Michael Rutzen
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Michael Rutzen (born 11 October 1970) is a South African conservationist,
filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...
, and cage diving operator. As a conservationist, Rutzen has provided field support to the
Department of Environmental Affairs The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is one of the departments of the South African government. It is responsible for protecting, conserving and improving the South African environment and natural resources. It ...
of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. Some of his projects include the deployment of
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
and
acoustic tag Acoustic tags, also known as acoustic transmitters, are small sound-emitting devices that allow the detection and/or remote tracking of organisms in aquatic ecosystems such as lakes, rivers, tributaries, estuaries, or sea. Acoustic tags are commo ...
s on
great white sharks The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is the ...
. He is also a member of the Whale Disentanglement Network for the Department of Environmental Affairs, a group of marine experts who assist whales in distress.


Early life

Rutzen was born in
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, the youngest of five children. He is the son of Richard Harvey Rutzen, an evangelist in the
New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church of the Catholic Apostolic Church, Irvingian tradition. Its origins are in 1863, in the split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during a schism in Hamburg, Ger ...
, of
Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...
descent, and Marie Rutzen (born Marie Strydom), of
Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting''. Encyclopæd ...
descent. Due to lung complications from his premature birth, Rutzen's father moved the family from the city to the small farming town of Brits in the Northern Transvaal when Rutzen was 5 years old, allowing him and his older brother to benefit from the fresh country air. As the youngest in his family by many years, Rutzen spent most of his childhood alone, exploring the natural bush and the granite hills of the region surrounding the farm. There he learnt skills in bush survival and an understanding of animal behavior, particularly of
snakes Snakes are elongated Limbless vertebrate, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales much like other members of ...
,
baboons Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys, in the family Cercopithecidae. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon ...
, and leopards. At age 7, he started going to sea on his aunt's boat at the Tugela River’s mouth, where he learned to fish and developed a deep love for the
ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...
.


Career


1993–present

After high school, Rutzen enlisted in the
South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Fo ...
(SADF) as a
medic A medic is a person trained to provide medical care, encompassing a wide range of individuals involved in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of health conditions. The term can refer to fully qualified medical practitioners, such as physic ...
in the 115 Battalion. He spent two years in the bush, honing his survival skills. At the age of 20, he became a commercial fisherman in the fishing village of⁣⁣ Gansbaai⁣⁣ in the
Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...
. In 1993, the shark cage diving industry was established in the area, and Rutzen was the second local skipper to be employed for his specialized seafaring expertise. He spent time interacting with
great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...
s from the boat and observing their behavior during this time. In 1998, Rutzen began free diving with sharks. In 2000, he established the shark cage diving company Shark Diving Unlimited in Gansbaai, South Africa. While in the water with the sharks, Rutzen used his knowledge of animal behavior to understand the sharks' movements and cautiously interact with them. He claims an ability to communicate with the sharks by making his body smaller or larger to attract or deter the animal. Since 2009, he has supported population dynamics studies and
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
sampling programs being undertaken for the Ph.D. study of Dr. Sara Andreotti (
Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...
), where he sponsored and co-authored many white shark behavioral papers. One such study claims that South African white sharks belong to one larger interbreeding population, and that some of the same sharks sampled in the southwest coast (
False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans: ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarc ...
), were identified on the east coast (
Algoa Bay Algoa Bay is a maritime bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is located on the east coast, east of the Cape of Good Hope. Algoa Bay is bounded in the west by Cape Recife and in the east by Cape Padrone. The bay is up to deep. The harbour ...
). It also established that this particular shark population has extremely low
genetic diversity Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It ranges widely, from the number of species to differences within species, and can be correlated to the span of survival for a species. It is d ...
, finding only four
mitochondrial A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used ...
lineages, with 89% of the population sharing the same lineage. The study concluded that the South African white sharks have the lowest genetic diversity of any white shark population, putting their long-term survival at risk of
extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
due to a higher risk for disease and an impaired ability to successfully reproduce and to adapt to change within their environment.''''


The Sharksafe Barrier

Rutzen is one of the inventors of the Sharksafe Barrier, which purports to prevent negative encounters between sharks and people. The barrier was conceived in 2011 when Rutzen met Dr. Craig O'Connell, a
marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...
. Rutzen had noticed that sharks did not swim through the local
kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on E ...
s, even when pursuing
cape fur seals The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, and Afro-Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. It has a large an ...
. This observation inspired the idea of a visual barrier resembling kelp, which could potentially become the first eco-friendly alternative to
shark nets A shark net is a submerged section of gillnets placed at beaches designed to intercept large marine animals including sharks, with the aim to reduce the likelihood of shark attacks on swimmers. The gillnets form a wall of netting that hangs in t ...
. O'Connell, who was working on his PhD project exploring the use of electrosensory stimuli—such as
permanent magnets Permanent may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Permanent'' (film), a 2017 American film * ''Permanent'' (Joy Division album) * "Permanent" (song), by David Cook *"Permanent", a song by Alex Lahey from '' The Answer Is Always Yes'', 2023 Other ...
—to repel sharks, had achieved success, prompting the two to join forces. The Sharksafe Barrier is made of four rows of large vertical pipes, each fitted with magnets that move with the ocean currents and tides to manipulate the swim patterns of sharks. These magnets overstimulate the unique electrosensory system of
Elasmobranchii Elasmobranchii () is a subclass of Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish, including modern sharks ( division Selachii), and batomorphs (division Batomorphi, including rays, skates, and sawfish). Members of this subclass are characterised by h ...
(i.e. sharks, skates, and
rays Ray or RAY may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), the bony or horny spine on ray-finned fish Science and mathematics * Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at an ...
), known as the
Ampullae of Lorenzini Ampullae of Lorenzini (: ''ampulla'') are electroreceptors, sense organs able to detect electric fields. They form a network of mucus-filled pores in the skin of Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fish (sharks, Ray (fish), rays, and chimaeras) and of ...
, which detect electromagnetic fields. These are associated with hunting prey and may also be capable of detecting
geomagnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magne ...
s ''(0.25-0.65
Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; ; ; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician, astronomer, Geodesy, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. He was director of the Göttingen Observat ...
)'' to orient the sharks during long migrations. This makes the Sharksafe Barrier specific to Elasmobranchii so other marine animals can swim through it without issue. The Sharksafe Barrier is currently undergoing final scientific and technical testing ahead of its first beach deployment.


