When it comes to sharks, the first thing many people imagine is the horror predator in "Jaws".
But for Jim, the shark that is fierce in the eyes of others is like his own dog, playful, clingy, and passionate.
Every time he returned to Tiger Beach, west of Grand Bahama, a shark would swim up to him, hug him intimately, and ask him to touch his head, like a Labrador dog.
Jim Aburnethy is a human diver, marine conservationist, wildlife photographer and Emmy Award winner for his cinematography in film.
Emma, on the other hand, is a 4.5-meter-long wild tiger shark - because of his relationship with Jim, he has also become the most photographed and famous shark in the world, and has "starred" in 14 documentaries.
The friendship between this man and shark has lasted for 22 years, and to this day, this beautiful story that seems to come out of a fairy tale still continues......
Throughout his career spanning more than four decades, Jim has been an advocate for shark conservation and has become a world-renowned shark expert.
He even "owns" a piece of his own: Tiger Beach.
Jim discovered and named the place and made it a premier destination for shark lovers and nature conservationists worldwide.
He has curated many shark adventures, taking nature lovers, filmmaking teams and professional photographers up close and personal with sharks, while ensuring that these interactions do not interfere with their natural lives.
"I hope this trip will be an unforgettable experience of their lives and inspire people to become lifelong conservationists. ”
Jim believes that it is only when people truly fall in love with these creatures that they will actively participate in the action to save these precious creatures.
— just like him.
In 2001, Jim and Emma met for the first time.
Jim said Emma was born somewhere in the Atlantic, and it was only that year that she began to frequent Tiger Beach.
When Jim took a closer look at the giant tiger shark hovering a few feet away during their first encounter, he gradually became sure that it wasn't any tiger shark he had ever met before.
It was a female tiger shark who looked a little scared, and Jim named her - Emma.
Jim recalls, "When Emma first approached, she seemed scared. This is the instinctive reaction of all wild sharks, who are naturally wary of humans. ”
Yes, perhaps more than many people expected: tiger sharks don't attack when they see humans.
Conversely, most wild tiger sharks actively avoid humans, even though they are large and can reach up to 5 meters in length.
The tiger shark is a solitary and nocturnal marine hunter that eats almost anything. They are widely distributed in several tropical and temperate waters, especially around the islands of the central Pacific Ocean.
They get their name from the black stripes on its body, which resemble the pattern of a tiger. As the shark matures, these stripes fade away.
(Schematic diagram)
However, tiger sharks are considered an endangered species due to the effects of human activities......
One of the problems they face is the hooks used by humans in long-line fisheries: these hooks, which often target tuna and sailfish, have accidentally caught millions of sharks.
(Schematic diagram)
Sharks bite off fishing lines, but they are unable to remove the hooks that hook their mouths on their own, leaving these hooks in the shark's body, severely hampering the shark's normal feeding, and potentially causing internal injury and infection.
Some sharks are found with as many as seven hooks embedded deep in their mouths.
Jim, on the other hand, never wanted that: he kept trying to pull the hook out of the shark's mouth.
(Schematic diagram)
The mission began more than twenty years ago when he encountered a shark named "Captain Ron" and a large hook got stuck in its jaw.
It took him more than two hours to gain the shark's trust and successfully pull out the hook from the mouth of "Captain Ron". This also led him to embark on a journey to help these sea creatures unhook their fish.
Jim has worked at Tiger Beach for so many years, pulling hundreds of hooks out of the mouths of various sharks.
And this time in 2001, when Jim met Emma, he first noticed that Emma had a huge metal iron hook in her mouth.
Jim didn't rush closer, but gently soothed Emma with his body movements, patiently trying to dispel her fears.
During this silent confrontation between man and shark, Emma gradually let her guard down and slowly approached Jim.
In this uncertain and potentially dangerous situation, Jim acted decisively and carefully, and finally succeeded in pulling the dangerous hook out of Emma's mouth.
The magical fate between them began from this moment.
On his next dive, Emma reappears and cautiously approaches Jim, as if to express her gratitude.
In the years that followed, Jim continued his career, diving at Tiger Beach and deep into shark schools.
And he found that this shark seemed to be slowly getting to know him......
No matter what color of scuba gear Jim is wearing, Emma will always be the first to find him in the crowd and come to greet him.
Every time Jim dives into Emma's waters, he looks around, expecting to see a familiar figure.
Emma also always appears, getting closer and closer each time.
Later, Emma would even come over and gently touch him with her nose as a greeting.
Over time, a year, five years, ten years.
Jim and Emma develop a special sense of friendship and trust, and Jim even feels that Emma is like a golden retriever dog in the water, welcoming him home.
"She'll get closer and closer, until eventually, close enough I can actually reach out and touch her head. ”
Jim gradually discovered that Emma really liked to be rubbed on her head: "Every time she came close to me, I rubbed the top of her head. ”
He joked that sharks have no hands and it is difficult to rub their heads, and he is happy to help.
However, rubbing his head wasn't just because Emma liked it, Jim did it for a more important reason: he wanted to be able to remove any hook that caught Emma.
For more than 20 years, he has removed four hooks from her body.
Now, Emma and Jim have reached some kind of communication gesture.
As soon as he reached out, Emma knew it was time to open or shut up so that he could safely remove the hook without causing harm.
Emma, now one of the most famous and photographed sharks in the world, has appeared in 14 documentaries with Jim.
The human lens recorded her years and years, and even monitored her ten pregnancies.
Jim used his experience interacting with sharks like Emma to change the public's perception of sharks, emphasizing that sharks are not mindless predators often portrayed in the media, but rather sentient creatures.
"There's no doubt that they have joys and sorrows, and they have thriving feelings that I never knew before. ”
Like people, Jim says, sharks have personalities.
There are some people in human society who are terrifyingly aggressive, and sharks are no different. However, there are also sharks that are affectionate, or curious, or "warm-hearted", just like Emma.
Each of them is so different from each other that it's hard to generalize about the personality of a race: wildlife is unpredictable.
Because of this, the twenty-year friendship between Jim and Emma is even more precious.
For Emma, Jim is more than just "a human friend of mine."
Jim Says:
"She gained a sense of trust, and she knew I would never hurt her. ”
"From then on, she followed me wherever I went. ”
In human society, we will talk to each other and say that Emma the tiger shark also has feelings, and will be as enthusiastic and cute as a dog.
Perhaps, in the tiger shark society, they will also pass on such stories, right?
"Not all humans are evil, perhaps, there will be some humans who will take the hook off your mouth for you and maintain a friendship for twenty years......"