As animal kingdom reputations go, sharks don’t exactly have the best of them. As any good publicist will tell you, “attack” isn’t really the word you want most closely associated with your brand. But Australian conservationist Paul de Gelder is a man on a mission, determined to change the way we think about these much misunderstood predators of the sea.
“The problem is,” de Gelder says, “most people will never see a shark in their life, so their perceptions come from news reports, childhood fears and works of fiction.” As a presenter on Discovery’s popular Shark Week, 44-year-old de Gelder has spent more time around these creatures than many and he’s one of their biggest defenders.
