tend to fear sharks;

They are part of the culture and are even protected by law.

But more and more, sharks and people are competing for the

Same seafood, and the same waterfront.

What's worse, people have been feeding the growing number of

Bull sharks in this harbor.

Man: A school!

Narrator: It's a problem laurent needs to fix.

Will: G'day, mate.

Will: Hiya.

Narrator: Not just any shark, these are huge bull sharks,

That locals have been hand feeding, for years.

Will: Bull sharks are one of the potentially dangerous species to people.

Laurent: Yeah.

Will: They're large enough that if they bite a person,

That can cause massive injury, or death.

Narrator: Marine duprat, part of the team of city and other

Authorities, turns to laurent to reduce the threat,

Without harming the sharks.

And that threat has reached a peak.

Will: Bull sharks are basically a size that they look at humans

As something that might be something they could eat.

Narrator: The growing number of bull sharks,

So close to people, has raised the alarm.

The authorities want to stop the feeding of the sharks,

But worry that that will drive hungry sharks to nearby beaches.

Putting surfers, swimmers, even boaters, at risk.

So the southern province, the government,

And the city of noumea turn to laurent and his team,

Just like in 2016.

Narrator: Poe beach, 80 miles from noumea,

In the township of bourail, is a favorite holiday spot,

Where the barrier reef is just half a mile from shore.

After the fatal attack in 2016,

Laurent used a plane to look for a shark big enough to have

Killed someone.

What he found shocked him.

Narrator: Not one large tiger shark in this super-shallow lagoon...

But eight of them.

Will: Yeah, because the traditional way of moving a

Shark is basically to bring it alongside the vessel.

Laurent: Yes.

Narrator: Moving the tiger sharks this way,

Only half a mile, still took hours.

But moving bull sharks 20 miles away,

With wind and waves, seems impossible.

Will: This is huge.

Will: A shark's not gonna survive such a trip through here.

Laurent: Yep.

Narrator: Moving the shark alongside the boat won't work.

So will suggests an idea from the other side of the world, brazil.

Brazilian shark scientist dr. Fabio hazin turned a

Deadly shark-attack hot spot back into a safe beach for

Locals by catching bull and tiger sharks,

Putting them in a make-shift pool on a small boat,

And releasing them miles out to sea.

But he didn't have a crane.

Laurent and will plan to use this crane to lift sharks out

Of the water, one at a time, and into this specially

Designed aluminum pool.

It's built to supply a constant flow of oxygen-filled

Water so the shark can breathe strong enough to withstand the

Thrashing of a big shark.

Narrator: The team can't be sure how a shark will react to

Captivity in the pool.

So they have to get it back in the ocean as quickly as possible.

Will: I hope this isn't to scale!

If we can keep the shark alive there on the boat,

Then the boat can move at full speed.

Laurent: Yeah.

Will: As long as we keep the shark happy, theoretically,

We can keep it there for a couple of hours.

Narrator: Laurent and will's plan is experimental.

Laurent: Ok, let's go.

Narrator: Tomorrow they'll see if it works.

This harbor is one of the most dangerous places in new caledonia.

Fish scraps tossed in from this wharf have attracted

Dozens of huge, highly dangerous bull sharks.

Man: A school!

Narrator: So it's here the team sets their first hook,

With marine at the wheel.

Man: Oh, nice, excellent.

Narrator: In australia and other countries,

Baited hooks are used to kill dangerous sharks.

But here, they want to capture the sharks alive.

Narrator: They now have just four days to test their

Technique and train the local team who will move all the sharks.

Some still bear fishermen's hooks.

They target the largest sharks first.

Man: Yeah.

It's a good-sized one.

Narrator: The sharks rush at the bait, but don't bite.

Catching them is harder than they thought.

Will: I'm gonna guess an animal of this size is

Probably going to be female, because the female bull sharks

Get bigger than the males.

Narrator: A large female grabs the bait.

And the team jumps into action.

Will: Got a harness out?

Man: (inaudible) to get it ready.

Man: Ok, put it on, mika.

Laurent: Ok.

Will: Ah, it's a nice size animal.

Man: Come, here!

Will: She's a big shark; she's a big girl.

I certainly wouldn't want to jump in with her.

Will: It's going to take a bit of effort to handle this.

Will: Ok, okay, alright good work.

Will: We're just opening the front of the harness here,

So as we move forward slowly, water comes in and keeps her

Gills irrigated allowing her to breathe.

Narrator: To breathe, bull sharks need the oxygen in

Seawater to flow over their gills.

So the boat motors gently forward.

Will: This whole program here is about replicating what's

Been done in brazil, where they very successfully moved

Sharks out of urban areas way offshore,

And the sharks didn't return.

We're trying to replicate that here in new caledonia.

Now, the magic number, the total length of this girl:

Two, five, four, six.

So two and half meters.

Narrator: That's nearly eight and a half feet long.

Will: But make a note, the top of her tail's been cut off.

So either a shark bite or propeller when she was younger.

So she should've been longer.

Narrator: Closer to nine feet long, and 500 pounds.

Now will demonstrates the delicate surgical procedure to

Insert an acoustic tag.

In future, the team will have to do this on their own.

Will: Alright, so we'll open up the belly cavity.

Will: So here's a transmitting tag.

This'll track her movements.

Very simply, hey, insert that into the hole we made.

Narrator: Bull sharks are used to cuts and scrapes.

Will: And then we want to just quickly stitch her up.

Narrator: This surgery is a minor wound that will heal quickly.

Will: This skin is incredibly tough.

So, that's the bit that's been done by countless

Organizations around the world, catching a shark,

Bringing it up to a boat, and tagging it.

So what we're going to do now, is we're going to actually

Lift the shark up in its cradle and drop it into a pool

On the main boat.

And this is something that's never been done like this before.

This is a world-first.

It's a shark-lift.

Narrator: Now, the operation shifts into new territory...

And the stakes couldn't be higher: The safety of swimmers

And surfers, and the life of this shark.

Narrator: Laurent radios the research ship, the amborella,

To meet them for the shark lift.

The crane and lifting harness are over the side.

Man: We're coming alongside.

Man: Ok.

Narrator: Now the team must guide the shark and sling into position.

And, it's a go for operation sharklift.

They've got to move fast, the longer the shark is out of the

Water during the lift, the greater the danger to her survival.

Narrator: Now, they attach each side of the harness

To the sling.

The harness is designed to hold a big shark.

Will: Alright, sounds good.

Narrator: But it's untested equipment and an untried technique.

If the equipment fails, or the shark thrashes wildly,

It could come crashing down on the deck.

This has never been done before, will it work?