Rob Stewart (December 28, 1979 – January 31, 2017) was a Canadian photographer, filmmaker and shark conservationist. He was best known for making and directing the documentary films '' Sharkwater'' and ''
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
''. He drowned at the age of 37 while scuba diving in Florida, filming '' Sharkwater Extinction''.
Early life
Stewart was born in 1979, in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, the son of Sandra and Brian Stewart. He began underwater photography as a teenager, and became a scuba diving trainer at eighteen years old. He attended
Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute
Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute is a semestered, public high school institution with over 1,267 students enrolled. The school is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It teaches grades 9 through 12 and is operated and governed by the Toronto D ...
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in biology from the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...
, and studied zoology and marine biology in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
and
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
.
Career
Stewart got the idea to make the movie '' Sharkwater'' at age 22, when he found illegal
longline fishing
Longline fishing, or longlining, is a commercial fishing angling technique that uses a long ''main line'' with baited hooks attached at intervals via short branch lines called ''snoods'' or ''gangions''.Galapagos Marine Reserve. He travelled through fifteen countries for the next four years, studying and filming sharks, and going undercover to confront the shark fin industry. ''Sharkwater'' went on to win more than 40 awards at top film festivals. His follow-up film, 2012's ''
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
'', builds on ''Sharkwater'', examining environmental collapse. In 2013, it was the highest grossing Canadian documentary, and it received 19 awards from global film festivals.
In 2012 Stewart released the book ''Save the Humans'', a biography detailing the importance of sharks in his life and the importance of making a positive impact in the ocean.
In 2016, Stewart launched a
Kickstarter
Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
to fund ''Sharkwater: Extinction'', a sequel to ''Sharkwater'' that would focus on the 80 million sharks killed per year that are unaccounted for by scientists. He was working on the film at the time of his death.
Awards and nominations
Stewart won more than 40 international awards for ''Sharkwater'' and 19 for ''Revolution''.
''Sharkwater'' earned Stewart the Best Documentary and the Audience Favorite Award at the 2006 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the People's Choice Award at the 2006 Atlantic Film Festival and a Special Jury Award at the 2006
Hawaii International Film Festival
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, th ...
, and the film was selected by the Toronto International Film Festival Group as one of the top ten Canadian films of 2006. In 2007, his film won the Audience and Best Feature awards at the Gen Art Film festival.
In 2008, he received a
Genie Awards
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculpt ...
nomination for Best Documentary. He received a Genesis Award for Outstanding Documentary, and an Environmental Vision award at the 35th annual Vision awards in 2008, held in Los Angeles.
Death
In late January 2017, Stewart was in Florida filming '' Sharkwater Extinction'', a sequel to ''Sharkwater''. On January 31, he and his dive partner resurfaced from a deep wreck dive of the '' Queen of Nassau''. His dive leader Peter Sotis fell unconscious while boarding the crew's boat, and as the ship team rushed to provide assistance, Stewart, who was still in the water, vanished.
Paul Watson
Paul Franklin Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian-American environmental, conservation and animal rights activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-poaching and direct action group focused on marine conserva ...
, a marine wildlife conservation and environmental activist and friend of Stewart, noted that he had been using a
rebreather
A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantial unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen is a ...
, which could have rendered him unconscious as well.
A search was launched, and on February 3, the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
located Stewart's body in the water approximately down, close to where he disappeared. His funeral was held at Bloor Street United Church in Toronto on February 18, 2017. Released months later, the autopsy report from the Monroe County medical examiner said he died from drowning after falling to hypoxia at the surface of the ocean.
In spring 2017, Stewart's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging it was caused by the negligence of the dive operators who provided equipment that did not meet US safety standards and left him in the water without a dive leader.
Legacy
Stewart was working on a sequel film, '' Sharkwater Extinction'', at the time of his death. Using footage already shot by Stewart as well as his written comments, the movie was completed by film and story editor Nick Hector and director Sturla Gunnarsson for the Rob Stewart Foundation. It premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival in September, as a "Special Event" screening that also incorporated a memorial tribute to Stewart and his legacy; the official release date was set for October 5. His mother Sandy Stewart said about the completion of the film that " heentire team stayed with it, everybody stepped up. We have people from all over the world – cinematographers, filmmakers, really important people – offering to help finish this, and that was really heartwarming."
At the 5th Canadian Screen Awards on March 12, 2017, the
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1979 to recognize the achievements of the over 4,000 Canadian cinema of Canada, film industry and television in Canada, television industry professionals ...
announced that its annual award for Science or Nature Documentary Program would be renamed the Rob Stewart Award in Stewart's memory.
In October 2018, Robert Osborne's documentary film ''The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart'', investigating the possible role of safety violations by the dive operator in Stewart's death, was broadcast by
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...