Media presence from 2005–present

Rutzen's first documentary, National Geographic's Beyond Fear, was released in 2005. It described shark behavior and body language and showed Rutzen free diving with Great White Sharks without a cage. The film was shown internationally on the National Geographic Channel. This documentary was followed in 2006 by "Sharks: Man-Eaters or Misunderstood?", a John McIntyre production in association with the
Professional Association of Diving Instructors The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is a recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson. PADI courses range from entry level to advanced recreational diver ...
, Sport Diver, and Shark Diving Unlimited, to educate workers at the
Blue Planet Aquarium The Blue Planet Aquarium is a marine and freshwater aquarium located by the Cheshire Oaks retail and leisure complex in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. When opened by the Queen Elizabeth II in July 1998, it was the largest aquarium in the Un ...
. In 2007, Rutzen's
Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...
documentary "Sharkman" was aired. Rutzen developed the storyline by visiting notable shark experts in their fields. He learned one form of
tonic immobility Apparent death is a behavior in which animals take on the appearance of being dead. It is an immobile state most often triggered by a predatory attack and can be found in a wide range of animals from insects and crustaceans to mammals, birds, r ...
from Dr. Samuel Gruber and another from Christina Zenato, a behavior which would lead him to the initial idea for the Sharksafe Barrier later on. Sharkman became the Discovery Channel's
Shark Week Shark Week is an annual week-long programming block on the Discovery Channel focusing on shark-themed programming. It originally premiered on July 17, 1988. The block is featured annually in the summer, and was originally devoted to conservati ...
staple for over ten years. In 2009, Rutzen was featured as the "Sharkman" on ''
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
with
Anderson Cooper Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator who anchors the CNN news broadcast show ''Anderson Cooper 360°''. In addition to his duties at CNN, Cooper serves as a correspondent for ''6 ...
'' on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. Rutzen then joined with ''BBC Natural World'' to develop ''The Great White Shark: A Living Legend'' (2008-2009), in which Rutzen visited a popular seal hunting area to understand white sharks better. He later hosted Shark Night on Discovery French TV (2010). Rutzen was featured as a shark expert in the
IMAX 3D IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating, with ...
film, ''Great White Shark 3D'' (2010) which was filmed in his hometown of Gansbaai and featured underwater and aerial footages. The film was screened in IMAX theatres internationally. Also in 2010, Rutzen acted as a
stunt double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...
and shark behavior expert for
Halle Berry Halle Maria Berry ( ; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant of 1986 and also placing six ...
's character in the Warner Brothers film ''Dark Tide'', which was filmed in Gansbaai and based loosely on Rutzen's life experiences. Rutzen was also featured as the 'Sharkmaster' on ''Stan Lee's Superhumans'', which investigated his claims that he could indeed interact and communicate with great white sharks using body language. In a 2012 interview, Rutzen noted that great white sharks "were not the mindless killing machines out to hunt us" portrayed in horror films. He was featured in Linge De Fronte (French TV) "Alerte aux requin" (2013). On 13 May 2017, he was part of the team that broke the
Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...
title for the 'Longest Underwater Live Radio Broadcast' in the Ambassador Lagoon aquarium in Dubai's
Atlantis, The Palm Atlantis, The Palm is a luxury hotel resort located at the apex of the Palm Jumeirah in the United Arab Emirates. It was the first resort to be built on the island and is themed on the myth of Atlantis but includes distinct Arabian elements. Th ...
hotel.


Personal life

Rutzen currently lives in
Gansbaai Gansbaai (Dutch/Afrikaans for "bay of geese," sometimes referred to as Gans Bay) is a fishing town and tourist destination in the Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. It is known for its dense population of great white shar ...
, South Africa and Tofino Beach in
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
with his two Mozambican beach dogs, wife, and daughter.


Achievements

Rutzen won a
Lifetime achievement award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...
at the Tourfilm Festival Prague (2012) for his contribution to extending human boundaries with respect to the world's oceans and his pioneering work with sharks. He was awarded the Princeton Global Network Registry Member of the Year (2012) and the Mayoral Award for Conservation - Overstrand District, South Africa (2015).


Scientific papers

* * * * * *


Public speaking

Rutzen regularly delivers marine conservation and scientific talks to promote the preservation of the Great White Shark internationally. He often shares his views on responsible shark management, conservation and the threats to the ocean, as well as the findings of his scientific field research on the great white shark.


References


External links


Shark Travel and Conservation Mike Rutzen

Mike Rutzen's Shark Cage Diving Company

Sharkman Animal Planet
*

* ttp://www.sharkmans-world.com/mrutzen.htm The Sharkman meets Michael Rutzen
Save Jaws! An interview with Mike Rutzen in TUNZA, the United Nations Environment Programme's magazine for youth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutzen, Mike South African conservationists Living people 1970 births