Mike Rutzen
Michael Rutzen is a South African conservationist, filmmaker, and cage diving operator. He has provided field support to South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs, including the deployment of satellite and acoustic tags on great white sharks. On behalf of the Department, Rutzen also holds membership with the Whale Disentanglement Network; a group of marine experts who assist whales in distress.
Early life
Rutzen was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the youngest of five children. He is the son of Richard Harvey Rutzen, an evangelist in the New Apostolic Church of Austrian descent, and Marie Rutzen of Afrikaner descent.Career
1993–present
After high school, Rutzen enlisted in the South African Defence Force as a medic in the 115 Battalion. At the age of 20, he became a commercial fisherman in the fishing village of Gansbaai in the Western Cape. In 1993, the shark cage diving industry was established in the area, and Rutzen was the second local skipper to be employed for his seafaring expertise. During this time, he spent time interacting with great white sharks from the boat and observing their behaviour.In 1998, Rutzen began free diving with sharks. In 2000, he established the shark cage diving company, Shark Diving Unlimited, in Gansbaai, South Africa. He claims an ability to communicate with sharks by making his body smaller or larger to attract or deter the animal.
Since 2009, he has supported population dynamics studies and DNA sampling programs by Dr. Sara Andreotti, 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. Some of the same sharks sampled in the southwest coast were identified on the east coast. It was also established that this particular shark population has extremely low genetic diversity, finding only four mitochondrial lineages, with 89% of the population sharing the same lineage.
The study concluded that South Africa's great white sharks have the lowest genetic diversity of any great white shark population. This puts their long-term survival at risk of extinction, due to a higher risk for disease and an impaired ability to successfully reproduce and 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. Rutzen had noticed that sharks did not swim through the local kelp forests, even when pursuing cape fur seals. O'Connell, who was working on his PhD project, exploring the use of electroreception and electrogenesis stimuli—such as permanent magnets—to repel sharks, had achieved success, prompting the two to join forces.Image:White shark.jpg|thumb|A great white shark
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, Sport Diver, and Shark Diving Unlimited, to educate workers at the Blue Planet Aquarium.
In 2007, Rutzen's Discovery documentary "Sharkman" was aired. Rutzen developed the storyline by visiting notable shark experts in their fields. He learned one form of tonic immobility 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 a staple of Discovery Channel's Shark Week for over ten years. In 2009, Rutzen was featured as the "Sharkman" on 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper on CBS. Rutzen then joined with BBC Natural World to develop The Great White Shark: A Living Legend, in which Rutzen visited a popular seal hunting area to understand white sharks better. He later hosted Shark Night on Discovery French TV.
Rutzen was featured as a 'shark expert' in the IMAX 3D film, Great White Shark 3D, which was filmed in his hometown of Gansbaai and featured underwater and aerial footage. The film was screened in IMAX theatres internationally.
Also in 2010, Rutzen acted as a stunt double and 'shark behavior expert' for Halle Berry'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" as portrayed in horror films. He was featured in Linge De Fronte "Alerte aux requin".
On 13 May 2017, he was part of the team that broke the Guinness World Records title for the 'Longest Underwater Live Radio Broadcast' in the Ambassador Lagoon aquarium in Dubai's Atlantis, The Palm hotel.
Personal life
Rutzen currently lives in Gansbaai, South Africa and Tofino Beach in Mozambique with his two Mozambican beach dogs, wife, and daughter.In 2016, he was badly injured in a car crash in Mozambique which took the life of his girlfriend.
Achievements
Rutzen won a Lifetime achievement award at the Tourfilm Festival Prague 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.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. He also presents findings from his scientific field research on the great white shark.| Where | About | Date |
| Mare Nordest, Grignano, Italy | Understanding The Great White | 26 May 2012 |
| Art Cafe - Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa | Scientific research | 17 August 2016 |
| Mensa Annual Meeting, Helderberg, South Africa | Scientific research | 18 August 2016 |
| Wild Card - Cape Union Mart, Cape Town, South Africa | Conservation of the Great White Shark | 24 August 2016 |
| Rotary Club of Stellenbosch, South Africa | Understanding The Great White | 28 March 2017 |
| One&Only Cape Town, South Africa | Understanding The Great White | 25 May 2017 |
| Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club, Western Cape, South Africa | The Great White Shark | 6 December 2017 |
| Man In Extreme Environment, Trondheim, Norway | The Great White Shark | 15 December 2017 |