Rob Stewart (December 28, 1979 – January 31, 2017) was a Canadian photographer, filmmaker and conservationist. He was best known for making and directing the documentary films '' Sharkwater'' and ''

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

''. He drowned at the age of 37 while scuba diving in Florida, filming ''

Sharkwater Extinction ''Sharkwater Extinction'' is a 2018 Canadian documentary film directed by Rob Stewart. It premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. A sequel to his 2006 film ''Sharkwater'', the film, which Stewart was working on at the time of h ...

''.

Early life

Stewart was born in 1979, in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, the son of Sandra and Brian Stewart. He began

underwater photography Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while diving on surface supply, snorkeling, swimming, from a submersible or remotely operated underwater ...

as a teenager, and became a scuba diving trainer at eighteen years old. He attended

Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute (''Lawrence Park CI'', ''LPCI'', "LP", or ''Lawrence Park'') is a semestered, public high school institution with over 1,267 students enrolled. The school is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It teaches grade ...

and Crescent School in Toronto as a youth. For four years, Stewart was chief photographer for the

Canadian Wildlife Federation The Canadian Wildlife Federation () is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to wildlife conservation. History and mission The Canadian Wildlife Federation was founded in 1961 and chartered in 1962. The Canadian Wildlife Federation is d ...

's magazines, and a freelance journalist. He won awards for his journalism. He held a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

in biology from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

, and studied zoology and marine biology in

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and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

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 ''

'', 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 is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

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 FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival (known as The Atlantic International Film Festival until 2017) is a major international film festival held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada since 1980. FIN is the largest Canadian film festival ...

and a Special Jury Award at the 2006

Hawaii International Film Festival The Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii. HIFF has a focus on Asian-Pacific cinema, education, and the work of new and emerging filmmakers. HIFF’s primary festival is ...

, 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; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scul ...

nomination for Best Documentary. He received a

Genesis Award The Genesis Awards are awarded annually by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to individuals in the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works which raise public awareness of animal issues. Presented by the HSUS ...

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 ''

'', 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, 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 substantially unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen i ...

, 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 law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, m ...

located Stewart's body in the water approximately down, close to where he disappeared. His funeral was held at

Bloor Street United Church Bloor Street United Church is a United Church of Canada church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Bloor Street West in the downtown core near the intersection with Huron Street. It is just north of the University of Toronto, and bet ...

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, ''

'', 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 Nick Hector is a British Canadian film producer and editor, and professor of film production at the University of Windsor. Career Hector collaborated with Canadian filmmaker Allan King and exclusively cut his films during the last decade of Ki ...

and director

Sturla Gunnarsson Sturla Gunnarsson (born August 30, 1951) is an Icelandic-Canadian film and television director and producer. Gunnarsson was born in Reykjavík in 1951. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, with his parents when he was seven years old. As h ...

for the Rob Stewart Foundation. It premiered at the

2018 Toronto International Film Festival The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to ...

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 The 5th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 12, 2017, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2016. Nominations were announced on January 17, 2017. Awards in many of the technical catego ...

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) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

as an episode of the documentary series ''

CBC Docs POV ''CBC Docs POV'' is a Canadian television point-of-view documentary series, which airs on CBC Television."CBC documentary delivers useful, timely primer on pot". '' Edmonton Journal'', October 29, 2015. The series premiered in fall 2015 under t ...

''.Frederick Blichert
"Exclusive clip: CBC Docs POV’s “The Third Dive”"
''

RealScreen Brunico Communications is a Canadian magazine publishing company."Desktop tabloid publishing firm sports 2 publications and a profit". ''The Globe and Mail'', October 9, 1989. The company specializes primarily in online trade magazines serving medi ...

'', October 24, 2018.

References

External links

*
www.robstewartphotography.com
nbsp;— official site for Rob Stewart's photography {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Rob 1979 births 2017 deaths Canadian conservationists Canadian documentary film directors Canadian photographers Film directors from Toronto Nature photographers Underwater diving deaths University of Western Ontario alumni